To what extent did Emancipation solve the problems of the peasantry for Tsarist society?
The Emancipation Decree of 1861 gave Russian peasants the right to buy land and serfdom (the Russian equivalent of landed slavery) was abolished. The peasantry were land dwellers and agricultural workers, they made up 82% of the population. Tsarist society consisted of the tsar (emperor) who governed all Russia. Russia contained mainly peasants while the upper class constituted 12%, the working class 4%, the commercial class 1.5% and the ruling class just 0.5% of the population. The Emancipation Decree of 1861 was issued to solve the problems of decreased productivity because of an increasing population. It was also as a result of the Crimean War of 1855-56 which motivated Tsar Alexander II to introduce Emancipation to help the Russian State. However it had the opposite effect on Tsarist society, the main reasons for the discontent among the peasants was they could not understand why they were forced to pay for land hey had farmed for generations. Emancipation had a far worst effect on the nobility because they were totally unprepared and as a result did not survive, they had to sell of land to pay existing debts. The most important reason for Emancipation was the desire to strengthen the Russian State in military, economic and industrial terms. It was hoped that revitalised peasant economy would provide the basis for industrialisation by providing surplus capital for investment, but this aim was not achieved. Therefore the Emancipation Decree of 1861 did not solve the problems of the peasantry and only made things worse then they already were.
