“Perpetual lease” as a mechanism of political engineering: reconstruction of the debates of the governor's committees in 1858–1864

Анотація

The article examines the concept of “perpetual lease” as an instrument of imperial political engineering in the western provinces of the Russian Empire in the context of the 1861 peasant reform. Drawing on the memoirs of T. Bobrovski, statistical reports (“Podilska huberniia, 1862–1864”, “Statisticheskii vremennik, 1877–78”), normative acts, and contemporary historiography, the author reconstructs the debates of provincial committees in 1858–1864 on alternative models of peasant land use. The study demonstrates that the rejection of full peasant ownership in favour of “perpetual assessment payments” was a deliberate political choice aimed at preserving the long-term economic dependence of the peasantry. Special attention is paid to the mechanisms of the gmina, collective responsibility, regional asymmetry in access to credit (municipal public banks, the State Nobles’ Land Bank), and the ethnic structure of landownership, in particular the phenomenon of the “Polish exception” in Podillia, Volhynia, and Kyiv provinces. A comparative analysis with the Baltic and non–black-earth provinces shows that “perpetual lease” functioned not as a universal legal form but as a regionally varied instrument of imperial control that combined legal, financial, and ethnopolitical tools to manage the redistribution of land resources and constrain peasant emancipation.

Ключові слова: perpetual lease; 1861 peasant reform; political engineering; Podillia province; Polish exception; peasant landownership; redemption payments; gmina; collective responsibility; imperial credit policy

Як цитувати

@article{internauka12012,
  author   = {Муляр, Анатолій Миколайович},
  title    = {“Perpetual lease” as a mechanism of political engineering: reconstruction of the debates of the governor's committees in 1858–1864},
  journal  = {Міжнародний науковий журнал «Інтернаука»},
  year     = {2026},
  number   = {3},
  doi      = {10.25313/2520-2057-2026-3-12012},
  url      = {https://www.inter-nauka.com/issues/2026/3/12012}
}

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Муляр, Анатолій Миколайович
TI  - “Perpetual lease” as a mechanism of political engineering: reconstruction of the debates of the governor's committees in 1858–1864
JO  - Міжнародний науковий журнал «Інтернаука»
PY  - 2026
IS  - 3
SN  - 2520-2057
DO  - 10.25313/2520-2057-2026-3-12012
UR  - https://www.inter-nauka.com/issues/2026/3/12012
LA  - en
ER  -