East Slavic historiography on the valuation of land in the Belarusian provinces in the second half of the XIX – early XX century

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the main approaches to estimating the value of land plots in the Russian Empire of the second half of the XIX – beginning of the XX century. Eastern Slavic historiography of the pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern period. The objectives of the article are to determine the average market value of land in the provinces and compare it with the size of redemption payments, identify typical conditions for the implementation of the agrarian reform of 1861 for the Belarusian provinces, compare the approaches of representatives of Eastern Slavic historiography to the redemption operation and activities of the Peasant and Noble Land banks, analyze the factors that form value of land sold through the Peasant Land Bank. The article reflects the sharply negative assessments of the peasant reform of 1861 and the activities of the Peasant Land Bank in the pre-revolutionary and Soviet historiography. In this case, attention is drawn to the more favorable conditions for the redemption operation for the peasants of the Belarusian provinces, reducing the cost of peasant holdings and bringing them closer to the market value of land. Modern historiography stands in solidarity with the conclusions of the peasants’ repeated overpayment of the cost of their liberation, but connects this with the banking crisis, which predetermined the high cost of redemption. At the same time, modern researchers, on the basis of mathematical and economic methods, revised approaches to assessing the activities of the Peasant and Noble Land Banks, recognizing their role in mobilizing land ownership and solving the issue of peasant land shortages.