Stolypin Agrarian Reform and Zemstvos of Moscow Province : The Introduction of Grass-Sowing and Agronomic Assistance to Private Peasants

Abstract

Moscow province was the region where grass-sowing (multi-field system) in peasant communes (obshchinyi) was the most developed in Russia cicra 1900. Diffusing the introduction of district-agronomy since 1908, zemstva of Moscow province tried to expand the agronomic assistance to peasantry. On the other hand, the government threatened by the first Russian Revolution in 1905 began to rigorously execute the policy of land consolidation (Stolypin agrarian reform), which aimed to disband peasant communes and to increase private peasants (khutora and otruba). The laws of land consolidation by the government which tried to disband peasant communes strongly restricted the adoption of grass-sowing by peasant communes. Under the laws, the agronomists of zemstva who had helped to introduce multi-field system in Moscow province could no longer continue their activities. In addition, the government pushed the agronomic organizations of zemstva to help private peasants, and requested the targets of their assistance activities be moved from peasant communes to private peasants. While many of zemstva in Russia followed the government's policy, the zemstva of Moscow province persisted to assist peasant communes. The number of peasant villages which adopted grass-sowing radically dropped during the period between 1909 and 1913. The primary reason of this was the land consolidation policy of the government. However, the number increased and the movement of grass-sowing became resurgent after 1914 with the weakness of the domestic policy implementation by the government during the war. This tells us how strongly the peasants were eager to adopt grass-sowing and how much the policy of land consolidation hampered the development of grass-sowing in peasant communes.