The main classes of Russian society brief summary. Estates in the Russian Empire

Work in the lesson is planned according to the following plan:

Lesson Plan

1. Russian nobility.

2. Requirements of the nobility.

3. Service people "according to the instrument."

4. Spiritual class.

Question 1-3. Teacher's story

The society has developed two main groups of the feudal class(service people “in the fatherland”): boyars and nobility.

The boyars included service princes (from among the descendants of the Rurikovichs, Gediminovichs and Tatar Horde princes who switched to Russian service and

nobility), as well as representatives of the old Moscow boyars, boyars of appanage principalities and lands annexed to Moscow.

Another, more numerous group of service people “in the fatherland” was the nobility, formed from the servants of the princely and boyar courts. At the lowest level of this hierarchy were the most land-poor noble landowners, who were included in the category of “children of boyars” and “urban nobles.”

By the 17th century the upper part of the feudal class was part of « ranks" of the Sovereign's court and consisted of two categories: "Duma ranks" - boyars, okolnichy and Duma nobles, as well as Moscow ranks - stolniks, solicitors, Moscow nobles. The total number of the Sovereign's court during this period was about 1,200 people. Each rank was entitled to a certain local salary and cash salary, which was paid regularly.

The landowner received the estate for life as long as he could bear military service, and it was passed on by inheritance if the son reached 15 years of age at the time of his father’s death and could serve the state. If a serviceman was forced to leave the service for health reasons, then part of his former estate was allocated to him for subsistence.

In addition to service people “according to the fatherland”, as the state military-political system of the Muscovite kingdom became more complex during the 16th-17th centuries, a very significant category of service people “according to the device” (recruitment) was formed, whom the state accepted into hired service for military and guard duty. services. This military service class included Moscow and city archers, gunners, state blacksmiths, and serving Cossacks. For the performance of their official duties, this class category received a salary not in land, but in grain and cash allowances and other “dachas”. Since payments from the sovereign treasury were made extremely rarely, these instrumental people were given a small plot of land for “feed” for the artel. In addition, they were allowed to engage in petty trade and handicrafts at their place of service.

The sovereign was interested in strengthening the nobility, which was the social support of autocratic power. Under pressure from the nobility, in an atmosphere of violent social unrest, in 1648 the preparation of a new set of laws began, which would take into account the class interests of landowners and the townsfolk elite and would contribute to the further strengthening of the autocratic system.

WORKING WITH A HISTORICAL SOURCE

From the petition of the nobles about the abolition of school years. 1641

…Nobles and children beat Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich of All Rus' with their brows different cities all over the earth.

Because of them, their old people and peasants run away to different cities, to large estates and to patrimonial estates, to patriarchal, and metropolitan, and archbishop's... and to the sovereign's palace villages, and to black volosts... And those are many landowners and votchinniki and monasteries are built for their fugitive people and peasants in empty places, and their estates and votchinas become empty. And those same fugitive people and peasants, having survived the lesson years of those people and hoping for those strong people, where someone begins to live, coming because of those strong people, and the rest of the people and peasants are persuaded because of them, and their houses are set on fire, and they are destroyed with all sorts of destruction...

And they will check on their runaway peasants, but those peasants of theirs will not receive a lesson, and they cannot achieve a trial or decree on those runaway peasants... And the sovereign would... order them in all matters to be judged according to the code of law of the blessed memory of the Tsar and the Great Prince Ivan Vasilyevich of All Rus'...

Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Rus', listening to the petitions of the nobles and the children of the boyars, pointed out, and the boyars sentenced: to give justice to the peasantry for all ranks of people and for violence. And people of all ranks want to strengthen the runaway foreign peasants behind them. And whoever starts looking for peasants’ bellies and does not have property from the peasants, and refuses them and does not give them a trial.

Questions :

1) To whom did the peasants run away from their feudal lords (landowners and patrimonial lords)?

2) Who are the petitioners complaining about?

3) Why were landowners and patrimonial owners interested in attaching peasants to their land? What way out of this situation did they offer?

) Do you think that attaching peasants to the land could contribute to the enrichment of landowners and the state?

5) Which years are called “lesson years”? The Council Code, adopted in 1649, contained a chapter in which all the most important changes in the legal status of the local landowner were fixed. It was established that the owners of the estates could be

both boyars and nobles.

Question No.4. The teacher suggests recalling the structure of church government and complements the students’ answers.

The Orthodox Church had a branched structure and covered the entire territory of the country.

At the grassroots level there were churches and monasteries. Most of these were parish churches, which were centers religious life in cities and villages. In the 80s XVII century there were about 15 thousand churches, including about 200 cathedrals in major cities.

Important place in the church system were occupied by monasteries, which in the second half of the 17th century. there were about 650.

The highest level of the church organization were the patriarchal and bishops' houses, which were in charge of the administration of the clergy in the territory of the diocese and throughout Russia. In the state at the beginning of the century there were 12-13 dioceses, in the 70s. XVII century - 19-20, 5 metropolises, archdioceses and bishoprics. In the 80s the number of dioceses increased to 24, including metropolises - to 12.

At the head of the Russian Orthodox Church stood the patriarch.

The church was a major feudal lord. Most of the estates with peasants belonged to monasteries, a smaller part - to the patriarchal and bishop's houses, and a small part - to cathedral churches.

The Russian scientist Ya. E. Vodarsky, who studied church organizations of the 17th - early 18th centuries, provided the following data:

in 1653, out of 494 monasteries, 219 (44%) owned estates, in which there were up to 25 peasant households. They were small owners.

The average feudal lords belonged to 163 monasteries (33% of those counted), which owned 26-125 households.

The remaining 112 monasteries had more than 125 peasant households in their estates, including 16 monasteries (13 men's and 3 women's) - more than 1250 households each. Of the latter, the richest was the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. He was the owner of estates with 16.8 thousand peasant households, which were located in many counties of European Russia. The largest owners of land and peasants were the monasteries: Kirillo-Belozersky (5530 households), Yaroslavl Spaso-Preobrazhensky (3879 households), Kostroma Ipatievsky (3657 households), Suzdal Spaso-Evfimievsky and Pokrovsky maiden monasteries, Moscow monasteries: Chudov, Novospassky, Simonov, Novodevichy , Voznesensky et al.

Task and question: 1) Show on the map the cities where the monasteries were located.

2) What changes have occurred in the Russian Orthodox Church and in the position of the church in the state?

1. Nobility.

The ruling class - feudal lords . First of all this boyars who had their own ancestral land holdings - fiefdoms. In the 17th century, as the Russian autocracy consolidated, the position of nobility, which gradually turned into a new class.

IN 1 649 year, the Zemsky Sobor adopted a new Code, according to which the eternal right of feudal lords to dependent peasants was secured and the transfer from one owner to another was prohibited(serfdom).

By the end of the century, up to 10% of peasant households in the country belonged to the tsar, 10% to the boyars, 15% to the church and about 60% to the nobles.

The previous system of filling senior positions in the state according to birth (system localism ) V 1682 year was completely cancelled. All categories of feudal lords were given equal rights.

2. Peasants.

The situation of peasants in the 17th century worsened significantly. The peasantry was divided into two main groups: proprietary And black-mush. The first are the property of feudal lords. They could be sold, exchanged, gifted. The latter owned vast lands (mainly in Pomerania and Siberia) and bore state duties.

Peasants worked for the feudal lords corvée (2-4 days a week), paid natural And monetary quitrent . The taxation system has changed. Instead of land taxes were introduced by yard.

By the end of the century serfs semi-slaves became clerks, messengers, grooms, tailors, falconers, etc.

The average size of peasant plots was 1-2 hectares of land. Wealthy peasants, whose plots reached several tens of hectares, became entrepreneurs, merchants, and traders.

3. Urban population.

In the 17th century, the urban population grew. In new cities, after fortresses, appeared posad. Not only Russians lived in them, but also representatives of other peoples of Russia. Crafts and trade flourished there.

The dominant positions in city life were occupied by rich artisans and merchants . The position of the boyars, nobles and monasteries was also privileged servants and serfs, which in free time They lived in trade and craft.

Wage labor begins to be used, but still on a small scale.

4. Clergy.

By the end of the 17th century, the number of Russian clergy increased (110 thousand people in 15,000 churches). A new church hierarchy emerged. The closest to the believers and the most numerous in composition were parish priests . The highest layer were bishops, archbishops And metropolitans. Headed the church hierarchy patriarch Moscow and all Rus'.

In 1649, the Council Code prohibited the church from increasing its land holdings and eliminated the rights of white settlements.

5. Cossacks.

The Cossacks became a new class for Russia, military class , which included the population of a number of outlying areas of Russia (Don, Yaik, Urals, Terek, Left Bank Ukraine). It enjoyed special rights and benefits under the conditions of compulsory and general military service.

The basis of the economic life of the Cossacks was crafts- hunting, fishing, cattle breeding and agriculture. The bulk of the income was received in the form of government salaries and military booty.

The most important issues in the life of the Cossacks were discussed at a general meeting (“circle”). Led by elected officials atamans And foremen s. Ownership of the land belonged to the entire community.

.
(Historical reference).

The population of a state may consist either of different ethnographic groups or of one nation, but in any case it consists of different social unions (classes, estates).
Estate - social group, which occupies a certain position in the hierarchical structure of society in accordance with its rights, duties and privileges, enshrined in custom or law and transmitted by inheritance.

In Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The Code of Laws of the Russian Empire, which determined the provisions of the estates, continues to operate. The law distinguished four main classes:

nobility,
clergy,
urban population,
rural population.

The urban population, in turn, was divided into five groups:

honorary citizens,
merchants,
shop foremen,
bourgeois,
small owners and working people, those. hired workers

As a result of class division, society was a pyramid, at the base of which were broad social strata, and at the head was the highest ruling stratum of society - the nobility.

Nobility.
Throughout the 18th century. There is a process of strengthening the role of the nobility as the ruling class. Serious changes took place in the very structure of the noble class, its self-organization and legal status. These changes took place in several directions. The first of them was the internal consolidation of the noble class, the gradual erasing of differences between the previously existing main groups of service people “in the fatherland” (boyars, Moscow nobles, police nobles, boyar children, tenants, etc.).

In this regard, the role of the Decree on Single Inheritance of 1714 was great, eliminating the differences between patrimonies and estates and, accordingly, between the categories of nobility who owned land under patrimonial and local rights. After this decree, all noble landowners had land on the basis of a single right - real estate.

The role was also great Tables of Ranks (1722) finally eliminated (at least in legally) the last remnants of localism (appointments to positions “according to the fatherland,” i.e., the nobility of the family and the past service of their ancestors) and at the one who becamefor all nobles the obligation to begin service with the lower ranks of the 14th class (ensign, cornet, midshipman) in the military and naval service, collegiate registrar - in the civil service and consistent advancement through career ladder depending on their merits, abilities and devotion to the sovereign.

It must be admitted that this service was really difficult. Sometimes a nobleman did not visit his estates for most of his life, because... was constantly on campaigns or served in distant garrisons. But already the government of Anna Ivanovna in 1736 limited the service life to 25 years.
Peter III Decree on the liberties of the nobility in 1762 abolished compulsory service for nobles.
A significant number of nobles left the service, retired and settled on their estates. At the same time, the nobility was exempted from corporal punishment.

Catherine II, upon her accession in the same year, confirmed these noble liberties. The abolition of compulsory noble service became possible due to the fact that by the second half of the 18th century. the main foreign policy tasks (access to the sea, development of the South of Russia, etc.) had already been solved and the extreme strain of society’s forces was no longer required.

A number of activities are being carried out aimed at further expansion and confirmation noble privileges and strengthening administrative control over peasants. The most important of them are the Establishment for the Administration of Provinces in 1775 and Charter granted to the nobility in 1785

By the beginning of the 20th century, the nobility continued to be the ruling class, the most united, the most educated and the most accustomed to political power. The first Russian revolution gave impetus to the further political unification of the nobility. In 1906, at the All-Russian Congress of Authorized Noble Societies, the central body of these societies was created - Council of the United Nobility. He had a significant influence on government policy.

Clergy.
The next privileged class after the nobility was the clergy, which was divided into white (parish) and black (monasticism). It enjoyed certain class privileges: the clergy and their children were exempt from the poll tax; conscription; were subject to church court according to canon law (with the exception of cases “according to the word and deed of the sovereign”).

The subordination of the Orthodox Church to the state was a historical tradition rooted in its Byzantine history, where the head of the church was the emperor. Based on these traditions, Peter 1, after the death of Patriarch Adrian in 1700, did not allow the election of a new patriarch, but first appointed Ryazan Archbishop Stefan Yavorsky as locum tenens patriarchal throne with a much smaller amount of ecclesiastical power, and then with the creation of state boards, among them the Ecclesiastical Board was formed, consisting of a president, two vice-presidents, four councilors and four assessors to manage church affairs.

In 1721, the Theological College was renamed Holy Governing Synod. A secular official was appointed to oversee the affairs of the Synod - Chief Prosecutor of the Synod, subordinate to the Prosecutor General.
The bishops who headed church districts - dioceses - were subordinate to the Synod.

After creation Synod, the lands were again returned to the church and the church was obliged to support part of the schools, hospitals and almshouses from its income.

The secularization of church property was completed by Catherine II. By decree of 1764, the church began to be financed from the treasury. Its activities were regulated by the Spiritual Regulations of 1721.

Church governance reforms were carried out not only in the Orthodox Church, but also in Muslim. To manage the Muslim clergy, it was established in 1782 Muftiate. The head of all Muslims of the Russian Empire - the mufti was elected Council of High Muslim Priests and was confirmed in this position by the empress. In 1788, the Muslim Spiritual Administration was established in Orenburg (later transferred to Ufa), headed by the mufti.

Urban population.
Posadskoe, i.e. The urban trade and craft population constituted a special class, which, unlike the nobility and clergy, was not privileged. He was subject to the “sovereign tax” and all taxes and duties, including conscription, and was subject to corporal punishment.

Urban population in the first half of the 19th century. divided into five groups: honorary citizens, merchants, guild foremen, townspeople, small owners and working people, i.e. hired workers.
A special group of eminent citizens, which included large capitalists who owned capital of over 50 thousand rubles. wholesale traders and ship owners from 1807 were called first-class merchants, and from 1832 - honorary citizens.

Philistinism- the main urban tax-paying class in the Russian Empire - originates from the townspeople of Moscow Rus', united in the black hundreds and settlements.

The townspeople were assigned to their city societies, which they could leave only with temporary passports, and transfer to others with the permission of the authorities.

They paid a poll tax, were subject to conscription and corporal punishment, and had no right to enroll in military service. public service, and when entering military service they did not enjoy the rights of volunteers.

Petty trade, various crafts, and hired work were allowed for the townspeople. To engage in crafts and trade, they had to enroll in guilds and guilds.

The organization of the bourgeois class was finally established in 1785. In each city they formed a bourgeois society, elected bourgeois councils or bourgeois elders and their assistants (governments were introduced in 1870).

IN mid-19th V. The townspeople are exempt from corporal punishment, and since 1866 - from the poll tax.

Belonging to the petty bourgeois class was hereditary.

Registration as a bourgeois was open to persons obliged to choose their type of life, to state (after the abolition of serfdom - to all) peasants, but to the latter only upon dismissal from society and permission from the authorities

The tradesman was not only not ashamed of his class, but was even proud of it...
The word "Meshchanin" comes from the Polish word "miasto" - city.

Merchants.
The merchants were divided into 3 guilds: - the first guild was merchants with capital from 10 to 50 thousand rubles; the second - from 5 to 10 thousand rubles; third - from 1 to 5 thousand rubles.

Honorary citizens were divided into hereditary and personal.

Rank hereditary honorary citizen assigned to the big bourgeoisie, children of personal nobles, priests and clerks, artists, agronomists, artists of imperial theaters, etc.
The title of personal honorary citizen was awarded to persons who were adopted by hereditary nobles and honorary citizens, as well as those who graduated technical schools, teachers' seminaries and private theater artists. Honorary citizens enjoyed a number of privileges: they were exempt from personal duties, from corporal punishment, etc.

Peasantry.
The peasantry, which in Russia made up over 80% of the population, practically ensured the very existence of society with their labor. It was it that paid the lion's share of the per capita tax and other taxes and fees that ensured the maintenance of the army, navy, the construction of St. Petersburg, new cities, the Ural industry, etc. It was the peasants who, as recruits, made up the bulk of the armed forces. They also developed new lands.

Peasants made up the bulk of the population, they were divided into: landowners, state possessions and appanages belonging to the royal family.

In accordance with the new laws of 1861, the serfdom of landowners over peasants was abolished forever and the peasants were declared free rural inhabitants with civil rights.
Peasants had to pay a poll tax, other taxes and fees, were given recruits, and could be subjected to corporal punishment. The land on which the peasants worked belonged to the landowners, and until the peasants bought it, they were called temporarily liable and bore various duties in favor of the landowners.
The peasants of each village who emerged from serfdom united into rural societies. For the purposes of administration and justice, several rural societies formed a volost. In villages and volosts, peasants were granted self-government.

THE COSSACKS AS A MILITARY CLASS WAS MISSING IN THE MAIN TEXT OF THE MATERIAL

I'M FILLING THIS GAP WITH MY MODERATOR'S INSERT

COSSACKS

military class in Russia in the 18th - early 20th centuries. In the XIV-XVII centuries. free people who worked for hire, persons who performed military service in border areas (city and guard Cossacks); in the XV-XVI centuries. beyond the borders of Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian state (on the Dnieper, Don, Volga, Ural, Terek), self-governing communities of the so-called free Cossacks (mainly from runaway peasants) arose, which were the main driving force of the uprisings in Ukraine in the 16th-17th centuries. and in Russia in the 17th-18th centuries. The government sought to use the Cossacks to protect borders, in wars, etc. in the 18th century. subjugated it, turning it into a privileged military class. At the beginning of the 20th century. there were 11 Cossack troops (Don, Kuban, Orenburg, Transbaikal, Terek, Siberian, Ural, Astrakhan, Semirechenskoe, Amur and Ussuri). In 1916, the Cossack population was over 4.4 million people, over 53 million acres of land. About 300 thousand people fought in World War I

By the middle of the 19th century, in addition to merchants, factory owners, and bankers, new intelligentsia(architects, artists, musicians, doctors, scientists, engineers, teachers, etc.). The nobility also began to engage in entrepreneurship.

The peasant reform opened the way for the development of market relations in the country. A significant part of entrepreneurship was made up of merchants.

Industrial revolution in Russia in late XIX V. turned entrepreneurs into a significant economic force in the country. Under the powerful pressure of the market, estates and estate privileges are gradually losing their former meaning....

The Provisional Government, by its Decree of March 3, 1917, abolished all class, religious and national restrictions.

Society is the people of one country and the relationships between them. Why do people join together in society? What challenges does society face?

Society is divided into spheres: Politics Economy Culture In each of these spheres there are special groups of people. In Russia these groups of people were called estates

Objectives of Society Spheres public life Estate Order and politics security Feudal lords Providing material benefits Tax-paying population (peasants and townspeople) economy Explanation culture the meaning of life clergy

The boyars included * service princes (from among the descendants of the Rurikovichs) * Tatar Horde princes and nobility from Moldavia and Wallachia who switched to Russian service * representatives of the old Moscow boyars * boyars of appanage principalities and lands annexed to Moscow.

Boyars Responsibilities: Performed public service Rights Ownership of land with peasants (patrimonies) on the basis private property. The estate can be sold, bequeathed, or donated.

The nobility was formed from the servants of the princely and boyar courts: Land-poor "Ranks" of the sovereign nobles-landowners of the court: ("children of the boyars" and * "Duma ranks" "city nobles") boyars, okolnichi, and Duma nobles; * “Moscow ranks” stewards, solicitors, Moscow nobles

Nobles: Responsibilities: Performed public service Rights: - owned the estate for life as long as they could perform military service; - the estate was inherited if the son reached 15 years of age at the time of his father’s death and could serve the state.

Service people according to the instrument (by recruitment) The state accepted them into hired service for military and guard duty: Moscow and city archers Pushkars State blacksmiths City Cossacks living in cities and border areas

Cathedral Code of 1649. It contained a special chapter that consolidated all the most important changes in the legal status of local land ownership (for example: both boyars and nobles could be the owners of estates)

The peasantry is the largest class. Palace Landlords Church Chernososhnye (state) (personally free)

The main duties of the peasants: Corvee quitrent (cash and in kind), as well as “land” and “household tax” (to submit)

The Conciliar Code of 1649. Chapter 11 of the Conciliar Code - “The Court of Peasants” - introduced an indefinite search for fugitive peasants. Result: Establishment of complete serfdom.

Posad (city) people Guests (Merchants) (in the 17th century more than 30 people) - the largest entrepreneurs, were close to the tsar, did not pay taxes, and held financial positions. had the right to buy estates for their possessions; Members of the living room and the cloth hundred (about 400 people) occupied a place in the financial hierarchy, but were inferior to the guests in “honor”. They had self-government, their common affairs were carried out by elected heads and elders.

Merchants Responsibilities pay taxes and customs duties to the state Rights entrepreneurship - trade, organization of manufactories

Black townspeople The main tax-paying population of the city (they paid taxes and bore duties). The population of the city was divided into: white settlements, black settlements

Introduction 2

Estates in Russia in the 17th century. 3

Social system in Russia XVIII century. 10

Positions of the estates during the period of decomposition of the serfdom system (first half of the 19th century) 25

Estates in Russia during the period of development and establishment of capitalism (second half of the 19th century). 28

The position of estates in Russia in the 20th century. thirty

Conclusion 32

Bibliography. 33

Introduction

The population of a state may consist either of different ethnographic groups or of one nation, but in any case it consists of different social unions (classes, estates). 1

Estate is a social group with inherited rights and responsibilities secured by law, finally formed on the basis of the class relations of feudalism. 2

Over the centuries, many historians, philosophers and scientists have paid great attention to the problem of classes. One of them was the outstanding Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky, who dedicated a book to this topic entitled “History of Estates in Russia,” in which he examined the position of various strata of Russian society.

As a result of the class division, society was a pyramid, at the base of which were the social lower classes, and at the head was the upper layer of society.

The easiest way is to consider the position of classes in Russia over the centuries. In my work I will try to highlight the history of classes in Russia from the 17th to the 20th centuries.

Estates in Russia in the 17th century.

Civil war in Russia at the beginning of the 17th century, integral part which became a chain of popular uprisings (Khlopka, Bolotnikov, etc.), opened an entire era of powerful social upheavals. They were caused by the increased pressure of the feudal lords and the state on the lower ranks of the people, primarily by the final enslavement of the peasantry, the bulk of the Russian population. The logic, the dialectics of history, among other things, is that the strengthening of the state - the result of the labor and military efforts of the lower ranks of the people - is accompanied by a deterioration in the situation of the latter, an intensification of the pressure on them of all sorts of taxes, corvee and other duties. 3

Every action gives rise to reaction, including in society, in the relationships between classes and estates. In any society, social contradictions cannot but arise, which, in turn, during periods of extreme aggravation, give rise to clashes of interests and aspirations. They accept different shapes- from daily struggle (non-fulfillment or poor fulfillment of duties, struggle in courts for land) to open uprisings, up to their highest form - civil wars on a large scale.

It was not for nothing that contemporaries called the 17th century in Russian history the “rebellious century.” Another one Civil War(Razin uprising), strong urban uprisings, especially in Moscow - the holy of holies of the Russian autocracy, speeches by schismatics, many local, local movements. Social upheavals swept the country from its western borders to the Pacific Ocean, from the northern taiga to the southern steppes. Foreign contemporaries not only watched with surprise the outbreak of popular uprisings in Russia and neighboring Ukraine (B. Khmelnitsky), but also compared them with similar events in Western Europe(popular uprisings in England, France, the Netherlands, Germany in the 16th-17th centuries).

The basis of all this is “increasing social inequality,” which “was further intensified by the moral alienation of the ruling class from the controlled masses” (V.O. Klyuchevsky). On the one hand, the enrichment of the ruling elite, boyars and other Duma members, the top of the provincial nobility, the capital and local bureaucracy (the administrative and voivodship apparatus), on the other, the social humiliation of serfs and serfs. These two social poles are extreme points, between which lay other, intermediate layers, the position of which varied depending on their status in the hierarchical system of the state.

Boyars and nobles. Among all classes and estates, the dominant place undoubtedly belonged to the feudal lords. In their interests, the state government took measures to strengthen the ownership of the boyars and nobles to land and peasants, to unite the strata of the feudal class, to “noble” it. Service people in the country took shape in the 17th century. into a complex and clear hierarchy of ranks obliged to the state for service in the military, civil, and court departments in exchange for the right to own land and peasants. They were divided into the ranks of the Duma (boyars] okolnichy, Duma nobles and Duma clerks), Moscow (stewards, solicitors, Moscow nobles and tenants) and city (elected nobles, nobles and boyar courtyard children, nobles and boyar police children). Based on merit, service and nobility of origin, feudal lords moved from one rank to another. The nobility turned into a closed class - an estate.

The authorities strictly and consistently sought to preserve their estates and estates in the hands of the nobles. The demands of the nobles and the measures of the authorities led to the fact that by the end of the century the difference between the estate and the fiefdom was reduced to a minimum. Throughout the century, governments, on the one hand, distributed huge tracts of land to feudal lords; on the other hand, part of the possessions, more or less significant, was transferred from the estate to the estate. The census books of 1678 counted 888 thousand tax households throughout the country, of which about 90% were in serfdom. The palace owned 83 thousand households (9.3%), the church - 118 thousand (13.3%), the boyars - 88 thousand (10%), most of all to the nobles - 507 thousand households (57%). 4

In the 17th century a considerable number of noble nobles penetrated into the capital's spheres - due to kinship with the tsar, favor, and merits in the bureaucratic field. The stormy and turbulent 17th century largely displaced the old aristocracy.

The ruling class also included the clergy, who were major feudal lords. Large land holdings with peasants belonged to spiritual feudal lords. 8 XVII century The authorities continued the course of their predecessors to limit church land ownership. The Code of 1649, for example, prohibited the clergy from acquiring new lands. The privileges of the church in matters of court and administration were limited.

Peasants and slaves. Unlike the feudal lords, especially the nobility, the position of peasants and slaves in the 17th century. has deteriorated significantly. Of the privately owned peasants, the best life was for the palace peasants, the worst of all for the peasants of the secular feudal lords, especially small ones. The peasants worked for the benefit of the feudal lords in corvée (“product”), and contributed quitrents in kind and in cash. The usual size of the “product” is from two to four days a week, depending on the size of the manor’s household, the wealth of the serfs (rich and “family-many” peasants worked more days a week, “meager” and “lonely” - less), the amount of land. “Table supplies” - bread and meat, vegetables and fruits, hay and firewood, mushrooms and berries - were transported “to the yards of the owners by the same peasants. The nobles and boyars took carpenters and masons, brickmakers and painters, and other craftsmen from their villages and hamlets Peasants worked in the first factories and factories that belonged to the feudal lords or the treasury, producing cloth and canvas at home, etc., etc. Serfs, in addition to work and payments in favor of the feudal lords, bore duties for the benefit of the treasury. , the duties were heavier than those of the palace and black-sown peasants. The situation of the peasants dependent on the feudal lords was aggravated by the fact that the trial and reprisal of the boyars and their clerks were accompanied by overt violence, bullying, and humiliation of human dignity.

After 1649, the search for fugitive peasants took on wide proportions. Thousands of them were captured and returned to their owners.

In order to survive, the peasants went into retirement, to become “farmers”, to earn money. Impoverished peasants moved into the category

Feudal lords, especially large ones, had many slaves, sometimes several hundred people. These are clerks and parcel servants, grooms and tailors, watchmen and shoemakers, falconers and “singing guys.” By the end of the century, serfdom merged with the peasantry.

The average level of well-being of the Russian serf peasantry decreased. For example, peasant plowing has decreased: in the Zamoskovny Territory by 20-25%. Some peasants had half a tithe, about a tithe of land, others did not have even that. And the wealthy had several dozen acres of land. They took over the master's distilleries, mills, etc. They became traders and industrialists, sometimes very large ones. From the serfs B.I. Morozov came out, for example, to become contractors-shipowners, and then large salt traders and fishing merchants, the Antropovs. And the Glotovs, prince peasants. Yu.Ya. Sulesheva from the village of Karacharova, Murom district, became the richest merchants of the first half of the century. 5

Life was better for the state-owned, or black-growing, peasants. They were not in a position of direct subordination to a private owner. But they depended on the feudal state: they paid taxes in its favor and carried out various duties.

Posad people. The process of restoration and revival affected craft, industry, and trade in cities after the Time of Troubles. Here, too, shifts began, not very large and decisive in scale, but very noticeable.

By the middle of the century, there were more than 250 cities in the country, and, according to incomplete data, more than 40 thousand courtyards in them. Of these, 27 thousand courtyards were in Moscow. They belonged to artisans and traders (8.5 thousand), archers (10 thousand), boyars and nobles, clergy and rich merchants.

Large cities were located on important trade routes along the Volga (Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Astrakhan), Dvina and Sukhona (Arkhangelsk, Kholmogory, Sol Vychegodskaya, Ustyug Veliky, Vologda, Totma), south of Moscow (Tula, Kaluga) , in the northwest (Novgorod the Great, Pskov), northeast (Sol Kama). They had more than 500 households each. Many medium-sized and small cities were essentially fortresses (in the southern, Volga districts), but settlements gradually appeared in them - suburbs inhabited by trade and craft people.

The population of cities in the first half of the century increased by more than one and a half times. Despite the modest share of traders and artisans in the total population of Russia, they played a very significant role in its economic life. Among the townspeople we see Russians and Ukrainians, Belarusians and Tatars, Mordovians and Chuvashs, etc.

The leading center of handicraft, industrial production, and trade operations is Moscow. Here in the 40s, masters of metalworking (in 128 forges), fur craftsmen (about 100 craftsmen), the production of various foods (about 600 people), leather and leather goods, clothing and hats, and much more worked here - everything that a big man needed crowded city.

To a lesser, but quite noticeable extent, the craft developed in other cities of Russia. A significant part of the artisans worked for the state and the treasury. Some of the artisans served the needs of the palace (palace artisans) and the feudal lords living in Moscow and other cities (patrimonial artisans). The rest were part of the townspeople communities of the cities, bore (pulled, as they said then) various duties and paid taxes, the totality of which was called tax. Craftsmen from posad drafts often switched from working on consumer orders to working for the market, and the craft thus developed into commodity production. Simple capitalist cooperation also appeared, and hired labor was used. Poor townspeople and peasants became mercenaries for the rich blacksmiths, boilermakers, grain makers and others. The same thing happened in transport, river and horse-drawn. 6

The development of handicraft production, its professional, territorial specialization brings great revitalization to the economic life of cities and trade relations between them and their districts. It was by the 17th century. refers to the beginning of the concentration of local markets, the formation of an all-Russian market on their basis. Guests and other rich merchants appeared with their goods in all parts of the country and abroad. During the Time of Troubles and after it, they repeatedly lent money to the authorities -

Rich merchants, artisans, and industrialists ruled everything in the townspeople's communities. They shifted the main burden of taxes and duties onto the townspeople's poor - small artisans and traders. Property inequality led to social inequality; discord between the “better” and “lesser” townspeople made itself felt more than once in the everyday life of cities, especially during urban uprisings and civil wars of the “rebellious age.”

In cities, their peasants, slaves, artisans, etc. have long lived in the courtyards and settlements that belonged to the boyars, the patriarch and other hierarchs, monasteries. In addition to serving the owners, they were also engaged in trade and crafts. Moreover, unlike the townsman tax-payers, they did not pay taxes and did not bear any duties in favor of the state. This freed the people who belonged to the boyars and monasteries, in this case artisans and traders, from taxes, “whitewashed” them, according to the terminology of that time.

Posad people at Zemsky Sobors and in petitions demanded the return of all people involved in crafts and trade to the townspeople communities, to the townsman tax.

Social system in Russia in the 18th century.

Nobility . Throughout the 18th century. There is a process of strengthening the role of the nobility as the ruling class. Serious changes took place in the very structure of the noble class, its self-organization and legal status. These changes took place in several directions. The first of them was the internal consolidation of the noble class, the gradual erasing of differences between the previously existing main groups of service people “in the fatherland” (boyars, Moscow nobles, police nobles, boyar children, tenants, etc.). In this regard, the role of the Decree on Single Inheritance of 1714 was great, eliminating the differences between patrimonies and estates and, accordingly, between the categories of nobility who owned land under patrimonial and local rights. After this decree, all noble landowners had land on the basis of a single right - real estate. Also great was the role of the Table of Ranks (1722), which finally eliminated (at least in legal terms) the last vestiges of localism (appointments to positions “according to the fatherland,” i.e., the nobility of the family and the past service of ancestors) and established for all nobles the obligation to begin service with the lower ranks of the 14th class (ensign, cornet, midshipman) in the military and naval service, collegiate registrar - in the civil service and consistent advancement through the ranks depending on one’s merits, abilities and devotion to the sovereign.

The second direction is the consolidation within a single privileged class of the Russian nobility - the feudal elite of all the peoples inhabiting the Russian Empire. This was a way to strengthen the unity of the empire as a multinational state.

The third direction in the development of the noble class was that its privileges were continuously expanding and its legal status was increasing. Already the Decree of 1718 on the introduction of the poll tax sharply separated the legal status of the nobles as a privileged and tax-exempt class from the legal status of the tax-paying class, obliged to pay the poll tax and bear other duties, including from the status of service people “in the fatherland” - single-dvorets ( the former lower category of nobility), who fell into the category of tax-paying population. The main privilege of the nobility was the monopoly right to own land inhabited by serfs. Throughout the 18th century. the government repeatedly confirmed the prohibition of all other classes from owning land inhabited by peasants. An exception was made only for entrepreneurial breeders. But the possession peasants were assigned to the factory, and not to the factory owner, and when the owner of the factory changed, they passed to the new owner as an integral part of the factory. True, in the 18th century. a type of landless nobleman appears. This was partly a consequence of the Decree of 1714 on single inheritance, according to which the land was inherited by the eldest son, and the remaining sons, having inherited part of the movable property, had to seek their livelihood in the royal service.

But main reason the emergence of landless nobles was the cessation of “estimation of estates” for service and the transition to a monetary form of payment for public service and the mobilization of land property, i.e. its concentration in the hands of large landowners. In the 18th century the nobility “developed” vast lands in the territories newly annexed to the empire, mainly in the South (Novorossiya), Trans-Volga region, and Cis-Urals. But these lands were concentrated mainly in the hands of large landowners and the middle nobility, who made up 16 and 25 percent of the total nobility, respectively. The rest of the nobles were small-holder or completely landless. Ownership of land inhabited by peasants also meant the right of patrimonial justice in relation to peasants, up to and including exile to Siberia for a term or indefinitely (Decree of 1765). Moreover, exile or sending to hard labor had to be carried out by the police on a simple note from the landowner. The nobles received the right to own serfs without land and sell them also without land, including with the separation of families. The next privilege of the nobility was their right to fill officer and bureaucratic positions in the army and the bureaucratic state apparatus, although this right was also a duty. A special institution - the Heraldry Office under the Senate, which kept accounting books for the nobility and registered their family coats of arms, was supposed to control the noble service. And, since military service was the main type of noble service, the Office had to ensure that the civil service consisted of no more than 1/3 men from each family. The nobility also had some other privileges: the preferential right to education, the right to freely travel abroad and return back, the right to freely trade bread, including for export, even the right to smoke a certain number of buckets of vodka per year duty-free for one’s own use, the right to own factories, factories, and mines, and in change to the Peter the Great privilege of 1719, which established, that everyone can search for minerals and extract them on the land of any owner, the Decree of 1782 established for the nobles ownership not only of the land, but also of its subsoil.

However, despite all these privileges, the nobility was burdened with the obligation of lifelong service. It must be admitted that this service was really difficult. Sometimes a nobleman did not visit his estates for most of his life, because... was constantly on campaigns or served in distant garrisons. But already the government of Anna Ivanovna in 1736 limited the service life to 25 years. And Peter III, by the Decree on the liberties of the nobility in 1762, abolished compulsory service for nobles. A significant number of nobles left the service, retired and settled on their estates. At the same time, the nobility was exempted from corporal punishment. Catherine II, upon her accession in the same year, confirmed these noble liberties. The abolition of compulsory noble service became possible due to the fact that by the second half of the 18th century. the main foreign policy tasks (access to the sea, development of the South of Russia, etc.) had already been solved and the extreme strain of society’s forces was no longer required.

It is characteristic that in the first years of Peter’s reforms at the beginning of the 18th century, the autocratic government tried to include all the most energetic and talented elements from other classes into the nobility. Everyone who rose to the first officer rank became a nobleman. In the civil service, in order to become a hereditary nobleman, one had to reach the rank of VIII class. Gradually, as privileges increase, access to the ranks of the nobility is limited. By the end of the century, everyone who rose to the rank of junior officer received only personal nobility without the right to transfer to his wife (if she was not a noblewoman) and children. And only by rising to the rank of major could one receive hereditary nobility. Somewhat later, the bar for obtaining nobility was raised even higher: hereditary nobility was granted only from the rank of colonel in military service and the rank of active state councilor (equal to major general in the army) in civil service. Thus, the nobility turned into a closed caste, self-isolated from the people, differing from other classes not only in lifestyle, clothing, customs, but even in language, because used French to communicate within her circle.

Clergy. The next privileged class after the nobility was the clergy, which was still divided into white (parish) and black (monasticism). It enjoyed certain class privileges: the clergy and their children were exempt from the poll tax; conscription; were subject to church court according to canon law (with the exception of cases “according to the word and deed of the sovereign”). According to its social-class characteristics, the clergy, or more precisely the church, belonged to the class of feudal lords, since the patriarchal court, bishops' houses and monasteries owned, on patrimonial right, vast lands and up to "/5 of the entire peasantry in the country. The economic power of the church ensured it a certain independence from the authorities , which was the basis for claims to interfere in state affairs and opposition to Peter’s reforms.

The attitude of the autocratic authorities towards the church was ambivalent. On the one hand, the church, carrying out an ideological function, introduced into the masses the idea that all power, especially royal power, is from God and obedience to it is a divine commandment. Therefore, the authorities supported and protected the church, and the dominant Orthodox religion had the status of a state religion. But on the other hand, absolutism could not tolerate even the shadow of any power independent of the autocratic monarch. Moreover, the subordination of the Orthodox Church to the state was a historical tradition rooted in its Byzantine history, where the head of the church was the emperor. Based on these traditions, Peter 1, after the death of Patriarch Adrian in 1700, did not allow the election of a new patriarch, but first appointed Ryazan Archbishop Stefan Yavorsky as locum tenens of the patriarchal throne with a much smaller amount of church power, and then with the creation of state collegiums, among them the An ecclesiastical board consisting of a president, two vice-presidents, four councilors and four assessors to administer church affairs. In 1721, the Spiritual College was renamed the Holy Governing Synod. To oversee the affairs of the Synod, a secular official was appointed - the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod, who headed the institution of church fiscals (“inquisitors”) and was subordinate to the Prosecutor General. The bishops who headed church districts - dioceses - were subordinate to the Synod.

As for church properties, Peter 1 tried to secularize them. The land holdings of the church were transferred under the control of the Monastic Prikaz, and from the income from these estates the state began to finance the church. To replenish the state treasury during the Northern War, some of the gold and silver church vessels and decorations were removed from churches and monasteries, as well as some of the bells, which were poured into cannons. However, after the creation of the Synod, when the church turned into a branch of government, the lands were again returned to it, although the church was obliged to support part of the schools, hospitals and almshouses from its income. The secularization of church property was completed by Catherine II by Decree of 1764. The Church finally turned into a branch of government, financed from the treasury. Its activities were regulated by the Spiritual Regulations of 1721.

Reforms of church governance were carried out not only in the Orthodox Church, but also in the Muslim Church. To govern the Muslim clergy, a muftiate was established in 1782.

The head of all Muslims of the Russian Empire, the mufti, was elected by the council of senior Muslim priests and confirmed in this position by the empress. In 1788, the Muslim Spiritual Administration was established in Orenburg (later transferred to Ufa), headed by the mufti.

Posad population. Posadskoe, i.e. The urban trade and craft population constituted a special class, which, unlike the nobility and clergy, was not privileged. He was subject to the “sovereign tax” and all taxes and duties, including conscription, and was subject to corporal punishment. With the introduction of the poll tax in 1718, the townspeople population became a tax-paying class. Constituting, from a legal point of view, a single estate, distinguished from other estates by its hereditary legal status, from a social-class point of view, the townspeople did not represent a single whole. Among its members, the upper classes of the townspeople already stood out (entrepreneurs, factory owners, bankers, large merchants), i.e. the emerging bourgeoisie, and the rest of the townspeople (artisans, laborers), from which the working class was subsequently formed. Peter 1, creating the military-industrial complex as the basis of the country's military power, actively contributed to the formation of the Russian bourgeoisie. This took the form of granting additional class privileges to bourgeois elements. Already in the first decades of the 18th century. Magistrates are formed in large cities, and in the rest - town halls and mayor's chambers as self-government bodies of township communities. This system of posad self-government bodies was headed by the Chief Magistrate, who acted as a state board.

Magistrates and town halls, as self-governing bodies of the town's townsman community, resolved internal affairs that arose in the community, as well as legal disputes among the townspeople. They were also in charge of the local economy, roads, landscaping, maintaining order and had fiscal powers. The posad community paid taxes. All its members were bound by mutual responsibility, and the town hall or magistrate distributed duties among the households. The chief magistrate also represented before the supreme authorities about the needs of the townspeople.

The Regulations of the Chief Magistrate of 1721 divided the entire urban population into categories. The nobility who lived in the cities in their homes or near the cities, the clergy, foreign merchants, etc. were distinguished. According to the Regulations, they “are not counted among citizens,” are not subject to the townsman tax and are not included in the system of township self-government. The rest of the population is divided by the Chief Magistrate's regulations into “regular citizens”, consisting of two guilds, and “mean people” or laborers. The difference between guilds is associated with property qualifications and professions. The first guild included bankers, large merchants, doctors, pharmacists, painters, silversmiths (jewelers); to the second - small traders and artisans. Guilds gathered for guild meetings and had their own elders, artisans united into guilds, of which only masters were full members, but they had apprentices and apprentices in their houses.

The development of the all-Russian market in the second half of the 18th century and the abolition of internal customs caused a significant increase in the urban population. Suffice it to say that the population of Moscow reached 400 thousand people, and St. Petersburg - over 200 thousand people. Numerous new cities arose. The share of the urban population in the total population of the country increased from 3.2% at the beginning of the century to 4.1% in the 80s of the 18th century. In the cities, in addition to merchants, factory owners, and bankers, a new intelligentsia appeared (architects, artists, doctors, scientists, engineers, teachers, etc.). The nobility also began to engage in entrepreneurship. All this caused the need for a certain revision of the legal status of the urban population, which is now called burghers (from the Polish word “place” - city). This revision was carried out with the publication in 1785 of the Charter to the cities.

According to the Charter, the urban population was divided into 6 categories. The first category included those “who have a house or other building or land in this city,” even if they belonged to other classes - the nobility, bureaucrats or clergy. The second category included merchants of three guilds: the first guild was merchants with capital from 10 to 50 thousand rubles; the second - from 5 to 10 thousand rubles; third - from 1 to 5 thousand rubles. The third category is craftsmen enrolled in workshops. Fourth - foreigners and large merchants from other cities who settled in trade affairs V this city. The fifth category included “famous citizens” - the largest capitalists with a capital of 50 thousand rubles. and more, bankers with capital from 100 to 200 thousand rubles, wholesale traders. The same category included persons who served in city services as mayors, burgomasters, members of conscience courts, and members of magistrates. This also included the intelligentsia, i.e. persons who had academic or university diplomas. Finally, the sixth category consisted of the townspeople, i.e. who have settled or were born in a given city for a long time and are engaged in a craft. Above the bulk of the townspeople rose merchants and eminent citizens (second and fifth categories), foreigners (fourth category) - all these privileged categories were exempt from the city “tax”, recruitment and corporal punishment. And of course, the first category is the nobility, the bureaucracy, the clergy. The innovation in the Charter to the cities was that for the first time the nobles, officials and clergy who lived in the cities, as well as the intelligentsia with university and academic diplomas, were included in the “city society”.

City self-government according to the Charter was characterized by extreme complexity and cumbersomeness. The bodies of city self-government were the “meeting of the city society”, the general city duma and the six-vocal duma.

“General City Assembly” is a citywide meeting in which all city citizens, regardless of rank, who had the right to vote by age and property qualification, participated. It met once every three years and held elections for the mayor, burgomasters, members of the magistrate and the conscience court, listened to the proposals of the governor, and considered cases of admission and expulsion from the city inhabitants. Due to the high property qualifications, entry into this meeting was closed not only to the lower classes of the city, but also to merchants of the third guild.

The next body is the “general city council”. It considered current affairs and met several times a year. Its members were elected separately by each of the 6 categories of city residents, but into one common Duma. Nobles, elected from the category of homeowners, also took part in its work. But merchants, as a rule, played the main role in these city councils. Finally, the permanent bodies for the day-to-day management of the current affairs of the cities were the so-called six-vocal councils. They consisted of the city mayor (chairman) and six vowels (deputies) from all 6 categories of city residents - one from each category. But along with the six-vocal Duma as the executive and administrative body of city self-government, magistrates continued to exist, whose members were elected by the “general city assembly.” Magistrates acted primarily as judicial bodies in the affairs of townspeople (primarily civil suits). But they also had control functions in relation to all other bodies of city government. Although their powers were broadly defined in law, in reality the magistrates were powerless. Their budget was formed from small deductions from the government sale of wine and was insignificant. Even in the Moscow Duma it did not exceed 10 thousand rubles. per year and was mainly spent on the maintenance of self-government bodies, and crumbs (15-20%) were spent on improvement. In addition, self-government bodies were subordinated government authorities in the person of police chiefs (in big cities) and mayors (in small cities). The latter were subordinate to the police, through which the decisions of city self-government bodies were implemented. The implementation of decisions of city governments depended on governors and police chiefs.

Peasantry. The peasantry, which made up over 90% of the population in Russia, practically ensured the very existence of society with their labor. It was it that paid the lion's share of the per capita tax and other taxes and fees that ensured the maintenance of the army, navy, the construction of St. Petersburg, new cities, the Ural industry, etc. It was the peasants who, as recruits, made up the bulk of the armed forces. They also developed new lands.

The main trend of the period under review was the consolidation of various categories of the peasantry into a single estate. The decree of 1718 on the introduction of the poll tax and the replacement of household taxation led to the abolition of such categories as sub-customers, zahrebetniki, and bobyli. The legal status of arable peasants and lordly servants, for whom they previously did not pay tax, has become closer. they did not have their own yards. Almost all of these categories merged into a single category of peasants. The secularization of church lands, completed in 1764, led to the elimination of the category of monastic peasants, who joined the category of state peasants.

The state peasantry comprised at the beginning of the 18th century. about 20% of all peasants, but by the end of the century its share increased to 40% due to the annexation of huge new territories of the Right Bank of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, the development of the Volga region, Siberia, and southern Russia. Although it should be noted that throughout the 18th century. from the fund of state and palace lands, huge distributions of land were made from peasants

With household taxation, the union of households was practiced. Poor peasant families (podsusedniki, zahrebetniks) or single peasants (bobyls) were moved into the courtyard of a more or less wealthy peasant in order to avoid paying taxes on their courtyards. With the poll tax, the incentive for landowners, especially courtiers and favorites, to such unification by courtyards disappeared.

The state peasants included both the former Black Sowings and small service people who lived along the borders, gunners, archers, and single-dvortsy. The legal status of state peasants became closer to the status of palace peasants, i.e. belonging to the palace department or the royal family personally). The legal status of state peasants was better than other categories. They paid a poll tax and feudal rent to the state, on average equal to the quitrent of a landowner peasant, but they lived in communities, were subject to state administration and were subject to corporal punishment. The administration, as a rule, did not interfere in their personal affairs and did not control their marital fate. They could independently enter into civil transactions and had ownership rights to their property.

The situation was different for privately owned peasants, who made up the majority (from 70% at the beginning of the century to 55% at the end) of the total mass of peasants. Formally, they were attached to the land, but in fact, landowners could sell them without land. In 1767, official permission followed for the sale of peasants without land and even with the separation of families. Their property was considered to belong to the landowner. These peasants could also carry out civil transactions only with the permission of the landowner. They were subject to the landowner's patrimonial justice and corporal punishment, which depended on the will of the landowner and were not limited by law. Since 1760, landowners could, by their orders, send their peasants to permanent settlement in Siberia. Moreover, they received recruitment receipts, i.e. those exiled were counted as recruits handed over to the army, and in addition received monetary compensation. Since 1765, landowners could, by the same order, send peasants to hard labor. A decree of 1767 prohibited peasants from filing complaints against landowners. Complaints were now punishable by lashes and sent to hard labor. The peasants paid a poll tax, bore state duties and feudal land rent to the landowners in the form of labor or quitrent, in kind or in cash. Since the economy was extensive, the landowners saw the possibility of increasing income only in increasing the corvee or quitrent. By the end of the century, corvee began to reach 5-6 days a week. Sometimes landowners generally established a seven-day corvee with the issuance of a monthly food ration (“mesyachina”). But this already led to the liquidation of the peasant economy and the degradation of feudalism to slavery: the increase in quitrent could not be greater than the income the land transferred to the peasant could provide.

The enslavement of peasants hampered the development of industry, because deprived it of free labor, the poor peasantry did not have the means to purchase industrial products. In other words, the preservation and deepening of feudal-serf relations did not create a sales market for industry, which, coupled with the absence of a free market work force was a serious obstacle to economic development and caused a crisis in the feudal-serf system.

Positions of the estates during the period of decomposition of the serfdom system (first half of the 19th century)

The class structure of Russian society began to change. Along with the old classes of feudal lords and peasants, new classes emerged - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. But officially the entire population was divided into four classes: nobility, clergy, peasantry, and urban residents.

Nobility. The nobility, as in the previous period, was the economically and politically dominant class. The nobles owned most of the land and exploited the peasants who lived on these lands. They had a monopoly on the ownership of serfs. They formed the basis of the state apparatus, occupying all command positions in it.

During the reign of Alexander I, the nobility received new capitalist rights: to have factories and factories in cities, to conduct trade on an equal footing with the merchants.

Clergy. The clergy, as in the previous period, was divided into black and white. However, the legal position finally turned into a service one and changed significantly. On the one hand, the church ministers themselves received even greater privileges.

On the other hand, the autocracy sought to clergy only those directly serving in the church.

It is important to note that the autocracy sought to attract the most devoted churchmen to its social environment, which was dominated by the noble aristocracy. The clergy awarded with orders acquired noble rights. The white clergy received hereditary nobility, and the black clergy the opportunity to transfer property by inheritance along with the order.

Total for the period 1825-1845. More than 10 thousand representatives of the clergy received noble rights.

Peasants. Feudal-dependent peasants made up the bulk of the population; they were divided into landowners, state possessions and appanage peasants belonging to the royal family.

The position of the landowner peasants was especially difficult. The landowners disposed of the peasants as their own property.

The state took a number of measures to improve the situation of landowner peasants. On February 20, 1803, a decree on free cultivators was adopted. According to this decree, landowners received the right to release their peasants for a ransom set by them.

In 1842, a decree on obligated peasants appeared. Landowners could provide land to peasants for use, for which the peasants had to bear certain duties.

Since 1816, some of the state peasants were transferred to the position of military settlers. They had to engage in agriculture and perform military service.

In 1837, a reform of the management of state peasants was carried out. To manage them, the Ministry of State Property was established. Quit taxation was streamlined, the allotments of state peasants were slightly increased, and the bodies of peasant self-government were regulated.

The labor of possession peasants was unproductive, as a result of which the use of hired labor began to increase in industry. In 1840, factory owners were allowed to free possession peasants.

The position of the appanage peasants has not changed in comparison with the previous period.

Urban population. Urban population in the first half of the 19th century. was divided into five groups: honorary citizens, merchants, guild foremen, townspeople, small owners and working people, i.e. hired workers.

A special group of eminent citizens, which included large capitalists who owned capital of over 50 thousand rubles. wholesale traders and ship owners were called first-class merchants from 1807, and from 1832 - honorary citizens. Honorary citizens were divided into hereditary and personal. The title of hereditary honorary citizen was awarded to the big bourgeoisie, children of personal nobles, priests and clerks, artists, agronomists, artists of imperial theaters, etc. The title of personal honorary citizen was awarded to persons who were adopted by hereditary nobles and honorary citizens, as well as graduates of technical schools, teachers' seminaries and artists of private theaters. Honorary citizens enjoyed a number of privileges: they were exempt from personal duties, from corporal punishment, etc.

The merchant class was divided into two guilds: the first included wholesale traders, the second included retailers. As in the previous period, merchants retained their privileges. The guild group consisted of artisans assigned to the guilds. They were divided into masters and apprentices. The workshops had their own governing bodies. The majority of the urban population were burghers, a significant part of whom worked in factories and factories for hire. Their legal status has not changed.

In the first half of the 19th century. absolute monarchy in Russia reaches its apogee. The desire to strengthen the feudal-serf system is served by the systematization of legislation. Despite its serf-dominated nature, the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire is a great achievement in legal matters. In the depths feudal system A new force is growing and strengthening - the bourgeoisie.

Estates in Russia during the period of development and establishment of capitalism (second half of the 19th century).

The crisis of the feudal-serf system in Russia, aggravated as a result of the defeat in Crimean War, could only be overcome by carrying out fundamental reforms, the main of which was the abolition of serfdom. This reform was carried out during the reign of Alexander II. After much preparation, on February 19, 1861, the tsar signed a manifesto on the abolition of serfdom.

Peasants. In accordance with the new laws, the serfdom of landowners over peasants was abolished forever and the peasants were declared free rural inhabitants with civil rights.

Peasants had to pay a poll tax, other taxes and fees, were given recruits, and could be subjected to corporal punishment.

The land on which the peasants worked belonged to the landowners, and until the peasants bought it, they were called temporarily liable and bore various duties in favor of the landowners.

The peasants of each village who emerged from serfdom united into rural societies. For the purposes of administration and justice, several rural societies formed a volost. In villages and volosts, peasants were granted self-government.

Nobility. Having lost free labor millions of peasants, part of the nobility was never able to rebuild and went bankrupt. Another part of the nobility embarked on the path of entrepreneurship. Despite the reforms, the nobility managed to maintain its privileged position. Political power was in the hands of the nobility.

Entrepreneurs. The peasant reform opened the way for the development of market relations in the country. A significant part of entrepreneurship was made up of merchants. Industrial revolution in Russia at the end of the 19th century. turned entrepreneurs into a significant economic force in the country.

Under the powerful pressure of the market, the remnants of feudalism (classes, privileges) are gradually losing their former significance.

Workers. As a result of the industrial revolution, a working class is formed, which begins to defend its interests in the fight against entrepreneurs.

In the second half of the 19th century. marked by significant changes in social order. The reform of 1861, having freed the peasants, opened the way for the development of capitalism in the city. Russia is taking a decisive step towards transforming a feudal monarchy into a bourgeois one.

The position of estates in Russia in the 20th century.

In Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The Code of Laws of the Russian Empire, which determined the provisions of the estates, continues to operate.

The law distinguished four main classes: nobility, clergy, urban and rural populations. A special class group of honorary citizens was identified from the city inhabitants.

The nobility retained most of the privileges. The most significant changes in his rights occurred as a result of the peasant reform of 1861.

The nobility continued to be the ruling class, the most united, the most educated and the most accustomed to political power 7 .

The first Russian revolution gave impetus to the further political unification of the nobility. In 1906, at the All-Russian Congress of Authorized Noble Societies, the central body of these societies was created - the Council of the United Nobility. He had a significant influence on government policy.

The development of capitalism in Russia led to a significant growth of the bourgeoisie and an increase in its influence in the economy. Bourgeoisie at the beginning of the 20th century. represents the most economically powerful class in Russia.

The Russian bourgeoisie began to emerge as a single and conscious political force during the years of the first revolution of 1905-1907. It was at this time that she created her political parties: Union of October 17, cadet party.

At the beginning of the 20th century, peasants made up about 80% of the Russian population. And after the abolition of serfdom, they continued to be a lower, unequal class.

Revolution 1905-1907 stirred up the millions of peasants. Year by year the number of peasants increased.

The revolutionary movement in the country and the struggle of the peasants forced the tsarist government to abolish some regulations of the serfdom system. In March 1903, mutual responsibility in rural society was abolished; in August 1904, corporal punishment of peasants, applied by verdict of the volost courts, was abolished. Under the influence of the revolution on November 3, 1905. A manifesto was published on improving the well-being and easing the situation of the peasant population. Manifesto on January 1, 1906, redemption payments were reduced by half, and from January 1, 1907, their collection stopped completely.

November 9, 1906 decree on supplementing certain provisions of the current law concerning peasant land ownership and land management, according to which every householder received the right to demand the provision of a land plot into private ownership.

The Peasant Bank, created back in the 19th century, played an important role in the reform.

Agrarian reform 1906-1911 did not affect landownership, did not eliminate pre-capitalist orders, led to the ruin of the mass of peasants, and aggravated the crisis in the countryside.

The development of capitalism in Russia led to the creation of a working class-proletariat.

The working class of Russia was the social force that was capable of leading the revolutionary struggle of the broad masses of the people against tsarism.

Conclusion

The estates that arose in Kievan Rus did not undergo any fundamental changes over the course of many centuries. Of course, it should be noted that the monarchs tried to change the situation of the country and classes in particular, directing their policies toward “Europeanization” (i.e., they tried to follow the examples of European countries in politics, social order etc.), but at the same time the transformations were aimed at a certain class, a certain circle of the public. I think it was wrong because... from my point of view, estates are an indivisible chain in which if you change the position of one component, you need to change the position of the other, but this did not happen. These are the reasons for the many wars and uprisings that took place in Russia throughout its thousand-year existence. The disappearance of class division is one of the consequences of the revolution of 1917. I think that society’s dissatisfaction with inequality led to the revolution. Of course, there were other reasons, but this also played a role.

Currently in Russia there is no division of society into any classes or estates.

Bibliography.

Vladimirsky-Budanov M.F. Review of the history of Russian law. Rostov-on-Don., 1995

Dyakin V.S. Bourgeoisie and nobility in 1907-1911. Leningrad, 1978

Rybakov B.A. Kievan Rus and Russian principalities of the XII-XII centuries. M., 1982

History of the State and Law of Russia: Textbook for universities. Ed. S.A. Chibiryaeva. - Moscow., 1998

History of Russia from ancient times to the endXVII

History of Russia from the beginningXVSh to the endXIXcentury. Under. ed. A.N. Sakharov. - Moscow., 2000

Russian historyXXcentury A.N. Bokhanov, M.M. Gorinov, V.P. Dmitrienko. - Moscow., 2000

Oleg Platonov. History of the Russian people in the 20th century. Volume 1 (ch. 1-38). – Moscow., 1997

InterNet. http :// www . magister . msk . ru / library / history / kluchev /

IN. Klyuchevsky. Russian history course.

InterNet. http://lib.ru/TEXTBOOKS/history.txtHistory of Russia from ancient times to the beginningXXcentury. Under. ed. AND I. Froyanova.

InterNet. http://www.magister.msk.ru/library/history/platonov

S.F. Platonov. Full course lectures on Russian history.

1 Vladimirsky-Budanov M.F. Review of the history of Russian law. Rostov-on-Don., 1995 p.50

2 Dictionary Russian language. Under. Ed. Academy of Sciences of the USSR Institute of the Russian Language. v.4. Moscow., 1984 p. 206

3 History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century. Under. ed. A.N. Sakharov. c. 528

4 History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century. Under. ed. A.N. Sakharov. c. 530

... –1905) Turn XIX– XX centuries. characterized by the exacerbation of contradictions between... history terror cannot be written as history Soviet industry, history Soviet... convocation. State peasants are special estate V Russia V XVIII– first half of the 19th century. ...