Sentence to serfdom. Review of the book: Dolgikh A. N. "Tinderbox under the state": ways of solving the peasant question in Russia in the epoch of Nicholas I. Historiographical essays. Lipetsk: lgpuim. Semenovtyan-shansky, 2022. 478 p.

Abstract

Introduction. The article is devoted to the review of the book of Doctor of Historical Sciences Professor Arkady Dolgikh about the history of serfdom. Today, the agrarian theme is one of the most important topics for understanding the historical process that has taken place on the territory of the Russian state since the formation of the Muscovite state in the 15th-16th centuries. and up to the 20th century.Materials and methods. The technique of the article is connected with the analysis of the article from general historical positions. The fundamental importance of the question of serfdom lies in the fact that this phenomenon has dragged on considerably. Obviously, it interfered with the full development of Russia, turning most of its population into a mass, devoid of any interest in the results of their own work, which means that it formed entire generations of people deprived of an active life position with a low level of political culture and education.Results. There is no doubt that the reforms carried out by Peter I, which almost completely subordinated all the estate groups of the country to the interests of the state, needed to be adjusted after the end of the Northern War and the introduction of a new poll tax. The ruling circles of Russia, for the most part, were aware of the importance of this adjustment and the danger of stagnation of the serf regime, but until 1861 no one dared to do this due to various subjective and objective reasons. As a result, literally every year a real ―powder magazine‖ grew and increased in size under the building of the House of Romanov, which not only interfered with the full development of their state, but also doomed it to death.Conclusion. The author of the review comes to the conclusion that the new book on serfdom shows the importance of this problem and once again reminds the reader of this phenomenon as a terrible evil hindering the development of Russia.