Baltic-German pro-serfdom thought in the Russian Baltic provinces from a comparative perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT Pro-slavery argumentation was relatively similar both in the context of New World slavery and the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire, where a small autonomous Baltic-German minority governed over Estonian and Latvian serfs. This became apparent from the justification of the way the system of unfreedom was formed and how the slaves/serfs were enslaved, and to the ideas about why the slaves/serfs could not be freed, as well as why the system of unfreedom was the best possible one. Similar rhetoric was also used in countering abolitionist agitation and argumentation, while the worries of the pro-serfdom faction also involved similar topics like the likelihood of insurrections, the negative influence of abolitionist ideas and supposed false claims about the masters and the system of serfdom. Additionally, the Baltic-German pro-serfdom advocates were aware of the peculiarities of New World slavery, yet referred to it relatively rarely, and often only if the local abolitionists brought out such comparisons. All of this serves to reinforce Larry E. Tise's claim about the universal nature of pro-slavery thought, as well as making it possible to consider the Baltic provinces within Peter Kolchin's ideas of other Souths.