Traditionalistische Widersetzlichkeit oder politische Programmatik? Russlands Bauern im Kräftefeld von Agrarreform und revolutionärer Mobilisierung (1856-1941)

The article examines peasant unrest in Russia, focusing on the uprisings between 1918 and 1922, the rural women’s riots of 1930, and the ‘peasant revolutions’ of 1905-07 and 1917-18. Based on a long term perspective, it challenges the standard interpretation of peasants’ behaviour between the emancipation in 1861 and the re-establishment of a system of forced labour under Stalin. The emphasis lies on the links between urban and rural areas and the connection between peasant unrest and agricultural modernisation. It is argued that in spite of their preoccupation with local conditions, the peasants played a decisive role in overturning Tsarist rule. In general, however, peasants wanted to draw attention to their problems rather than to subvert the political regime. The article explores the peasants’ views on fairness and why they were so fixated on the abolishment of noble landed property and the ‘lack of land’-slogan. The conclusion discusses the peasants’ scope of action and analyses whether their protest was successful: Was it destructive as it hindered the improvement of agriculture? Did it force the state to pay heed to rural problems and agrarian reform in the first place? And finally, did it start a gradual politicisation among the peasants?