Corvée in the Landlord Estates of the Southern Urals in Russia in the First Half of the 19th Century

Abstract

The study dwells on the barshchina (corvée) in the landlord estates of the Southern Urals (in the first half of the 19th century, part of the Orenburg Province) in pre-reform Russia. It is shown that during the pre-reform period in the 19th century, the majority of landlord estates of the Southern Urals had corvée as the dominant form of obligations: over 85 % of the landlord peasants in the region performed this type of obligation for their masters. Based on archival materials from the Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents, Russian State Military Historical Archives, Russian State Historical Archives, Department of Written Sources of the State Historical Museum, as well as documents from volumes 2 and 3 of the Proceedings of the Drafting Commissions of 1860, the article analyses the reasons behind the dominant role of corvée in the landlord estates of the Southern Urals (relative abundance of land in the colonized region, tight market of free workers, economic considerations of landlords, economic capacity of peasant farms, etc.). The author determines the dynamics of the intensity of corvée during the first half of the 19th century. To characterize corvée, the working time of corvée peasants as well as the monetary value of their corvée labour were calculated, which made it possible to contrast corvée with the obrok (quitrent) that had been paid by the quitrent peasants in this area. It is noted that, compared to the landlord estates of other Russian regions, per capita corvée in the Southern Urals was generally relatively low due to the specifics of this predominantly agricultural region. It is emphasized that further research into the problem appears promising, since the potential for studying the institution of corvée labour at a regional level is far from being exhausted.