Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1794855874

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-179223

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Polner, Tichon I. http://d-nb.info/gnd/172311195

Title:: Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

Place of publication:: New Haven

Publisher:: Yale Univ. Press

Year of publication:: 1930

Scope:: XXV, 317 S.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter I. Origin and organization of zemstvo institutions

Collection:: Economics Books

22 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR The path of the zemstvos was difficult. First and foremost among the many obstacles they had to contend with were the inertia and in- difference of the people themselves. These looked askance upon the enterprises started by the zemstvos. Unable as yet to realize the need of education, they refused to let their children go to school; in case of sickness they continued to appeal to quacks and charlatans for help ; and, adhering to traditional agricultural policy, they had only ridicule and distrust for the expert advice of trained agronomists placed at their service. More than two decades of persistent and un- tiring effort were required before the people became at last im- pressed with the advantages of education and progress. During this period of pioneering activity the zemstvos were able to elaborate certain definite principles and methods for their further work. Among these, we mention the two following, which were adopted by all zemstvos, although not always consistently adhered to: (1) the substitution of a money tax for the services in kind which had survived from the period of serfdom (corvée labor), and (2) the institution of gratuitous service to the population, and, above all, of free elementary education and medical relief. In their constructive activities, the progressive workers of the zemstvos found themselves compelled to wage incessant struggle within the zemstvo assemblies. Here, there were at first a consider- able proportion of reactionary deputies who were determined to op- pose the effort to educate the mass of the people and who looked with disapproval on cultural enterprises of any kind. This element was composed largely of the older landlords who had owned serfs before the emancipation, who favored the former order of things and would have liked to see serfdom restored. Death and replacement by younger men, however, were taking their natural toll of these depu- ties as time went on, gradually changing the character of the assem- blies ; but as late as the nineties it was still possible to meet, side by side with zemstvos that had managed to introduce almost universal education (certain districts in the provinces of Vyatka and Tver, the district of Berdyansk in the province of Taurida, and others), others that had contrived, in the thirty long years of their existence, to open not more than half a dozen elementary schools (this was the case, for instance, in some of the districts in the province of Pskov).

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