APPENDIX 109 



An Economic History of Russia. By JAMES MAYOR. 

 2 volumes. (J. M. Dent & Sons, London. 1914.) 



This comprehensive work contains several chapters 

 tracing the history of the agrarian movements from the 

 first efforts to ameliorate the condition of the serfs to the 

 great Emancipation Act of 1861. Previously the greater 

 part of Russia had been in the possession of landlords on 

 whose estates the peasants were settled as serfs bound to 

 their masters and with no proprietary rights in any land. 

 In return, for compulsory service (bec/ar) rendered to the 

 landlord they were allowed to cultivate fields which were 

 re-allotted from time to time. The general principle of the 

 Emancipation Act was to turn them into fixed-rate permanent 

 tenants of the land owners. The lands of each village were 

 divided between the land-owner and the peasants, the 

 former usually getting from one-fourth to one-third. This 

 was land which he could cultivate or let out as he pleased. 

 The remaining land was divided amongst the peasants, the 

 area of land granted being proportionate to the number 

 of male workers in each family, and it was subject 

 to a fixed rent payable to the land-owner. Various special 

 arrangements were made in different parts of Russia. The 

 peasants were entitled to commute their rents at a certain 

 purchase price and some State assistance was given. The 

 system established by the Emancipation Act appears gradually 

 to have become economically unsound, owing to the growth 

 of population, and during the past twenty-five years 

 agrarian unrest has been chronic. The Author describes in 

 the second volume the condition of the peasantry and the 

 agrarian problem in 1905. The whole system has been 

 swept away by the Revolution of 1917. 



Systems of Land Tenure in Various Countries. 



Essays published by the Gobden Club. (Macmillan & Co., 

 London. 1870.) 



