Egorov A. K. Peasant unrest in the North-West of Russia in the summer of 1831 // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №1. P. 39-53.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-1-39-53

Annotation

The article considers the peasant unrest in the North-West of Russia during the cholera epidemic. In the summer of 1831, after the mass outflow of workers from Saint Petersburg due to the cholera riots, a wave of peasant protests swept through Saint Petersburg and Olonets provinces: local residents attacked doctors and government officials, accusing them of abusing power and of poisoning the people under the pretext of fighting the epidemic. Such peasant revolts caused serious concern to the authorities that paid special attention to the population behavior during the epidemic. The distinctive feature of the peasant unrest was a gradual shift of its epicenter to the east along waterways — rivers and canals of the Mariinsky system. Peasant revolts were caused by a combination of factors that had both a nationwide nature and local specifics. The first important factor was rumors of poisoning that spread throughout the Mariinsky water system and its surroundings from Saint Petersburg due to its cholera riots. The second important factor were waterways that allowed people and rumors to travel relatively quickly over long distances. The third important factor was social distrust to authorities, doctors and anti-epidemic measures. The peasant unrest was a part of Russia’s cholera riots in the summer of 1831.

Keywords

Peasant unrest, epidemic, cholera, rumors, poisoning, panic, violence, communication, communication lines.

About the author

Alexander K. Egorov, PhD (History), Associate Professor, Petrozavodsk State University. Lenin St., 33, Petrozavodsk, 185910; Research Fellow, Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History, Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Pushkinskaya St.,11, Petrozavodsk, 185910.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

The article was submitted on 11.12.2023.

Ippolitov V.A. Factors affecting the health of the peasants from the “revolutionary turning point” generation in the 1920s (on the example of the Tambov Province) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2023. V.8. №2. P. 46-63.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2023-8-2-46-63

Annotation

The author identifies factors that affected peasants’ health in the 1920s based on the unpublished documents of the Health Department of the Executive Committee of the Tambov Regional Council of Workers’, Peasants’ and Red Army Deputies from the State Archives of the Tambov Region. The article focuses on the generational history of rural society, on the “revolutionary turning point” generation, whose representatives were born at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, mainly in the 1890s. The author shows the influence of malnutrition and famine of 1924–1925 on the health of rural residents and the negative consequences of eating various food substitutes and concludes that the famine affected the most the poorest peasants from the “revolutionary turning point” generation. The article presents a comparison of positive and negative factors affecting peasants’ health, focusing on the issues of medical care, morbidity, nutrition, water supply and other factors of the population health status. The author argues that the chronic underfunding of the healthcare system did not allow to provide the rural population with quality medical care, and malaria and syphilis were the most common diseases. The author makes a conclusion about the unsatisfactory health of the peasants from the “revolutionary turning point” generation in the 1920s, referring to the death and birth rates in the countryside and to the relationship between the demographic behavior and depeasantization.

Keywords

Peasants, famine, epidemic, mortality, healthcare, party, NEP, generations.

About the author

Ippolitov Vladimir A., PhD (History), Senior Researcher, Tambov State Technical University. Sovetskaya St., 106/5, Tambov, 392000.
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