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Formal conversion to serf status and the later ban on the sale of serfs without land did not stop the trade in household slaves; this trade merely changed its name. The private owners of the serfs regarded the law as a mere formality. Instead of "sale of a peasant" the papers would advertise "servant for hire" or similar.
Furthermore, the increasing use of money made tenant farming by serfs less profitable; for much less than it cost to support a serf, a lord could now hire workers who were more skilled and pay them in cash. Paid labour was also more flexible, since workers could be hired only when they were needed. [3]
The nobles and clerics were traditionally exempt from taxes, and the burden fell mainly on the peasants. After paying dues to the landlord, the serfs were unable to create high tax revenues for Joseph's centralized state. The Emperor recognized that the abolishment of the feudal system would allow peasants to pay higher tax rates to the state. [2]
Serfs had a specific place in feudal society, as did barons and knights: in return for protection, a serf would reside upon and work a parcel of land within the manor of his lord. Thus, the manorial system exhibited a degree of reciprocity.
Serfs held plots of land, which was essentially a form of "payment" that the lord offered in exchange for the serf’s service. [183] Serfs worked part-time for the masters and part-time for themselves and had opportunities to accumulate personal wealth that often did not exist for the slave. [182]
Those who had been serfs among the Russian peasantry were officially emancipated in 1861. Photograph by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky . A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord.
The term of service during the 18th century was for life. In 1793 it was reduced to 25 years. Individual conscripts were drawn from urban and rural males of Russian nationality who paid poll-tax (including serfs), upon reaching the age of twenty. Because of the large population pool available, exemptions were common with the decisions largely ...
The peasants had to pay off installment debt for 49 years in the form of "redemption payments" at the rate of 6% per annum of the redemption amount. In general, the peasants bought not only land, but also the value of serf labor, which enabled the state to cash in on the redemption operation.