The peasant community is the lowest administrative unit. The need for its re-creation in the XIX century and the causes of destruction

Peasant communities are the lowest levelsadministrative unit. In Russia they appeared in the 16th century, transformed for state peasants during the reform of 1837-1841, for landlord serfs after the reform of 1861. They were created on the initiative of the state, which pursued domestic political goals. The causes of the destruction of peasant communities were also created by him.

What is this - a peasant community, how did it come about?

The Russian people have communal ties between peasantsexisted even before the state period. In the distant past, the peasant community was the prototype of the state, since it was in it that the basic prerequisites for its emergence arose. In the process of formation and formation of the state there were changes in the community. At various stages of the history of our state, its significance has changed, which can be expressed in two ways:

• The peasants' connection to the land (serfdom or not).
• The scope of tasks that the state assigned to the community.

Analyzing, for example, the 16th century community with thesepositions, we will see that at that time the peasant was legally free and recognized as a "householder", which obliged him to pull the tax, that is, to pay a quid and to work out the duties that would be imposed on him by the "peasant world".

Speaking modern legal language,The peasant community is the institute of self-government of the peasants of Russia. Several neighboring communities constituted an administrative unit - a rural municipality. They were governed by gatherings (peace), on which the eldest was elected.

Rural community in serfdom

With the spread of serfdom, civilthe status of peasants has significantly decreased. In the event that the peasants were state-owned, great importance in their lives was played by the community, which disposed of land plots. For the state, the peasant actually meant nothing, even taxes collected and paid by the community.

The serfs belonged to the landlords,who fully responsible for them, the state did not supervise them. The peasant community is a pure formality (in this case). All questions were resolved by the feudal lord (landlord). The death of the peasant community occurred.

The Reform of 1837-1841

Under the leadership of Count PD. Kiselev, the first minister of state property, reformed the way of life of the state peasants (1837-1841). Its main document was the law "Institutions of rural management", on its basis peasants belonging to the state, organized in rural communities. It was still a peasant community, as it provided for general land use. It included 1500 souls. If the settlement was small, then the community was joined by several villages, villages or hamlets.

Rural society

General management issues were solved by the village gathering, withhis help was chosen by the elders. To make a decision on minor cases among members of the community, there was a "Rural Massacre". All significant cases were considered by the court. Taxes paid society, and not a single peasant. The society was responsible for each of its members, that is, carried a circular guarantee. The peasant could not freely leave the society or sell the land allotment. Even after leaving to work on the resolution of the descent, he had to pay tax. Otherwise, he was forcibly returned with the help of the police.

The whole land was in common use. There were two forms of land ownership:

• Community. With this form, all the land was in the community, and she carried out the repartition of the land. Arable land was cut into plots that were attached to each yard. Forests, pastures were in common use.
• The housekeeper. This community was common in the western regions. The earth was cut into permanent plots, which were fixed to the yard and were inherited. They could not be sold.

After the reform of 1861, unification into ruralsociety touched landlord peasants. They united in communities, which included former serfs, belonging to the same landlord. The number of people in the society should be between 300 and 2000.

Destruction of the peasant community

By decree of November 9, 1906, the Russian governmentconsciously creates political prerequisites leading to the disintegration of rural societies. In addition, there were also social reasons for the destruction of the peasant community, which can be summarized as follows.

After the liberation of the peasants from serfdomthey did not receive freedom, as they were in the community and could not take land from it. They had to pay tax. In fact, they were in serfdom, not from the landlord, but from the state. The discontent with this situation of peasants in the country was growing. The villagers abandoned their allotments and fled to the cities for a better share.

After the revolutionary events of 1905,the question of leaving the rural society is not just a peasant, but a householder with his allotment of land, which he could dispose of at his own discretion and not depend on the community. This right was granted by decree of 09.01.1906.

The political reason for the destruction of the peasant community was the situation in the country where the revolutionary events were brewing, and it was dangerous to keep the rural population without rights in large associations.

Stolypin Reform

According to the draft reform, it was necessaryto divide the rural society into two parts. The first part is a land society, it can be defined as a partnership that managed the land owned by peasants and landlords. The second part - the society of self-government, which is the lowest administrative unit, it should include all the inhabitants and farmers of the given territory of all classes.

The social meaning of the Stolypin reform wasis to create many small peasant farms across the country that will be interested in the political stability of the state. But they all had to enter the territorial rural societies. Stolypin's reform was never adopted by the State Duma.

Rural societies survived untilcollectivization. The Bolsheviks, while preserving the communal use of land, took into account the positive aspects of the Stolypin reform, created a local government, which was called the village councils.