page_title: Emancipation reform of 1861
section_title: Outcomes
hierarchical_section_title: Emancipation reform of 1861 / Outcomes
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Alfons Mucha: Zrušení nevolnictví na Rusi English: The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia
context_page_description: The Emancipation Reform of 1861 in Russia, also known as the Emancipation Edict of Russia, was the first and most important of the liberal reforms passed during the reign of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. The reform effectively abolished serfdom throughout the Russian Empire.
  The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto proclaimed the emancipation of the serfs on private estates and of the domestic serfs. By this edict more than 23 million people received their liberty. Serfs gained the full rights of free citizens, including rights to marry without having to gain consent, to own property and to own a business. The Manifesto prescribed that peasants would be able to buy the land from the landlords. Household serfs were the least affected: they gained only their freedom and no land.
  In Georgia the emancipation took place later, in 1864, and on much better terms for the nobles than in Russia. The serfs were emancipated in 1861, following a speech given by Tsar Alexander II on 30 March 1856. State owned serfs, i.e., those living on Imperial lands, were emancipated later, in 1866.
context_section_description: Despite newly acquired freedom, the life of a serf remained grim in many aspects. Household serfs were the least benefited, gaining their freedom, but no land. Many bureaucrats believed that these reforms would bring about drastic changes that would only affect the "lower stories" of society, strengthening the autocracy. In reality, the reforms forced the monarch to coexist with an independent court, free press, and local governments—all operating differently and more freely than they had in the past. This new form of local government involved in each area an assembly called a zemstvo. In regards to new localized government, the reforms put in place a system where the landowners were now able to have more of a say within their newly formed "provinces". While this was not the direct intent of the reforms, it was evident that this significantly weakened the idea of the autocracy. Now, the "well-to-do" serfs, along with previously free peoples, were able to purchase land as private property. While early in the reforms the creation of local government had not changed many things about Russian society, the rise in capitalism drastically affected not only the social structure of Russia, but the behaviors and activities of the self-government institutions. With new, capitalistic ideals, local government was not responsible for the rules and regulations dictating how the new market would operate. If there was a positive of this movement towards localized government, from the autocracy's point of view; it was (as Petr Valuev put it): the zemstvo would "provide activity for the considerable portion of the press as well as those malcontents who currently stir up trouble because they have nothing to do".
caption: The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia: Work in Freedom is the Foundation of a State (1914), by Alphonse Mucha, The Slav Epic
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