VOCABULARY
- AUTOCRACY: A form of government in which one person has absolute power
- BARSCHINA: Pay with labor, about 3 days a week
- CENSORSHIP: The suppression of unacceptable parts from books, movies, etc.
- CRIMEAN WAR: A war fought between Great Britain, France, Turkey, and Sardinia on one side and Russia on the other.
- DUMAS: The Duma was a kind of parliament which met four times in the period 1905-1917.
- EMANCIPATION: Freedom from bondage. In this case, it refers to the serfs being released from forced labor by the nobles.
- KULAK/MIROEDY: Derogatory term towards those peasants who did well and succeeded
- MIR: Preferred name by peasants for their farmsteads
- OBRUK: Pay rent
- OBSCHINA: Peasant farmstead
- OKHRANA: The Tsar's secret police unit
- PEASANTS: A group of poor people that worked the land to make a living, were considered serfs until their emancipation in 1861
- PEOPLE'S WILL: A radical group coming from the Land and Liberty that used terrorism in attempt to achieve their goal to end autocracy and spread the land among the peasants
- POMESHCHIK: Privately owned serfs
- REDEMPTION PAYMENTS: 49 annual payments that peasants had to pay in order for the State to be able to recover money advanced to the landlords.
- RUSSIFICATION: A system in which all other nationalities in Russia were repressed, people were forced to speak the Russian language and abandon their own customs for Russian ones.
- TREATY OF PARIS: Ended Crimean War on March 30th, 1856 and attempted to prevent future Russian intervention at the expense of Europe and the Ottoman Empire.
- VOLOST: Multiple mirs combined to handle authoritative and legal issues the peasants have
- ZEMSTVO: Local councils in Russia, elected by the wealthy to provide roads, schools, and medical services. These were instituted in 1864