The majority of serfs stayed within the lord’s land. The Russian government promoted them to stay because it made it easier for them to control the new ‘free’ population. They achieved this through the re-organisation of local government. The Mir was formed which became the focus of life in the countryside. The motives for this were administrative. The freed serfs now had to pay taxes and the Mir was an effective way to collect them. The Mir was a controlling mechanism for keeping order in the countryside. It kept Alexander II’s government safe from being rebelled against. But the peasantry were still not liberated. It just moved from a system which could be compared to American slavery to a system of oppressive rule. It was successful in changing Russia’s backward image. Western Europe would have viewed it as a new modern Russia. Russia is becoming a new forward thinking nation. Western Europe is more likely to ally itself with this new modern Russia.
Alexander II saw that Russia’s new population of ‘free’ people was under governed, having fewer civil servants than Britain. In order to fill these new administrative roles he called upon the local people. In 1864, new governing bodies were created called zemstva, zemstvo singular. The members were chosen by three electoral colleges, representing the peasants, townspeople and the gentry. Townspeople and gentry elected their colleges but the peasantry’s elders chose their representatives. A zemstvo was set up in every district and province. These new democratic zemstva dealt with issues of: public health, prisons, roads, agriculture, the relief of famine and some areas of education. Furthermore, the zemstva were vital for society to function because the land owners are now not responsible for the peasantry’s needs. The idea of the zemstva soon extended to urban areas where they were called dumy, duma singular.
The zemstva and dumy gave Russia a proper local government system. It also gave them a representative political system. This is a western idea going against the traditional autocratic rule, which was used in Russia. The zemstva and dumy were often criticised for their inadequacies when compared to western administrative systems. But it is development to a more democratic society. It is Russia becoming more western. Although this new system of local government is more democratic, there was still an imbalance. The gentry had 42 per cent of seats in the uezd, district zemstva, and 72 per cent of seats in the guberniya, provincial zemstva. The relative proportions for the peasantry were 38 per cent and 10.5 per cent.
Before the reforms, the peasantry’s chances of justice were very little. They were guilty until proven innocent. In courts, there were no juries and the judge often only examined written evidence. Inevitably, the police influenced the judge’s decision greatly. This process was also painfully slow. In November 1864, the Tsar published the reforms of the legal system: ‘…to establish in Russia courts of justice that are swift, fair, merciful, and equal for all our subjects, to raise the authority of the judiciary, to give it the independence that befits it.’
Juries were soon introduced into courts of law, a western idea. They were however selected from lists of propertied people, prepared by the zemstva. This means that it was most likely the gentry making the jury, which would have not worked in a peasant’s favour if he were innocent. Judges were also given an exponential pay rise which meant the government didn’t have to worry about bribery. This would mean more justice was seen in the nation. However, the police of the Third Section were still active and were allowed to arrest people are they wished. The previous system of guilty until proven innocent was still there but on a smaller scale.
To keep up the appearance of a more liberal Russia, Alexander II eased up on censorship. Previously, censorship was severe. All books and newspapers had to be submitted to censor for its approval. Under Alexander II, censorship became a responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior in 1863 and, in 1865, it produced a new set of guidelines. Editors no longer had to get their texts approved. But the Ministry of Interior did still have the power to close publications. In 1873, it was also given the power for certain topics to be forbidden. This reform just meant that a book could be printed without prior approval but not published. An unpublished book cannot spread its ideas as quick. But a printed book can still be distributed. However, some books managed to get published like Chernyshevski’s What is to be Done? which encouraged its readers to: “Come out of your godforsaken underworld, my friends, come up. It is not so difficult.” The ease up on censorship meant that texts like this were able to get published thus weakening Alexander II’s government.
After Russia’s humiliating defeat in the Crimean War, it was obvious there needed to be reform to the military. Alexander II put Dmitrii Miliutin in charge are reforming the military. Three areas had to be tackled to avoid another defeat: recruitment, organisation and education. Before 1861, serfs were drafted by their owners for 25 years; morale in the military would have been low. Also, a reform to the military’s recruitment system was vital as serfdom was abolished in 1861.
During the period 1862 to 1874, Miliutin introduced military reforms based on the Prussian model. Albrecht von Roon, a military reformer in Prussia, introduced short-term service with numbers made up with a large reserve, integrating the army with the nation rather than isolating them. Prussia had proven success with these reforms with their victories in 1866 over Austria and in 1870 over France. Professional military service was reduced to 15 years, six years in service and nine years in reserves, and further reduced according to the level of education of the recruit. Russia needs intellectuals to compete with the west so sending them to war is a ruinous thing. These reforms were applicable to everyone, regardless of social standing, according in the new statue on recruitment in 1874. Miliutin’s other reforms included: dividing the empire into 15 military districts to make mobilisation easier; modernise Russia’s military training establishment; and general education for officers was made the first objective over pure military training.
Miliutin’s made the army look more attractive to citizens. It was now not seen as a life sentence to servitude. People now expected to return to their town or village, and would be better equipped to run daily life and contribute to their community. Morale was boosted. But, in the army, there was no class system in place, everyone was equal. This meant that they started to feel equal to one another and create hostility towards Russia’s social system thus sparking revolutionary actions; Greater social equality was encouraged within the military. However, with equality, the army would strengthen as a unit because people would be inclined to work with each other.
All of Alexander II’s reforms had one motive: to regain Russia’s dominance in the global society. Alexander II wanted Russia to compete with the west and this shows in his reforms. There were strengths and weaknesses to his reforms because he wanted to maintain an autocratic rule but to be on par with the west he would have to liberalise. Alexander II was thinking what is best for Russia’s place in the world than for Russia’s people. Alexander II made Russia look western whilst trying to maintain Slavic culture.