Smolensk nobility against the government: from the history of the abolition of serfdom in Russia

Abstract

The article analyzes the participation of the Smolensk nobility in the discussion of the peasant question in Russia in 1847-1859. The author focuses on the perception of government initiatives by the Smolensk nobility, its reaction to plans to abolish serfdom before the rescripts and during their discussion. The article shows that the local «program» of the abolition of serfdom in general was formed during the work of country meetings, before the opening of the provincial committee; that the government, involving the provincial nobility in the preparation of the reform, saw in him only an unquestioning executor of the orders of the center, that it was the clash of state and local interests that led to consolidation of Smolensk landowners, who defended the possibility of preserving farms even after the abolition of serfdom.