Agrarian reform of 1906–1913: social refl ections of the Ukrainian peasantry
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Abstract
The purpose of the article is to study various forms of social reflection of the Ukrainian peasantry on the implementation of the agrarian reform of 1906–1913 in the regional dimension and in everyday practice.
Scientific novelty of the study lies in the analysis of the course and features of the implementation of the agrarian reform 1906–1913 in the form of social reflections of the Ukrainian peasantry as an effective subject of change in the reform of land relations.
Conclusions. The sustained interest of scholars in agrarian discourse, especially in the context of landmark events,
reforms, and personalities, can be traced both at the scientific-theoretical and at the cognitive levels. The critical rethinking of the content, course, regional features, and consequences of the agrarian reform of 1906–1913, initiated by Ukrainian scholars using new methodological tools, continues. Through a combination of modern methods, principles, approaches, and the processing of previously unpublished archival sources, they study in more detail, in addition to the traditional ones, new dimensions of the reform – national, regional, migration, legal, and socio-psychological.
The powerful scientific heritage of studies on P. Stolypin’s agrarian reform, which differ in their chronology and ideological paradigm, seems insufficiently complete in terms of social reflection. This refers to the «visibility» of the peasant himself as a subject of agrarian transformations, who actively and consciously participates in the implementation of the planned measures, represents his own vision of rural problems and proposes ways to solve them, expresses his own and other people’s emotions,
criticizes central and local authorities, etc.
The social reflection of the Ukrainian peasantry during the implementation of the agrarian reform 1906–1913 demonstrated that the rural environment and its inhabitants were completely immersed in the new socio-economic realities, expecting the desired results. Although the heterogeneity of such expectations was evident: the conservative and traditionalist camp of the peasantry hoped for the collapse of the project and the preservation of the rural community, some entrepreneurial and wealthy
farmers saw their future prospects as optimistic, the majority hoped for the foresight and wisdom of the government, which «knows what it is doing». Despite the conventionality of this separation, the government’s new agricultural policy caused discontent among each of them. The forms of protest ranged from spontaneous (mutual claims, complaints, denunciations, property damage) to organized (arson, lawsuits, blocking the work of land management commissions).
The agrarian reform of 1906–1913, like any other, revealed its strengths and weaknesses, which are analyzed in a number of scholarly works. However, the experience of preparing and implementing the reform, the subjectivization of the peasantry as the main participant, and the instructive lessons of past agrarian transformations for future reforms deservedly attract the attention of contemporary researchers.
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References
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