The Emancipation of the Serfs

The Milyutin Brothers:

• Nikolai Alexander Milyutin (1818-72) was an influential voice in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, favouring reform within the Slavophile tradition. In 1859-61 he was largely responsible for drafting the terms of the Emancipation Edict, and he also supported the establishment of the zemstva.

• Dmitry Alekseyevich Milyutin (1816-1912) had trained in a military academy and earned a reputation as a military scholar. He analysed the reasons behind Russia's defeat in the Crimean War and was an obvious choice for Alexander II's Minister of War from 1861 to 1881 He was made a count in recognition of his services for military reform.

• Their views were shared by other members of the Russian intelligentsia who believed that, as well as holding Russia back economically and weakening her 'Great Power status’, serfdom was morally wrong. Alexander, whose natural tendencies were conservative rather than liberal, may not have been fully convinced by such arguments, but the increase in peasant uprisings since the 1840s would certainly have been likely to alarm him. While serf disorder posed no real threat to autocracy, it certainly added weight to the arguments for emancipation.

  • Between 1840 and 1844, there had been fewer than 30 outbreaks of disorder per year on privately owned estates, but the figure more than doubled over the next 15 years. This increase was partly the result of: 

    • Landowners pushing peasants to produce more or pay higher rents in order to maintain their own incomes protested against military conscription during the Crimean War. Nor did the disturbances subside once the war ended in 1856. Since it was traditional for the Thar to announce the freedom of serfs conscripted to fight at the end of a war. Alexander If's delay (while he considered the future) increased tensions.

• The humiliations and inefficiencies of the Crimean War were the main catalysts for action. Dmitry Milyutin, Minister of War 1861-81, pleaded for reform in order to strengthen the State and restore dignity. He believed that the army had to be modernised and that only a 'free' population would provide the labour needed for much-needed military improvement.

The Emancipation:

• Alexander was as determined as his ancestors to maintain the tsarist autocracy and uphold his 'God-given' duties, but he felt the pressure for reform. He began his reign by releasing political prisoners and pardoning the Decembrists, a group who had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father. He relaxed controls on censorship, lessened restrictions on foreign travel and university entrance, cancelled tax debts and restored some of the rights [liberties] of Poland and the Catholic Church. In March 1856, Alexander followed up this enlightened' start by asking a small group of nobles to produce suggestions for an emancipation measure.

• The contradictions behind Alexander's views and intentions can be seen in his address to the Moscow nobility in 1856:

  • There are rumours abroad that I wish to grant the peasants their freedom, this is unjust, and you may say so to everyone to right and left, but a feeling…