Russian Peasants and Tsarist Legislation on the Eve of Reform : The Interaction of the Peasantry and Official Russia, 1825-55

This book is a study of the interaction of peasant and official Russia in the crucial period prior to the momentous reform of 1861.

In a series of detailed case studies, based on extensive archival research, the important issues of communication and understanding between the peasantry and officialdom, peasant aims and aspirations, and peasant behavioural patterns and "mentalite" are explored.

The scene shifts from St Petersburg, where items of legislation were formulated, to the villages of rural Russia, where peasants interpreted the information on the legislation which reached them.

The case studies consider legislation in three important areas: settlement of the underlying regions of the empire; limited reforms of serfdom in the 1840s; and measures to reinforce the armed services during the Crimean War.