Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

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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

ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION 29 the very basis of local government, destroying the bonds that were supposed to connect it with the great mass of the people. Vital con- siderations therefore seemed to demand a radical reform of the zem- stvo franchise on non-class principles. Moreover, the problem had arisen of changing the entire structure of the zemstvos themselves so as to keep pace with their expanding functions. According to the zemstvo statutes, the district zemstvo was the lowest unit of local government. There were also, no doubt, smaller administrative units, volost” and village community, representing the organizations of the peasant class, but these were subordinated directly to the control of the local officers of the central govern- ment in matters of administration and police jurisdiction. Already at the time of the emancipation of the serfs the question had been raised of forming a lower unit of local government, in the shape of a volost organization embracing all classes. And during the closing years of the nineteenth century the question of establishing a volost zemstvo was again broached. This time it was no longer a theoretical discussion, but a very vital necessity, in view of the increasing com- plexity of zemstvo activities and the need of enlisting the codpera- tion of large sections of the population that had not shared in this work heretofore. Yet the demands of the zemstvos were not heeded. On the other hand, the elaborate character of the work carried on by the zemstvos urgently required a certain amount of codrdination and unification. But there, again, there were difficulties in the way; for a law had been in existence since 1867 prohibiting zemstvos of different provinces from communicating with each other “concern- ing matters pertaining to the competence of the central government or concerning questions which, under the law, are subject to the jurisdiction of government departments.” The problem of establish- ing an organization combining all the zemstvos had been discussed intermittently at the zemstvo assemblies for years, but, just as in the case of the volost zemstvos, it could not be solved in face of the stub- born opposition of the Government. The only concessions obtained prior to the Japanese War were the following: (1) In 1899 it per- mitted several provincial zemstvos to combine to establish in the city of Orel an organization for the collective purchase of farming im- plements and machinery; and (2) in 1904 it authorized the pro- " Volost—a small administrative unit comprising several village com- munities.

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