Potato Riots in the Trans-Urals Region as a Reflection of the Traditional Consciousness of the Russian Peasantry

Abstract

The article deals with the phenomenon of potato riots in the Trans-Urals region in the 1840s. Peasant unrest that engulfed the regions inhabited by state peasants cannot be understood simply as a manifestation of anti-feudal protests. Among the reasons for the revolts, rumors, discontent with local authorities, and irrational fears can also be named. The authors propose to consider these events from the point of view of the thinking of the Russian peasantry, in connection with the peculiarities of traditional culture. This approach gives a better understanding of the genesis of events, the suddenness of riots, and inexplicable cruelty in relation to fellow villagers and the clergy from a rational standpoint. Using specific examples, the authors analyze the role of rumors in the emergence of riots, the inability of the bureaucracy to understand the peculiarities of the consciousness of Siberian peasants, and the reasons for the peasants' hatred towards the rural authorities. Besides, attention is paid to the role of the rural clergy in the events. Based on a complex of historical sources, the authors try not only to reconstruct the course of events, but also to reveal the same and repeating lines of performances which occurred at different times and in different places. The riots of 1842 and 1843 took place at the same time (early spring), the rebels demanded that the authorities and the clergy show them documents on “selling them under a master”, and the refusal to demonstrate non-existent papers entailed torture and murder of clerks, country administration, and priests. Revolts were cruelly suppressed. The authors conclude that the main role in the emergence of potato riots was played by the peculiarities of the traditional type of thinking of the peasants and by the complex system of relations and contradictions in the Trans-Ural region. The unrest showed the reluctance and inability of the Russian bureaucracy to explain the essence and purpose of the innovations to the peasants.