The Concepts of “Freedom” and “Consent” in the Context of the Search for a Solution to the Peasant Issue in Russia in the First Quarter of the 19th Century

Abstract. This article presents the results of a comparative and contextual analysis of the key concepts and arguments used in the efforts to regulate conflict between landowners and those peasants liberated by the edict of 20 February 1803. This approach is aimed at revealing the ideas of Russian subjects about manumitting serfs in Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century: it will do so not only on the level of theoretical discourse but also by looking at resolutions taken in concrete matters. Based on the analysis of archival materials, the article identifies important conceptual approaches to the strategies and tactics of resolving the peasant question. Alongside recognition that it was important to observe formal legal norms and procedures, the concept of ‘voluntary consent’ was central, as were complementary provisions about the need to emphasize the right of a landowner to manumit peasants, his right to own landed property, and his inability to reject signed agreements with serfs. In the concluding part, the article posits the reasons why the procedures established in the 20 February 1803 edict for manumitting serfs on the initiative of nobles had a low level of efficacy: it also examines the particularities of the relationships between the concepts of “consent”, “freedom”, and “property” before finally turning to look at the great potency of conceptual models regarding “compelled consent” and “at royal pleasure” in the first quarter of the 19th century.

Keywords: freedom, consent, rights, the serf question in Russia, free agriculturalists, the history of discursive practices, the history of concepts, the history of social consciousness, inter-estate interactions.