Bajorų dvaras keičia savininką vilniaus, kauno ir gardino gubernijų dvarų likimai 1863–1914 metais

Описание

This book tells of the fate of the manor in Lithuania and partly present-day Belarus (during the Russian Empire – Vil’na (Vilnius), Kovno (Kaunas) and Grodno (Hrodna) provinces) after abolishment of serfdom in 1861 and the uprising of 1863–1864. In the mid-nineteenth century those were the tectonic historical events that had immense influence on political, social, economic and cultural situation of the lands. After abolishment of the serfdom, the manor owners had to share their land with the peasants. This meant new opportunities to modernize the outdated and inefficient feudal economic model, to reform the agriculture-based economy and, for the peasants, to acquire some private property, perhaps shifting towards farm-type of households. However, this scenario was doomed because of the insurgence. For the Russian imperial government, the subduing of the nobility and depriving it of its power levers was more important than the social and economic modernisation of the empire. Therefore, it was acting fiercely and destructively, seeking full colonisation of the Western Provinces of the empire, converting them ethnically, linguistically and mentally into the Russian lands. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the management strategy of the western borders was mainly concerned with ethnic, rather than social or economic issues. It was imperative in creating laws and in providing the subjects with property, employment, education and culture. Nationalistic mind-set overshadowed the rational one, condemning the Western Provinces of the empire to economic, social and cultural stagnation.