During the period 1861 to 1914, various groups of Russians perceived the conditions of the Russian peasantry in their very own way. Some thought that the Russian aristocracy was to blame for the peasants' terrible condition, while others believed that the government was not taking enough action to improve the situation. Nevertheless, all levels of Russian society proposed many changes and adjustments to help improve the conditions. Although some ideas might have succeeded, the awful state the Russian peasantry continued throughout the time period.
             1861 was the year that the Russian peasantry was finally emancipated by the Russian monarchy. Under the terms of the emancipation, each peasant commune received land from the nobility, which was then redistributed among the families of the commune. Although the land was granted, many peasants received nothing but the worst lands, as recorded in Document 2. In the view of the peasants, this was undoubtedly unfair because they cannot grow anything or feed their livestock in the ravines and sands. Therefore, they petitioned Tsar Alexander II to change the situation.
             As the years went on, the lives of the peasantry worsened. Between 1861 and 1900, the average size of the land portion received by the peasants decreased almost by half. At the same time, the population of Russia increased considerably as well. A series of famine also deteriorated the peasant economy to a "full collapse" (Document 5). With the tremendous amount of problems affecting the peasantry, many blamed the government for not taking action. Gleb Uspensky, a revolutionary socialist, described the situation in detail in Document 3. Because Uspensky was a revolutionary, his view was that it was the government's fault that the peasantry weren't prepared for the change that took place. Through these troubled times, the rural community lost all moral bonds among the members of the village. I...