Why Is It Better To Abolish Serfdom In Russia

Some may argue that Emancipation was an ultimately successful endeavour as it brought about both fundamental and necessary change, and whilst it is true that there were various factors that ensured the development of Russia from a backward thinking and archaic nation that relied very much on what was -in flourishing western countries – a repressive and outdated feudal system, the ill-considered and very evidently selfish way in which this much needed reform was executed meant that despite some factors, from which the development and modernisation of Russia’s class system itself were enabled, for Alexander II were exactly the opposite of what he had been attempting to achieve, in increasing his chances of retaining power by preventing revolution and furthering Russia’s position within the world. For this reason it is difficult to claim Emancipation was a success in terms of what the clearly power-conscious Tsar set out to accomplish, when many of its key aspects were redundant and others provided a catalyst for consideration of concepts of political activism or further revolution, an unwanted and unanticipated advancement,
In the long term peace was also kept and peasant disturbances were reduced for the next 40 years. This could give the impression of Emancipation being successful as serfdom was abolished without provoking an immediate major rebellion and was relatively non-violent, and although there were 647 peasant riots in the four months following the Emancipation that would indicate lack of success, there were not necessarily for political