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The origins of serfdom in Russia may be traced to the 12th century, when the exploitation of the so-called zakups on arable lands (ролейные (пашенные) закупы, roleyniye (pashenniye) zakupy) and corvée smerds (Russian term for corvée is барщина, barschina) was the closest to what is now known as serfdom.
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems.It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery.
According to the Russian census of 1857, Russia had 23.1 million private serfs. [5] Russian serfdom was perhaps the most notable Eastern European institution, as it was never influenced by German law and migrations, [citation needed] and serfdom and the manorial system were enforced by the crown , not by the nobility. [citation needed]
The code consolidated Russia's slaves and free peasants into a new serf class and pronounced class hereditary as unchangeable (see Russian serfdom). The new code prohibited travel between towns without an internal passport. The Russian nobility agreed to serve in the army, but were granted the exclusive privilege of owning serfs.
While slavery has not been widespread on the territory of what is now Russia since the introduction of Christianity in the tenth century, serfdom in Russia, which was in many ways similar to landless peasantry in Feudal Europe, only ended in February 19th, 1861 when Russian Emperor Alexander II issued The Emancipation of the serfs in 1861 ...
By 1860, Russian GDP per capita was similar to that of Japan; one-third of GDP per capita in the United States or the United Kingdom; and twice that of China or India. [1] Russia was a late industrializer. [1] Serfdom, which held back development of the wage labor market and created a shortage of labor for industry, was abolished in 1861.
Where Domar argues that labor scarcity is a necessary but exogenous political factor needed for serfdom, Rosa challenges his view by showing that “in an agrarian subsistence economy the complementary conditions of serfdom are (a) oligopsony power in labor demand, sustained by (b) an oligopolistic supply of violence by large land owners.”
The End of Serfdom: Nobility and Bureaucracy in Russia, 1855-1861 (1976) McCaffray, Susan P. "Confronting Serfdom in the Age of Revolution: Projects for Serf Reform in the Time of Alexander I", Russian Review (2005) 64#1 pp 1–21 online; Moon, David. The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia: 1762-1907 (2001). links