Land of Liberty

It’s interesting that the abolition of serfdom in 1861 affected just a minor part of Siberia’s population. Landlordism, despite constant attempts of the government to impose it, didn’t developed here. There were only 36 landowners and 3 700 serfs all around Siberia. In the Yenisei province the number of serfs was just 1069. They were mainly peasants and workers, assigned to state plants. According to the Decree dated March 8, 1861, they were reassigned to pay due during three years with following liberation from serfdom.

Also, lots of peasants, who had come from Russia to work for the due or were “contracted” by their lords, worked at the gold mines. Often such serfs “disappeared” for  landowners thanks to smart volost clerks and big payoff. They were just registered as exile settlers named Ivans without family names, and the landowner was informed that “according to God’s will” his serf had died. So, for example, over a half of the 80 serf peasants,  indentured to gold mines, “disappeared” from one of the landowners :)

In the photo – peasants of the Yenisei Province.

According to the materials by krasplace.ru and krskstate.ru