“Money and Labor will Fertilize the Most Barren Land”: the Illusion of Cossack’s Progressists in the 1860s

Abstract. In 1860s the so-called “progressists” presumed that an unprecedented prosperity awaits Cossacks. For this it is required to pass liberal reforms, to bring Cossack regions closer in their status to common Russian governorate, and pay special attention to development of civil life among Cossacks. Progressists did not have a single economic program, but they were united by common interest to form special population groups on the Cossacks territory, which would be free from the traditional military service. The majority of progressists thought that such reforms would only have benefits, they will encourage economic growth for having positive impact on prosperity of individual Cossack households. But partial realization of progressist’s proposals did not cause the wealth growth for Cossack households. On the contrary, several decades later 1860s were viewed as the time of forfeited Cossack well-being. In this article the reasons of progressist’s economic reforms failure are being analyzed, and the illusiveness of hopes related to them. Author comes to a conclusion that progressists did not think over the action mechanism of their reforms in the specific conditions of 1860s, when the Cossack majority was not ready to enjoy the possibilities granted by such reforms.

Keywords: economic reforms, Cossacks, inogorodnie, progressists, konskriptsionny system, I.I. Krasnov, N.I. Krasnov.