HIST 245 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Anti-Clericalism, Paternalism, Quit-Rent
Document Summary
Lecture 6: the plight of the people: introduction: the russian conscience. 90% of the russian population was peasants. This is the area where catherine did the least > kind of set russian peasants further back then where they were before. Catherine"s enlightened reforms were to an extent mostly performances, many of them didn"t even touch the lowest area of the population (peasantry) Tradition was no longer an obvious option. Peasant life: in this area, it can be seen as her going backwards > she confirmed in law the nobilities exclusive right to own serfs (this was a step back) She would take state peasants and give them as gifts to her favourites further enserfed those who were considered free before her reign. Practically speaking, catherine ii set back serfdom a lot no talk about rights or improving their conditions in any legal sense (no progress) Catherine realized that there was a sense that serfdom was a ticking time bomb >
