Socio-Political Sentiments of Peasants in Kursk Province in the Second half of the XIX – Early XX Century

Relevance. Studying the socio–political mood in Russia in the pre–revolutionary years, it is important to understand that during this period of time the majority of the population was the peasantry. Therefore, in order to form a general idea of the peculiarities of the development of socio–political consciousness in Russia in the second half of the XIX–early XX century, it is necessary to determine: how the supreme power was treated in rural areas, the course of the policy implemented by it; how the peasantry expressed their discontent, and how these discontent was assessed by the government of the country. At the same time, special attention should be paid to the analysis of regional, especially unique archival materials, since national trends in the development of socio–political consciousness in the period under review and their relationship with the development of the pre–revolutionary situation in the country can be judged based on the study of these materials. As a result, the study of the socio–political sentiments of the Kursk peasantry in the designated period seems relevant.
The purpose. The purpose of the scientific article is to study the socio–political sentiments of the peasantry in the Kursk province in the second half of the XIX–early XX century.
Objectives. The objectives of the scientific research: to determine which problems most concerned the Kursk peasantry in the period under review, how the peasants treated the supreme power, how they expressed their dissatisfaction, and how it affected the development of the pre–revolutionary situation in the Kursk province.
Methodology. In the process of working on the research, the following methods were used: historical, logical, chronological, synthesis and analysis, generalization and systematization.
The results of the study are distinguished by originality, since most of the archival sources used for writing the work were introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. They can become the basis for further study of this problem, new theoretical generalizations of the results of scientific research.
Conclusion. In the second half of the XIX–early XX century. Kursk peasants actively distributed banned literature, produced leaflets, pamphlets with politically dangerous content, expressed their dissatisfaction with the internal political course implemented by the government and personally by the emperor through insulting the monarch, members of the royal family. At the same time, the peasants were mainly concerned about the land issue, in connection with which this category of the population showed similar political «activity».

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