Russia abolished serfdom 160 years ago. Until then peasants were bought and sold with the land as “souls”. A recent survey by WCIOM.ru discovered that 4% of Russian respondents think that abolishing serfdom was wrong.

‘Abolishing serfdom was wrong’, some Russians think

Interviewers from WCIOM.ru decided to check how well people know the history of their country and particularly the times when slavery (serfdom) was abolished in the Russian Empire in 1861.

• Only 47% of respondents from Russia know that abolishment of serfdom happened in 1861. 35% of participants found the question too hard to answer, while 18% provided wrong responses, choosing from 4 options.
• Only 30% of participants knew under which Tsar it happened (Alexander II). 39% of respondents found the question too hard, others gave incorrect responses.
• 92% of participants feel it was a correct thing to do to abolish serfdom. But 4% of participants weren’t sure, while further 4% of users said it was wrong.
• 82% of survey participants think the change had positive influence on the country’s development. At the same time, 5% of users believe it made no impact, while 6% of users think the influence was negative for the country’s development. 7% of respondents picked the option, “Difficult to answer”.
• Even more surprising are the answers to the question whether the change improved lives of peasants who got freedom. While 73% of people think that life of serfs changed for the better, 8% believe it changed for worse, while 13% support the opinion it made no difference. Still, 6% of respondent found it too hard to pick an answer.

On the scale of the survey, such answers seem in minority. But if we consider the poll as representative of the whole population of Russia (which the researchers say it is), then there are about 4 million people aged 18+ who think the serfdom isn’t wrong.

“Dead souls”

A famous work by Nokolai Gohol, a Russian novelist, called “Dead Souls”, was centred around the issue of “selling souls” (people, who were considered property of the landowner). It was published in 1842.

The protagonist, Chichikov, approaches landowners with an unusual request: To sell “dead souls”, i.e. peasants who recently passed away but hadn’t been listed as deceased to the authorities in the property register (which was done once in a while via census).

Landowners paid tax for each soul, so this would immediately remove the burden of paying taxes for them, as censuses were rather infrequent.

Chichikov’s plan was to ask for a loan from a bank, providing “souls” as a security and running away with the money. Although the task of fooling greedy landowners into selling their dead serfs had proven tricky, Chichikov managed to acquire some 400 souls. His “get rich quick” scheme could bring a big payout.

It’s a far-fetched scenario that develops in bizarre ways, where the readers encounter some peculiar characters.

“Dead Souls” is a masterpiece of Russian literature and theatre productions utilized the scenario in shows worldwide. In 2014 it was stated by Theatre Collection in London.

Read also:

• What are Russians proud and ashamed of about their country? Survey results
• Russians consider history the most important subject at school
• Russians are rewriting history, again
• Research: Foreign brides used to be the norm in human history