Relationships between generations in post-Emancipation Lithuania (1864–1904)

Abstract

One of the most powerful influences on modern peasant studies has been Chayanov's notion that the peasant farm household balanced the labour efforts of a household and its consumer demands. As a result, peasant households have been seen as autarchic units of production and consumption, and peasant strategies were held to be designed to preserve the common enterprise in which everyone was expected to work and pool resources, and to maintain the integrity of the original holding, of which all family members were expected to receive an equal share. This article focuses on familial strategies of Lithuanian peasants after the abolition of serfdom in the second half of the nineteenth century and argues that the strategies of different generations were shaped by a multiplicity of dependencies, a constant reshuffle of resources and the maximum utilization of land and labour. Examination of the pattern of generational turnover and of the working arrangements between parents and adult children suggests that relationships between the generations were built on reciprocity and that co-operation or some other mutual help was essential in the post-emancipation village.