POPULAR UPRISINGS X–XII CENTURIES The difficult situation of the peasants more than once pushed them into open armed protests against feudal oppression. The main area of ​​peasant movements at the end of the X - beginning of the XI centuries. was the territory of what is now Sichuan Province. Here back in 964, on the fourth

Popular uprisings in the 60s and 70s. XI century

Massive popular protests swept across Kievan Rus in 1068-1072. The most powerful uprising was in Kyiv in 1068. It broke out as a result of the defeat suffered by the sons of Yaroslav (Yaroslavichs) - Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod - from the Polovtsians.

In Kyiv on Podol, in the craft part of the city, a meeting took place. The people of Kiev asked the princes to issue weapons in order to fight the Polovtsians again. The Yaroslavichs refused to hand over weapons, fearing that the people would turn them against them. Then the people destroyed the courts of the rich boyars. Grand Duke Izyaslav fled to Poland and only with the help of Polish feudal lords returned to the Kiev throne in 1069. Massive popular uprisings took place in Novgorod, in the Rostov-Suzdal land.

Uprisings of the late 60s - early 70s of the 11th century. demanded vigorous action from the princes and boyars. “Russian Truth” was supplemented by a number of articles called “The Truth of the Yaroslavichs” (in contrast to the first part of the code - “The Truth of Yaroslav”). The purpose of the additions is to protect the property of the feudal lord and his patrimony. From “Truth of the Yaroslavichs” we learn about the structure of the estate. Its center was the princely or boyar court. On it were located the mansions of a prince or boyar, the houses of his entourage, stables, and a barnyard. At the head of the management of the estate was the prince's butler - the fireman (from the word "fire" - house). In addition to it, there was a princely entrance appointed for collecting taxes.

The wealth of the estate was the land, so the princely boundary was protected by an extremely high fine. Dependent smerdas and slaves (slaves, servants) worked on this land. The work was supervised by ratay (field) elders, to whom the slaves were subordinate, and by village elders, who monitored the execution of the work by smerds. There were also artisans and craftswomen in the estate.

“Pravda Yaroslavichy” abolished blood feud and increased the difference in payment for the murder of various categories of the population, reflecting the state’s concern for protecting the property, life and property of feudal lords. The largest fine was paid for the murder of senior warriors, firemen, and princely servants, whose lives were valued at 80 hryvnia. The life of the free population - people (husbands) - was estimated at 40 hryvnia; life of village and military elders, as well as artisans - 12 hryvnia; the life of smerds who lived in estates and slaves - 5 hryvnia.

From pagan riots to social protest

The second half of the 9th and 10th centuries in Russian history became a time of tremendous changes, primarily in the socio-economic and political sphere. The attack of private property and the private owner on the free world of the past radically changed the destinies of people. The adoption of Christianity by Russia meant the beginning of the collapse of the old pagan faith, which had dominated the souls and thoughts of people for many centuries.

All these changes took place almost simultaneously, although their pace was slow compared to a number of Western European countries due to common geopolitical reasons for the development of the East Slavic lands. But by the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century, they became more and more tangible, bringing completely different colors to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. These changes were especially painful during periods of acute social upheaval - severe princely civil strife, foreign invasions, natural disasters - droughts, famines, fires. These days, ordinary troubles aggravated, old grievances surfaced, misfortunes united people on the basis of common interests, hatred of those whom they considered guilty for all their sorrows and humiliations.

For a long time, our science was dominated by the class approach to social phenomena, highlighted by Marxism. It was this approach that was intended to explain the course of history by the struggle of antagonistic classes in society, although it seems that the founders of Marxism, as true dialecticians, did not at all strive to find the simplest logical master key that would explain all the most complex vicissitudes of social life from ancient times to the present. And such a master key was projected by their so-called followers, who made the struggle the meaning of their lives. And how to explain the increase in social confrontation in Ancient Rus' at a time when the class structure of feudal society was just taking shape and when completely different motives raised people to social confrontation." Moreover, the social motive was only one of many that influenced the social behavior of people,

Human nature, human life and human society are structured in such a way that contradictions between individuals, between groups of people welded together by the same interests, between entire estates and classes are inevitable. The inevitability of these contradictions is explained by many reasons. Firstly, because people are born with different abilities. This does not allow them to perceive the world in the same way and, under equal conditions, gain equal opportunities. Secondly, the inequality of these conditions themselves, determined by the social status of people (prince, warrior, smerd), in which even those more gifted by birth are forced to occupy the lower rungs of the social ladder. Thirdly, a combination of various life situations in which people go through their life path. Essentially, the fate of each person is unique, just as he himself is unique. A person very rarely realizes his true value, which is determined both by his innate abilities and the objective conditions of his existence and thereby the objective possibilities of his self-expression. But every person, even with very limited mental abilities, perfectly understands and feels the superiority of another, and, first of all, in the sphere of social status. This is what in many ways brings very different people together into large groups based on interests: in one case, based on infringed interests, in the other, based on the defense of their already won privileged position. This has always been the case, in all societies, and it will continue to be so as long as the human race lives.

But this does not mean that people are in constant struggle with each other. People, groups, estates, classes need each other, and at the same time, the individual interests of people, their social interests are sometimes directly opposite. Personal interests of a person are the engine of society, but the interests of people are at the same time an explosive “material” that can blow up this society if the intensity of contradictions turns into an intensity of passions, which intensify if they capture large masses whose interests coincide.

Ancient Rus' was no exception in this sense.

The first major public struggles in the nascent state arose when Kyiv was crushing other tribal kingdoms. The Drevlyans, Vyatichi, and members of other tribes were united by the desire to defend their independence and freedom. And here the interests of, say, the Drevlyan prince Mal and the unknown Drevlyan smerd converged. Raised several times in the 10th century. uprising against Kyiv by the Drevlyans, Vyatichi; Polotsk residents were looking for an independent path of historical development. Tribal separatism was the main social feeling that united people and raised them to fight.

By the end of the 11th century. Rus', it seems, was no longer disturbed by tribal or regional strife and nothing disturbed its internal state peace. But this was a deceptive impression. Yes, there were no more fires, such as tribal uprisings, but the embers of political separatism, which went back to the past tribal life, smoldered constantly. This was felt in the constant gloomy wariness of the Vyatichi, in the special position of Polotsk, which for decades from generation to generation of its Rog-Voldovich princes waged an endless war with Kiev, and in the eternal opposition of Novgorod, which had not forgotten its past liberties from the Varangian era.

As social relations developed in Rus', the emergence of rich and poor, the formation of the princely-boyar-squad elite, and the beginning of its offensive on the lands of free peasants, tribal separatism retreated into the shadows. But other contradictions came to the fore.

Since the end of the 10th century, since the introduction of Christianity in Rus', contradictions have appeared between those who were devoted to the old pagan faith and the bearers of the ideas of Christianity. Paganism was strong, as already mentioned, in the north and northeast of the country. It was in the Novgorod north, in the Vyatichi northeast, that the first fires of disobedience broke out. The reluctance to accept Christianity as a new religion went hand in hand with old tribal traditions. And worsening social relations, the loss of freedom by part of the population, and increased tax pressure on the part of the state and private owners only complicated the general situation in these parts of the country.

A number of riots occurred in connection with the introduction of Christianity on Novgorod land.

In 1024, in the northeast of the country, in the Suzdal land, a new uprising of the people took place. It was a time of great famine. There was a rumor among the population that rich people were hiding bread. People rushed into the courtyards of the rich, began to beat them and look for bread. The movement was led by the Magi - pagan priests. Thus, social, religious and tribal motives were intertwined in this rebellion. It took the intervention of the great Kyiv prince Yaroslav himself. He came to Suzdal with a retinue, seized and executed the leaders of the rebellion - the Magi, and calmed the region.

In 1068, another major social upheaval occurred in the Russian land. It all started with the defeat of the Russian army from the Polovtsians, commanded by the Grand Duke Izyaslav himself, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, and his brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. Defeated and battered in open battle, the princely squad locked itself behind the Kyiv walls and fearfully awaited the appearance of enemies. It was at this time that fermentation began among the townspeople. They demanded weapons from the prince and were ready to defend the city. On the mountain, the townspeople gathered in groups, in the crowd they said that the princes had betrayed them, that Voivode Kosnyachko was deliberately not giving them weapons, fearing that they would turn against the rich people. The craft and trade Podil was buzzing. There was an endless party going on there. People demanded the release from prison of their rival, the fearless warrior and talented commander of the Polotsk prince Vseslav, who had been treacherously captured by the sons of Yaroslav. The people demanded to put him at the head of the army in the fight against the Polovtsians. At the same time, voices were heard about the abuses of princely governors and administrators, about the oppression of the people, and unfair exactions. In Podol, slaves rebelled and tore to pieces the Novgorod bishop Stefan, who was in Kyiv, who tried to calm them down. From Podol, hundreds of people moved to the princely palace, to the court of the hated governor Kosnyachko. The other part headed to the prison where the Polotsk prince Vseslav was languishing.

The rebel people captured and destroyed many courts of the princely boyars and governors. The princely palace was surrounded by an excited crowd. People close to Izyaslav advised the prince to send soldiers to the prison and kill Vseslav, but the prince hesitated. Time was lost. The people attacked the palace. The Grand Duke, his brother Vsevolod with his children and household, among whom was the future Grand Duke of Kiev, fifteen-year-old Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh, fled.

The crowd destroyed and plundered the princely palace. Many gold and silver items and expensive furs were taken from there. Prince Vseslav was released from prison and elevated to the Kyiv table by the rebel people. Izyaslav fled to Poland.

Vseslav, the chosen one of the people, ruled in Kyiv for seven months. But the former rulers of Kyiv did not give up. By this time, Svyatoslav of Chernigov, the brother of the Grand Duke, defeated the Polovtsians and secured the Russian borders for a time. Izyaslav gathered a large army in Poland and moved towards Kyiv, with Polish troops marching with him. Vseslav and the people of Kiev came forward to meet them. The troops converged near Kyiv itself. But the battle did not take place. On the eve of it, at night, Vseslav secretly left the people of Kiev and fled to his place in Polotsk. The army left without a leader fled. Soon Izyaslav’s army was already near the walls of Kyiv. The rebellious city opened its gates to the Grand Duke and obeyed.

But Izyaslav did not immediately enter the city. First, he sent his son Mstislav there with his squad. He carried out a brutal reprisal against the rebels, killed about 70 townspeople - the instigators of the riot, those who participated in the liberation and enthronement of Vseslav, he ordered some of the rebels to be blinded, and punished others without even conducting an investigation. The city was defeated. Only after this Izyaslav entered Kyiv. He immediately sent an army to Polotsk and occupied it. Vseslav fled from the city into the forests.

Thus ended this first major uprising in Rus', in which social motives are already visible. New concerns begin to push past tribal and religious interests into the background.

The flames of rebellion that engulfed Kyiv spread to other Russian lands. The smerds rebelled around Kyiv itself. The population of the Smolensk land refused to pay tribute and taxes. The people in distant Beloozero rose up. From there, the confusion spread to the Rostov-Suzdal land, to the region of the Vyatichi. The rebellion was led here by two wise men, who called on ordinary people to reprisal against the propertied.

The granaries, barns, and honey houses of rich people were plundered. The rebel detachment numbered about 300 people. It took considerable effort on the part of the authorities to suppress the rebellion. The Magi were captured and entwined by the Grand Duke's commander, Jan Vyshatich.

In Novgorod in 1071, a rebellion began against the bishop and the Christian faith. And again the sorcerer stood at the head of the rebels. Essentially, the city was divided in two. The princely squad stood in the bishop's courtyard. The rest of the city fell into the hands of the rebels. And only the murder of the sorcerer during negotiations helped to decapitate the uprising and disperse the rebels.

Only by 1072 was order restored in Rus' and the three Yaroslavichs, Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod, took measures to calm the land. The brutal punishments that fell on the rebels were only part of these measures. Another part was the development of new legislation, since Yaroslav’s old “Russian Truth” no longer met the needs of the time.

Reasons: a) terror, with the help of which the Horde maintained power over Russia; b) tribute and taxes collected by the Mongols.

In order to register taxpayers, a population census was conducted. Started in the 40s. from Kievan Rus, then in Suzdal and Ryazan lands. People were divided into 10, 100, 1000, 10000. Novgorodians refused the census. They were led by the son of Alexander Nevsky, Vasily. But the boyars and Alexander Yaroslavovich himself were in favor of the census, because They believed that Rus' could not challenge the Horde. The rebels were brutally dealt with.

The uprisings that swept across North-Eastern Rus' in the 1260s became one of the reasons for the later abolition of the tax farming system and the transfer of tax collection into the hands of Russian princes. (The last Baskak in Rus' was Shchelkan, against whose actions there was an uprising in Tver in 1327).

Consequences of the yoke:

1. The population has decreased (at least 10% of the total population of 10 million people).

2. The number of cities decreased (14 were destroyed, 15 became villages).

3. Complex types of crafts have disappeared (making cloisonne enamel, niello, granulation, polychrome building ceramics, glass bracelets, carnelian beads, filigree, foundry, metal stamping).

4. The established routes of communication (“from the Varangians to the Greeks” and the “Silk Road”) were disrupted, internal trade was reduced, and money circulation in the Russian lands was almost completely stopped. Strengthening the naturalization of the economy.

5. Connections with the outside world have been severed.

6. The process of development of feudalism slowed down.

7. Feudal oppression is intensifying. The old social order - a free society - has been destroyed (nobility and nobles must serve, townspeople and peasants bear the burden).

8. The process of gradual political consolidation of Russian lands was disrupted.

9. Kievan Rus split into Lithuanian Rus and Muscovite Rus. The united ancient Russian nation ceased to exist. Based on it in the XIV-XV centuries. Three new nationalities arose (Belarusian, Ukrainian on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russian in Muscovy).

10. The type of government has changed. The veche was liquidated. The sole unlimited power of the Moscow Prince is taking shape.

11. Cultural decline began.

The significance of the Tatar-Mongol invasion for the historical development of Russia

Karamzin, Kostomarov, “Eurasians”: The yoke made it possible to unite the fragmented principalities. After the invasion, Rus' developed into a special state in which the features of Europe and Asia were intertwined.

Soloviev, Klyuchevsky, Platonov, Pokrovsky: The yoke had little impact on the life and development of Russian society.

Pavlenko, Kobrin, Fedorov, Kuchkin: The yoke had a serious, but not decisive, influence on all spheres of life in Rus'. The consequences were negative and inhibitory.

Trepavlov: The estimates are mixed. On the one hand, devastation, on the other, the Golden Horde became the ethnic cradle of the Turkic peoples; from there came religious tolerance; The role of individual power in Rus' increased.

Darkevich: it was a global disaster, the catastrophic consequences of which were incalculable. Old Russian civilization was thrown back in economic, cultural and political development 150 years ago. The gene pool of the Russian people has been undermined. The craft fell into decline. There was no tolerance. Rus' found itself cut off from Europe, Byzantium, and the Muslim East. Political passivity, long-suffering, and fatalism are emerging.

Gorsky: The Mongol conquest led to a radical change in the type of state development. It is not without reason that they say: “pre-Mongol period” - precisely because at that time Rus' was characterized by the traditionally European path of feudal development (with certain regional specifics). And in the conditions in which Russia found itself in the 13th-15th centuries, under the influence of the need for accelerated centralization, a type of development of the country was formed that was distinguished by significant originality.

“God forbid we see a Russian rebellion - senseless and merciless. Those who are plotting impossible revolutions among us are either young and do not know our people, or they are hard-hearted people, for whom someone else’s head is half a piece, and their own neck is a penny,” wrote A. S. Pushkin. Over its thousand-year history, Russia has seen dozens of riots. We present the main ones.

Salt riot. 1648

Reasons

The policy of the government of boyar Boris Morozov, brother-in-law of Tsar Alexei Romanov, included the introduction of taxes on the most necessary goods, including salt - without it it was then impossible to store food; corruption and arbitrariness of officials.

Form

An unsuccessful attempt to send a delegation to the Tsar on June 11, 1648, which was dispersed by the Streltsy. The next day, the unrest escalated into a riot, and “great turmoil erupted” in Moscow. A significant part of the archers went over to the side of the townspeople.

Suppression

By giving the archers double pay, the government split the ranks of its opponents and was able to carry out widespread repressions against the leaders and most active participants in the uprising, many of whom were executed on July 3.

Result

The rebels set fire to the White City and Kitai-Gorod, and destroyed the courts of the most hated boyars, okolnichy, clerks and merchants. The crowd dealt with the head of the Zemsky Prikaz, Leonty Pleshcheev, the Duma clerk Nazariy Chisty, who came up with the salt tax. Morozov was removed from power and sent into exile to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery (later returned), the okolnichy Pyotr Trakhaniotov was executed. The unrest continued until February 1649. The Tsar made concessions to the rebels: the collection of arrears was canceled and the Zemsky Sobor was convened to adopt a new Council Code.

Copper riot. 1662

Reasons

Depreciation of copper coins compared to silver coins; the rise of counterfeiting, general hatred of some members of the elite (much of the same ones who were accused of abuses during the salt riot).

Form

The crowd destroyed the house of the merchant (“guest”) Shorin, who was collecting the “fifth of the money” throughout the state. Several thousand people went to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye, surrounded the Tsar, held him by the buttons, and when he gave his word to investigate the matter, one of the crowd struck hands with the Tsar of All Rus'. The next crowd was aggressive and demanded to hand over the “traitors for execution.”

Suppression

The archers and soldiers, on the orders of the king, attacked the crowd that threatened him, drove it into the river and partially killed it, partially captured it.

Result

Hundreds of people died, 150 of those captured were hanged, some were drowned in the river, the rest were beaten with a whip, tortured, “on investigation for guilt, they cut off their arms and legs and fingers,” branded them and sent them to the outskirts of the Moscow state for eternal settlement . In 1663, according to the tsar's decree of the copper industry, the yards in Novgorod and Pskov were closed, and the minting of silver coins was resumed in Moscow.

Streltsy riot. 1698

Reasons

The hardships of serving in border cities, grueling campaigns and oppression by colonels - as a result, the desertion of the archers and their joint rebellion with the townspeople of Moscow.

Form

The Streltsy removed their commanders, elected 4 elected officials in each regiment and headed towards Moscow.

Suppression

Result

On June 22 and 28, by order of Shein, 56 “leaders” of the riot were hanged, and on July 2, another 74 “fugitives” to Moscow were hanged. 140 people were whipped and exiled, 1965 people were sent to cities and monasteries. Peter I, who urgently returned from abroad on August 25, 1698, headed a new investigation (the “great search”). In total, about 2,000 archers were executed, 601 (mostly minors) were whipped, branded and exiled. Peter I personally cut off the heads of five archers. The yard positions of the archers in Moscow were distributed, the buildings were sold. The investigation and executions continued until 1707. At the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century, 16 streltsy regiments that did not participate in the uprising were disbanded, and the streltsy with their families were expelled from Moscow to other cities and enrolled in the townspeople.

Plague riot. 1771

Reasons

During the plague epidemic of 1771, Moscow Archbishop Ambrose tried to prevent worshipers and pilgrims from gathering at the miraculous Icon of Our Lady of Bogolyubskaya at the Varvarsky Gate of Kitay-Gorod. He ordered the offering box to be sealed and the icon itself to be removed. This caused an explosion of indignation.

Form

At the sound of the alarm bell, a crowd of rebels destroyed the Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin, the next day took the Donskoy Monastery by storm, killed Archbishop Ambrose, who was hiding there, and began to destroy quarantine outposts and houses of the nobility.

Suppression

Suppressed by troops after three days of fighting.

Result

More than 300 participants were put on trial, 4 people were hanged, 173 were whipped and sent to hard labor. The "tongue" of the Spassky Alarm Bell (on the Alarm Tower) was removed by the authorities to prevent further demonstrations. The government was forced to take measures to combat the plague.

Bloody Sunday. 1905

Reasons

A lost strike that began on January 3, 1905 at the Putilov plant and spread to all factories in St. Petersburg.

Form

A procession of St. Petersburg workers to the Winter Palace in order to present Tsar Nicholas II with a collective petition about workers’ needs, which included economic and political demands. The initiator was the ambitious priest Georgy Gapon.

Suppression

The brutal dispersal of work columns by soldiers and Cossacks, during which firearms were used against the demonstrators.

Result

According to official figures, 130 people were killed and 299 were injured (including several police officers and soldiers). However, much larger numbers were mentioned (up to several thousand people). The Emperor and Empress allocated 50 thousand rubles from their own funds to provide assistance to family members of those “killed and wounded during the riots on January 9th in St. Petersburg.” However, after Bloody Sunday, strikes intensified, both the liberal opposition and revolutionary organizations became more active - and the First Russian Revolution began.

Kronstadt rebellion. 1921

Reasons

In response to strikes and rallies of workers with political and economic demands in February 1921, the Petrograd Committee of the RCP (b) introduced martial law in the city, arresting labor activists.

Form

On March 1, 1921, a 15,000-strong rally took place on Anchor Square in Kronstadt under the slogans “Power to the Soviets, not parties!” Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Kalinin arrived at the meeting; he tried to calm those gathered, but the sailors disrupted his speech. After this, he left the fortress unhindered, but then the commissar of the fleet Kuzmin and the chairman of the Kronstadt Council Vasiliev were captured and thrown into prison, and an open rebellion began. On March 1, 1921, the “Provisional Revolutionary Committee” (PRK) was created in the fortress.

Suppression

The rebels found themselves “outside the law,” no negotiations were held with them, and repressions followed against the relatives of the leaders of the uprising. On March 2, Petrograd and the Petrograd province were declared under a state of siege. After artillery shelling and fierce fighting, Kronstadt was taken by storm.

Result

According to Soviet sources, the attackers lost 527 people killed and 3,285 wounded (real losses could be much higher). During the assault, 1 thousand rebels were killed, over 2 thousand were “wounded and captured with weapons in their hands,” more than 2 thousand surrendered and about 8 thousand went to Finland. 2,103 people were sentenced to capital punishment, and 6,459 people were sentenced to various terms of punishment. In the spring of 1922, the mass eviction of Kronstadt residents from the island began.

Novocherkassk execution. 1962

Reasons

Supply interruptions due to strategic shortcomings of the USSR government, rising food prices and declining wages, incompetent behavior of management (plant director Kurochkin told the strikers: “There is not enough money for meat - eat liver pies”).

Form

Strike of workers of the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant and other townspeople on June 1-2, 1962 in Novocherkassk (Rostov region). It turned into mass riots.

Suppression

Troops are involved, including a tank unit. Fire was opened on the crowd.

Result

A total of 45 people went to city hospitals with gunshot wounds, although there were many more victims. 24 people died, two more people were killed on the evening of June 2 under unclear circumstances (according to official data). The authorities made some concessions, but there were mass arrests and trials. 7 “ringleaders” were shot, the remaining 105 received prison sentences of 10 to 15 years in a maximum security colony.