B oris B. G orshkov . Peasants in Russia from Serfdom to Stalin

Peasants in Russia from Serfdom to Stalin: Accommodation, Survival, Resistance, by Boris B. Gorshkov, aims to present, primarily to a student readership, a history of the Russian peasantry “in the light of the most recent research” (1). The author explores a range of topics over the period from the seventeenth to late nineteenth centuries: the rise, development, and decline of serfdom; relations between the state, lords, and peasant families and communities; state policies on peasants and rural life; and the rural economy in all its manifestations. The final chapters, which adopt a chronological approach, consider peasants in late imperial, revolutionary, and early Soviet Russia through collectivization. Gorshkov assigns an active role to peasants and emphasizes regional diversity and the dynamics of the rural economy and society. He considers the Russian peasantry in this period to have been comprised of diverse and versatile collections of groups and individuals; they were not homogeneous, backward, isolated, and insulated. Gorshkov’s approach, which cuts through older stereotypes, is a real strength of this book.

Accommodation · Art · Economic history · Peasant · Period (music) · Political science · Resistance (ecology) · Serfdom · State (computer science) · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies