Russian society was
strictly divided into social classes or estates (sosloviia, cословия), separating one social group from another. Like other European societies, this soslovie (сословие) system had existed
from medieval times. As in other
European countries in the 19th Century, four basic sosloviia existed: 1) nobility, 2) clergy,
3) urban commoners, and 4) rural peasants.
The hierarchical system began at the top with the tsar and continued
down to the lowest peasant. The system
had religious foundations; the tsar was given his position by god and the
hierarchy was seen as established by god as well. People felt secure knowing they had a place
within society. Raznochinet (разночинца) was the term given to those who fell between the
nobility/clergy and the peasantry (the growing middle class). Nobility consisted of hereditary and personal
nobility. Divisions existed in the
clerical class depending upon the clergyman’s specific role in his church. Commoners were divided into many groups
including honorable citizens, urban commoners, merchants, philistines, and
burghers. A special soslovie was the military.
Cossacks and other military men held their own sosloviia.
The peasant class
was the largest class of all and included numerous different ranks. Peasants were different from other classes in
that they were subject to both a poll tax (Подушный
оклад) and military conscription whereas members of other classes may not
have been. Single homesteaders, farmers,
monastic farmers, free agriculturalists, state peasants, landowners’ peasants,
appanage peasants, and ascribed peasants were all different classes among the
peasantry (Крестьяне). Some German settlers were categorized as free agriculturalists (Вольные хлебопашцы), while others
identified themselves as Крестьянин, a
variation on the Russian for peasant.
Each soslovie had different rights and
obligations; some were subject to certain kinds of taxation, some were subject
to military conscription, some were required to belong to guilds, each was
required to hold different types of passports, etc. Some classifications were allowed to travel
freely while others were restricted.
Some groups were able to engage in commerce, although limitations may
exist upon the characteristics of such.
Some groups were entitled to a certain degree of mobility and might
change classification depending upon employment tenure, net wealth or marriage
status. Members of a soslovie might petition the tsar to
modify their rights or privileges. Thus,
two sosloviia that may have been otherwise
almost identical may have been subject to dissimiliar entitlements or
restrictions.
Most European
countries similarly classified their populations and this system provided their
populace with social identity and clearly defined the peoples’ role within
society. One’s social status not only
determined how he paid taxes or became employed, but it also affected his day
to day life with very tangible measures.
A member of a peasant class would need to address higher class folks
with a certain title and they may need to give way in traffic or don their cap
when approached. Certain classes would
not have been able to legally possess arms of any sort, or achieve master
status within their vocation, or would need to quit their education after achieving
a certain level. From the American
standpoint, this system seems very restrictive and even inhumane, but these
systems existed in European societies for centuries.
In his Russian
passport (pasportnaya kniga), Andreas
Ratzlaff identified Крестьянин as the soslovie to which he belonged.
-http://www.gla.ac.uk/0t4/crcees/files/summerschool/readings/Cadiot_2005_SearchingForNationality.pdf
-Across the
Revolutionary Divide: Russia and the USSR 1861-1945, Theodore R Weeks, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Chapter 2
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