Russian Peasant Research Articles

А.А. ФЕТ, И.А. БУНИН И КОРОВЬЯ СМЕРТЬ: ОБРЯД ОПАХИВАНИЯ В ОРЛОВСКОЙ ГУБЕРНИИ (ЭТНОГРАФИЧЕСКИЕ И ЗООАНТРОПОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ АСПЕКТЫ)

This paper is based on the brief descriptions (in the memoirs of Afanasy Fet and in the prose of Ivan Bunin) of the ancient plowing rite (“opakhivanie”) in the Oryol province. The rite was carrying out with deadly diseases of livestock. Attention is paid to the zooanthropological aspect of this rite - the attitude of the Russian peasantry in the 19th century towards cats and dogs.

Towards a Conceptual-Historical Critique of the Essentialist and Teleological Interpretations of Russian History. Part 2

Continuing to question some traditional historiographical theses, in this second part, the author discusses the common assertion that “popular” praxis is dependent on naïve belief in the benevolent tsar: on the contrary, the subjects of action adapt their beliefs to their needs. A still very influential historiography considers that illusions, naïve, popular, and false as well as passivity would constitute the plurisecular “mentality” of the Russian peasantry. But mentality is a category that is deficient in the explanation of historical dynamics, especially when it comes to change. Against the verdict “false” applied to the myth of the benevolent tsar, the author explains why a myth is neither true nor false and stresses that it should not be considered as a stage in a history of thought that would lead to a scholarly representation but it is necessary to understand its origin, its logic and the usefulness of its use by human beings, in particular its role in the production of modern political thought. Against the positivist historiography’s disdain for popular metaphors, the author highlights the “truth” of the autocratic system that this linguistic figure expresses and the permeability between metaphor and action. The study concludes by tracing, based on the material analyzed, Russian history’s own path towards a political modernity that by its reality inhibits the existence of any central modernity and situates the moment at which this Russian modernity appears in the light of day.

Tolstoy on the injustice of the philosophy of education

Abstract Tolstoy had a lifelong interest in education and philosophy. However, he was suspicious of using philosophy as a foundation for educational practice or applying philosophy to the educational problems of his day, most importantly, the development of an education system in Russia around the time of the emancipation of the serfs. Tolstoy’s rejection of the philosophy of education arose from his concerns about what would be identified in contemporary terminology as ‘epistemic injustice’ or ‘epistemicide’. How could European philosophy inform a curriculum and pedagogy for the Russian peasantry when the peasants’ own forms of knowledge were more valuable to their ways of life? Tolstoy sought to answer this question by engaging with children in peasant schools. This experience informed the development of his own worldview, articulated in the latter years of his life—a vision of uniting the insights of indigenous peoples from various times and places to inform what he considered to be the pursuit of authentic knowledge. This article considers Tolstoy’s apparent rejection of the philosophy of education, exploring how this seemingly bombastic position led to the evolution of an innovative meta-philosophy that offers some contribution to thinking about contemporary educational problems.

The reception of "Sketchers of a hunter" in USA, or I.S. Turgenev against slavery

The following article contains a research of the reasons for Turgenev's "Sketches of a hunter" popularity in XIXth century USA. It is considered the general reasons for the interest of Russia and the United States in each other, and the immediate reasons for Turgenev's popularity in America in the 1850s. The author analyses early American reviews on this book and finds out that the cause for such popularity was the common social problem of slavery in the USA and serfdom in Russia. The first few reviews of Americans on Turgenev's book indicate that the author of "Sketches of a hunter" was initially perceived in the New World as a writer who raises only social problems. Some of Turgenev's texts were compared with the works of American writers, for example, with Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe's “Uncle Tom's Cabin”. The aesthetic meaning of "Sketches of a hunter" became clear to American critics only in the late 19th century due to some Turgenev-influenced American writers, such as George Cable, Hamlin Garland, Sherwood Anderson. At this time, the first complete English translation of "Sketches of a hunter" was made by Constance Garnet.

American Slavery and Russian Serfdom in the Post-emancipation Imagination

American Slavery and Russian Serfdom in the Post-emancipation Imagination

“Village prose” in the context of conflict between the traditional russian culture and the soviet modernity

The article is devoted to analysis of the works of the so-called village prose (F. Abramov, V. Shukshin, V. Rasputin, A. Solzhenitsyn) in the decolonial perspective using the concept of internal colonization. The characteristics of this concept and its heuristic potential are given. The application of semiotic method - distinction of markers - allowed the authors to determine the points of divergence in the socialist realism poetics and the village prose. It is shown that the village prose plots do not fit into the soviet ideological narratives, while the key narrative of the modern thinking - progress - in the artistic world of the village text testifies to the destruction of Russian village and the Russian peasantry. It is revealed that F. Abramov's application of the deconstruction method allowed to revaluate the narratives that are important for the soviet ideology. In V. Shukshins stories we have found an opposition of modernity - traditionalism, which serves as a precondition for the comic. It allows us to identify a subordinate position of a villager-peasant, irrelevant in the world of modernity.

The Russian peasant family in the twentieth century: a structural-typological and dynamic analysis

ABSTRACT The study discusses the transformation of the peasant family in Russia in the twentieth century and focuses on the materials of the budget surveys of peasant households in the Middle Urals in 1928/1929 and in 1963. The population censuses of 1926, 1939, and 1959 allow us to compare the family structure in rural areas of the Urals diachronically and to chart the evolution of the Russian peasant family. While the Ural budget surveys reflect the national dynamics, they also bear the signs of specific regional characteristics: milder demographic effects because WOII, higher rates of urbanization in rural areas as a result of the accompanying migration processes. Our study has shown that the demographic transition in Russia was characterised by the following : a very fast, albeit belated, change in the family structure from 1920 to the 1960s; the family was affected by demographic disasters such as wars and political campaigns. As a result, the peasant family could not maintain the fertility rates at the replacement level. The structural-typological analysis and micro-level modelling of the family life cycle have demonstrated that peasant families had peculiar mechanisms of adaptation to internal and external pressures. While the life cycle of the traditional family household was largely determined by the peasant economy, in an urbanized society there were two main family types and, correspondingly, two types of the family life cycle. The reduced life cycle of the single parent family became secondary to the ‘model’ life cycle of the two parent family. Soviet modernization contributed to the transformation of ‘fragmented’ family forms into a typical version of the family landscape, not only in cities but also in rural areas.

М. Горький. «О русском крестьянстве»: проблематика, поэтика, исторический контекст

The article examines Gorky’s special, negatively distrustful attitude towards the Russian peasantry, whose political and spiritual conservatism could prevent, in the writer’s opinion, the realization of the socialist ideals of the revolution. During the 1917 revolution and the Civil War, it seemed to Gorky that it was the Russian “peasant” who could ruin the revolution and that the revolution itself was inexorably turning into a brutal struggle between town and village, workers and intellectuals on the one hand and peasants on the other. The result of the writer ‘s intense reflections in 1917–1921. Gorky’s artistic and journalistic article “On the Russian Peasantry” (1922) was about the fate of his native people and its role in the revolution, which became his first major public appearance in the press after leaving Russia for Europe. Based on Gorky’s negative attitude towards the Russian peasantry, it seems quite natural that the writer at the turn of the 1920–30s supported the Bolshevik policy of universal collectivization of the village. Moreover, it was the radical breaking of the foundations of village life that made him believe in the “truly socialist character” of the October Revolution.

Historical Necropolis of Jewish Subbotniks in the Town of Zima, Irkutsk Region

The Subbotniks, or gers, were Russian Sabbatarians. The article describes a necropolis of exiled Jewish Subbotniks founded in the village of Zima, Irkutsk Province, in the early 1830s. The Subbotniks shared the necropolis with the Jews since both exile communities maintained close routine and religious contacts. The research objective was to catalog the authentic tombstones of 1865–1947 and determine the influence of Judaism on the religious life the Subbotniks. The article gives a general description of the Sabbatarian sects that appeared among Russian peasants at the turn of the XVIII–XIX centuries and explains how they ended up in the Irkutsk Province. The author studied the Jewish burial and mourning practices adopted by the Subbotniks and compared the Zima necropolis with traditional Jewish cemeteries. The descriptions of tombstones and epitaphs were collected during the expeditions of 2017 and 2019.The surviving tombstones were cataloged, and the epitaphs were translated from Hebrew into Russian to compile a list of those buried in the cemetery during the period in question. The research also included the tombstones that belonged to the Jews who lived in Zima in the XIX – early XX centuries.

Russkoe krest'yanstvo i problemy novoj teokratii: po materialam ustnoj istorii

The article, based on the materials of the rich personal archive of the oral history of the author, shows the processes of sacralization of power that took place in the Russian village in the 1920s and 1930s. Of particular interest are changes in the mentality of the peasants of that era associated with the offensive of power on the religious beliefs of Russian peasants.

Lessons Learned: The Influence on Lincoln of Alexander II's Emancipatino of Russian Serfs

Lessons Learned: The Influence on Lincoln of Alexander II's Emancipatino of Russian Serfs

“Beauty and the Beast”: Romance, Reform, and Mystery in the Films of Lon Chaney

“Beauty and the Beast”: Romance, Reform, and Mystery in the Films of Lon Chaney

Impact of Famine of 1924—1925 on Social and Political Mood of Peasantry in Tambov Province

The causes and consequences of the famine in the Tambov province in 1924—1925 are examined in the article. The relevance of the study is due to the need for a comprehensive study of the Russian peasantry of the “revolutionary breakthrough generation” (born at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries). The main attention is paid to the impact of famine on the social and political moods of the peasantry. In order to determine the factors that influenced the self-awareness of the villagers, the documents of the funds of the Russian Archive of Social and Political History and the State Archive of Social and Political History of the Tambov Region were studied. A wide range of documents of central and local party organizations and state security bodies are used in the article. The social practices resorted to by rural society for survival in extreme crop failure conditions are considered. Relations between the main social groups of the village are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the mechanisms of state aid to the starving. As a result of the conducted research, an increase in oppositional attitudes among the peasantry has been proven. An increase in religiosity and egalitarian tendencies in rural areas is considered characteristic. It was established that significant state aid contributed to the spread of peasant loyalty to the government.

УЧАСТИЕ САМОДЕЯТЕЛЬНЫХ ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫХ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЙ В РАЗВИТИИ СЕЛЬСКОГО ХОЗЯЙСТВА В ПОРЕФОРМЕННОЙ РОССИИ (1870-1910 ГГ.)

After the abolition of serfdom in Russia, amateur public organizations began to emerge to disseminate best agricultural practices among landowners. The emergence of such organizations was caused by the fact that Russian agriculture was very slowly being reorganized in a capitalist way. The problem was reflected in Russian society through the articles of scientific agronomists and naturalists. It was explained not only by the lack of means necessary for capitalist conversion, but also by the low culture offarming and the lack of necessary knowledge and skills. Agricultural societies that emerged throughout the country and the local branches of the ‘capital’, central societies: animal and plant acclimatization societies, horticultural societies, horticultural societies, agricultural poultry farms tried to compensate for this deficiency. The experience of their work is of considerable interest and may be of use today, in a rapidly changing reality.

Deviations in Reproductive Behaviour of Russian Peasant Women in the Middle Ural (19th – early 20th centuries)

Deviations in Reproductive Behaviour of Russian Peasant Women in the Middle Ural (19th – early 20th centuries)

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

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.

German Colonies of St. Petersburg Province

Russia of the 18th – 19th centuries faced a crucial challenge of sparsely populated suburbs consolidation through their economic development. Acute shortage of work force to be involved for transformation of Novorossiya, the steppes of the North Caucasus and the Middle Volga region, Siberia and some other regions into the centers of commodity agriculture and industrial production, forced the authorities to turn to the use of European experience and place a bet on foreign colonization. Central Europe, devastated by the Seven-Year War, brought to life tens of thousands of potential colonists, who answered the call of Empress Catherine the Great to move to the unoccupied lands of the Russian Empire. Since 1765, the first colonies (Novo-Saratovka, Srednaya Rogatka, Yamburg and Izhora colonies) were formed near St. Petersburg. Investigation of the history of these settlements in the imperial period is extremely poor in modern historiography. The article examines the initial period of their existence (1765 – 1800s). It took about 30 years for German colonists to adapt to new living conditions. Some colonies (Srednaya Rogatka) became centers of commodity production of agricultural products (potatoes, etc.), sold in the capital-city market, at the beginning of the 19th century already. Experiments on the advanced multi-field system implementation, initiated by Semyon Dzhunkovsky, opened the way to increase productivity and income of the colonists. The new crop rotation system spurted into popularity not only in the colonies, but in the neighboring settlements of Russian peasants as well. The article is intended for specialists engaged in the study of agrarian development, ethnic minorities of Russia in the imperial period.

Metaphysical Aspects of Russian Social Consciousness in Russian Philosophy and Publicity of the beginning of the 20th Century

The article notes that for an in-depth analysis of the worldview and socio-political exhortations of the "Russian world" ideology carriers, it is insufficient to identify only the natural and historical prerequisites for the formation of these exhortations. It is necessary to reveal the deep metaphysical foundations of the Russian ethnic group spirituality. The fact these foundations have transformed into one of the essential elements of the "Russian world" aggressive spiritual substance, increase the relevance of this problem in modern conditions. The author of the article offers an overview of understanding of this problem by the representatives of Russian journalism and philosophy of the beginning of the 20th century, Maxim Gorkiy and Nikolai Berdyaev. The article notes that M. Gorky in his essay "On the Russian Peasantry" criticizes the illusory views of Russian writers of the middle and the second half of the 19th century on the nature of the Russian peasantry (and at the same time the Russian ethnic group in general, because Russian society was mostly peasant) as a wise seeker of truth and justice, a person with a broad and generous soul, a carrier of world humanistic values. The specificity of the development of Russian history, the geographical living conditions formed, in Gorky's opinion, the traits of cruelty, aggressiveness, and contempt for the human personality that define the behavior of the Russian peasant. These features, imprinted on the deep supra-individual level of the Russian peasant, are invariant with respect to the class and political affiliation of their bearers. They can be eradicated only through radical social transformations and long educational processes. The article pays special attention to N. Berdyaev's views on the metaphysical roots of historical and spiritual manifestations of the Russian soul. Under this review, he analyzes the existential ideas of Russians about the value of human life, about their attitude to God, to the ideas about good and evil, as well as their attitude to the state and other peoples. Berdyaev considered the main source of aggressiveness, irrationality and unpredictability of Russian deeds to be the underdevelopment of the personal principle in the spiritual and social life of Russian society. He considers the consequences of such underdevelopment in the history of the social structure of Russian society, in the religious practices of Russians. The conviction of Russians in the divine origin and universality of their values gives them confidence that Russia must become the liberator of the nations.The author of the article expresses the opinion that the value orientations of Russians rooted at the metaphysical level regarding the messianic character of their actions in relation to other peoples, confidence in their chosenness do not provide grounds to hope for changes in these orientations as a result of a change in political, spiritual leaders or political power.

“The Persians Themselves Will Not Do Anything to Raise the Region”: Consul K. V. Ivanov on The Problems and Prospects of Russian Resettlement and Land Ownership in the Caspian Provinces of Iran (Early 20th Century)

The article is devoted to the views of the Russian consul in Astarabad K. V. Ivanov on the issues of Russian peasant resettlement and Russian land ownership in northeastern Iran on the eve and during the First World War. Already in the first decade of the 20th century, Russian peasants were drawn to the region in search of a new life. Starting spontaneously, this process soon attracted the attention of both Russian representatives in this country and the Foreign Ministry. At the same time, a large Russian land ownership in Persia began to arise. These issues directly affected the field of consul Ivanov's official activities and were the subject of his reflections and discussions with higher authorities. The article presents the consul's views on the subject, the proposed program of action to stimulate resettlement and assistance to settlers, as they appear in various sources, mainly in diplomatic correspondence. These issues have received insufficient coverage in historiography, and therefore require careful study.

Революция 1905-1907 гг. в воспоминаниях крестьян Тамбовской губернии

The paper examines the memoirs of participants in the revolution of 1905–07 stored in the State Archive of the Socio-Political History of the Tambov Region (GASPITO). Fond 382 “Department of the Gubernia Committee of the RCP (B) for Studying the History of the October Revolution and the Party” has been analyzed. Due to scarcity of personal provenance documents created by peasants, analysis of the memoirs written in the Soviet era is of great importance. Most national and foreign scientists who studied similar topics mainly used the reports of the police department and other official documents. Peasant memoirs were rarely considered. The memoirs compiled in 1925 contain various data on the revolutionary movement in the Russian village in the early 20th century. The authors provided information on their origin, occupation, political beliefs, etc. Peasant uprisings, their orientation, and punitive actions of the government were described in sufficient detail. The relevance of the study is determined by the importance of comprehensive analysis of the Russian peasantry. When examining the memoirs, the author has used historical-comparative and retrospective methods. The key scientific principle is historicism. The article underscores special role of the “revolutionary turning point” generation representatives in the events of the first third of the 20th century. The majority of peasants who wrote memoirs was born at the turn of the 20th century and took an active part in the revolution of 1905–07. Generational history provides a deeper understanding of the motivation of the young people who became organizers of the agrarian riots. The article focuses on the impact of the revolutionary events on the behavioral practices of rural society. It cites instances of revolutionary agitation of peasants by seasonal workers. Relations between peasants and landlords are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of peasant uprisings. The research showcases great generational gap in the village. The youth, by virtue of its inherent psychosocial qualities, was the most important catalyst for the revolution. There was characteristic influence of marginal elements on the peasant community. The study shows that memoirs created in the Soviet period were characterized by politicization and ideological predestination. However, these shortcomings do not reduce their importance for understanding the peasant worldview. The memoirs of direct participants point to continuity of the events of 1905 and 1917.