Was Imperial Russia Backwards?

Many people in western society assume that imperial Russia was backwards. This
assumption has generally gone unchallenged until recent years. There certainly were aspects
of Russian society that were backwards in comparison to the west, however, in some ways
Imperial Russia was remarkably modern. This raises the question of whether Russian
backwardness eclipses its westernization and modernization? The vast majority of people in
Russia were not rich and did not have much power. Approximately eighty percent of the
Russian population was part of the peasantry. Because of this, Its necessary to focus on
peasant life in order to decide whether or not Russia was in fact, backwards. When looking at
peasant life there are a few broad categories to consider, including food, culture, law and
especially misogyny within the peasant culture. The peasant food base, despite little
investment in the land, was surprisingly adequate if periodically unstable. Peasant culture on
the whole was extremely unhealthy and violent. The great reforms changed much of Russian
law and gave peasants significantly more control over the local government, even though the
wealthy still held a disproportionate amount of power.
According to traditional historiography the Russian peasant food base was relatively
poor compared to their European counterparts, however, according to more recent
scholarship Russian peasants were actually well off with the exception of the occasional bad
harvest. One of the biggest reasons why historians thought this was because they relied upon
official data, which put the average seed, yields at 3.5, but this data is inherently flawed. The
official data was purposely under reported by landlords, who were fearful of increased harvest
demands from the military. Additionally the data does not include grain threshed after the
New Year, often a considerable part of the harvest. Lastly because government figures

consistently underestimated yields by as much as 30 percent. 1 Given that so much was left
out of the official reports it is not surprising that historians have vastly underestimated
Russian seed yields. A more realistic estimate comes from contemporary sources which have
placed seed yields at 4.9, 5.36 and 5.37.2 On top of these higher than previously assumed
grain yields, Russian peasants supplemented their diet with a considerable amount of meat,
which was much less expensive in Russia than in Western Europe. Because of this, meat
could have been purchased much more often.3 One of the biggest advantages of the higher
consumption of meat was that Russian serfs had a much better balance of protein and
carbohydrates compared to their western neighbors. In fact, [e]xcluding for the moment years
of agricultural crisis, the peasants of Petrovskoe were therefore better nourished than their
French and Belgian counterparts[...] and certainly had a better diet than most persons living in
developing countries today.4 Russian serfs were at least better off than their European

counterparts when it came to food production; an indication of a more modern way of life.
One of the most critical elements in shaping a peasants life was the culture in which
they lived in. Peasants were immersed from their birth until their death in a culture of
backwardness, unhealthiness and violence. Starting from birth, peasants were subjected to
extremely unclean and unhealthy conditions. One common practice was to give babies a bit
of rag with chewed up food like potatoes, bread or bagels spit into it, when the mother was
away. Sometimes the same rag pacifier [was] used over and over again without washing and
1 Steven L. Hoch, Serfdom and Social Control in Russia: Petrovskoe, a Village in Tambov
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986), 30-32, 36.
2 Steven L. Hoch, Serfdom and Social Control in Russia: Petrovskoe, a Village in Tambov
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986), 30-32, 36.
3 Steven L. Hoch, Serfdom and Social Control in Russia: Petrovskoe, a Village in Tambov
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986), 30-32, 36.
4 Steven L. Hoch, Serfdom and Social Control in Russia: Petrovskoe, a Village in Tambov
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986), 50-51.

[it] aquire[d] a repulsive sour odor.5 These kinds of unhealthy behaviours and conditions
surrounded peasants and continued into their adulthood. During the work season peasants
drank water from any source available [...] from a roadside ditch, from a muddy puddle, from
a swamp.6 Another feature inherent in peasant culture was violence. Violence seeped into
almost every facet of life from childhood until old age. Children were often beaten as
punishment for relatively minor infractions. For example, one of the most common infractions
was a child screaming. For this, parents hit their child with their hands, with whips, or with
switches, and pulled his ears and hair.7 Violence, however, was not just targeted at children,
but also at other adults and sometimes elders as one case in the village of Varvarina
illustrates. In this village a peasant was working land that wasnt assigned to him. An elder got
mad at him and hit him with a knout. The man that was hit then grabbed a pole from the
plow, beat the starostas head bloody until he was too exhausted to hit the elder
anymore8 These examples show how peasant culture, in some ways, was extremely
unhealthy and violent, which makes it in at least some aspects backward.
Considering how much violence factored into peasant culture, its not surprising that violence
wasnt only directed at men. Peasant culture was extremely misogynistic and patriarchal. In
peasant villages women were often beaten by their husbands, especially when alcohol was
involved. In fact, [i]n the evening, women g[o]t a feeling for the amount of alcohol consumed
by their husbands by the intensity of the beatings they recieve[d]. 9 Women could be beaten
5 Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia, edit. David L. Ransel
(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993), 13-15.
6 Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia, edit. David L. Ransel
(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993), 115.
7 Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia, edit. David L. Ransel
(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993), 30.
8 Steven L. Hoch, Serfdom and Social Control in Russia: Petrovskoe, a Village in Tambov
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986), 172-173.
9 Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia, edit. David L. Ransel
(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993), 114.

for any reason by their husband. They could be beaten for refusing to do some task, or if they
didn't sleep with him. These beatings could be incredibly savage. Semyonova describes a few
of the more brutal cases in her notes, including a woman who was dragged down the front
steps by her braids, while her head was hitting the steps. As well, as another case in which a
woman was forced by her husband to put her head on the ground while he held an axe above
her and threatened to kill her.10 The only time that women had any sort of a break from work
and abuse was just after they had given birth, but this break was extremely short. Women
typically only took about five to seven days before going back to fieldwork. 11 The violence
targeted specifically towards women shows the misogyny in Russian culture, and
backwardness of Russian peasantry.
Russian laws were immensely influential to culture, especially in how they affected the
common people. During late Tsarist Russia, a series of reforms were instituted by the
government, which were an attempt to modernize the country. One of the biggest effects on
the populace was through the emancipation of serfs. The government believed that the goal
of ending serfdom was to transform former serfs into proprietors of their allotments, eliminate
the patrimonial power of the landlords, and legally involve the peasantry in the life of the
state.12 This was a very Western goal, because it was an attempt to give the peasants private
property, reduce the power of the aristocracy and get the peasants involved in the affairs of
the state. Another law that affected the common people was the implementation of the
'Zemstvo'. The Zemstvo ran the local governments and had a very real impact on peoples
lives. The Zemstvo assembly was elected by the landed elite, the urban communities and by
10 Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia, edit. David L. Ransel
(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993), 20-21.
11 Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia, edit. David L. Ransel
(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993), 18.
12 Daniel H. Kaiser and Gary Marker, Reinterpreting Russian History: Readings, 860s-1860s
(New York, Oxford University Press, 1994),439.

the village communes.13 This meant that even though the peasants didnt proportionately
have as much power as the landed elite, they had at least some say in the local government.
Another change in Russian law was judicial reforms. The most notable was the use of juries
in criminal cases. The jurors were elected from all classes, not just the nobility.14 At least on
paper, juries were meant to give peasants more say in the legal system. These were all very
modern practices and ideas, but they were not enough to offset the backwardness of the
culture especially considering that the wealthy still held the majority of the power.
Russian society may have been backwards in some aspects, but in many ways Russia was
extremely modern and comparable to European society for the time. For example, in some
ways the Russian food base was better than that in contemporary Europe and new Russian
laws aimed to end previous backward practices. However, despite this, the culture was
extremely unhealthy and violent, especially towards women. Unfortunately, these modern
aspects were overshadowed by the very backward Russian culture that created the bad
health practices, perpetuated violence, and was extremely misogynistic.

13 Daniel H. Kaiser and Gary Marker, Reinterpreting Russian History: Readings, 860s-1860s
(New York, Oxford University Press, 1994), 434.
14 Daniel H. Kaiser and Gary (Ransel 1993), Reinterpreting Russian History: Readings, 860s1860s (New York, Oxford University Press, 1994), 435.

Works Cited

Daniel H. Kaiser and Gary Marker, Reinterpreting Russian History: Readings, 860s-1860s New
York, Oxford University Press, 1994

Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia, edit. David L. Ransel Bloomington
and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993
Steven L. Hoch, Serfdom and Social Control in Russia: Petrovskoe, a Village in Tambov Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 1986