The Peasant Self-government in the Lithuanian Country after the Abolition of Serfdom: the Backwardness or Progress Factor?

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the influence of the peasant self-government system, which had been functioning in Vilna and Kovno Governorates since the abolition of serfdom in 1861 (in Suwałki Governorate – since the land reform of 1864) up to the First World War, on the Lithuanian peasant life. The functioning of different self-government structures in the daily life is characterised. The article specifies changes in the peasant opinion towards the system. The essential differences between the peasant self-government regulations in Vilna, Kovno and Suwałki Governorates are highlighted. The effects of the system on the Lithuanian peasant life were ambiguous. On the one hand, it brought some novelties to the country, such as a bureaucracy and a regular management of public affairs. On the other hand, it conserved the communal mentality of peasantry by creating legal conditions for the collegial self-government institutions to restrict the freedom of community members to change their place of living and occupation. The peasant self-government in Suwałki was not based on the estates of the realm, thus it provided better circumstances for the modernisation of peasantry.