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Zniewolona Rosja. Historia poddaństwa
O ROSJI, JAKIEJ NIE ZNACIE
Książka burzy utrwalony obraz patriarchalnej Rosji i udowadnia, że system oparty na niewolnictwie powinien budzić wstyd i zdziwienie, a nie nostalgię. W chwili zniesienia pańszczyzny w 1861 roku dwadzieścia trzy miliony rosyjskich obywateli stanowiło prywatną własność ziemiaństwa. Chłopi byli sprzedawani jako żywy towar, przegrywano ich w karty, zsyłano na Syberię, okrutnie karano za nieposłuszeństwo i składanie skarg. Wiele postaci skrzywdzonych chłopów opisanych przez Turgieniewa, Tołstoja, Puszkina czy Dostojewskiego miało swoje pierwowzory w realnym życiu. Przykład okrutnego księcia Gagarina, który torturował i zabił służącego, po czym zainscenizował jego samobójstwo, jest tego najlepszym dowodem. Tak jak i plastyczne opisy chłopskich buntów, przeważnie zakończonych rzezią lub zsyłką.
Borys Kierżencew odkrywa nowe karty historii naszego wschodniego sąsiada i skłania do refleksji nad zjawiskiem niewolnictwa w Europie Wschodniej.
Książka burzy utrwalony obraz patriarchalnej Rosji i udowadnia, że system oparty na niewolnictwie powinien budzić wstyd i zdziwienie, a nie nostalgię. W chwili zniesienia pańszczyzny w 1861 roku dwadzieścia trzy miliony rosyjskich obywateli stanowiło prywatną własność ziemiaństwa. Chłopi byli sprzedawani jako żywy towar, przegrywano ich w karty, zsyłano na Syberię, okrutnie karano za nieposłuszeństwo i składanie skarg. Wiele postaci skrzywdzonych chłopów opisanych przez Turgieniewa, Tołstoja, Puszkina czy Dostojewskiego miało swoje pierwowzory w realnym życiu. Przykład okrutnego księcia Gagarina, który torturował i zabił służącego, po czym zainscenizował jego samobójstwo, jest tego najlepszym dowodem. Tak jak i plastyczne opisy chłopskich buntów, przeważnie zakończonych rzezią lub zsyłką.
Borys Kierżencew odkrywa nowe karty historii naszego wschodniego sąsiada i skłania do refleksji nad zjawiskiem niewolnictwa w Europie Wschodniej.
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Published September 29, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 22, 2024
kupiłam tą książkę w liceum i wtedy zaczęłam czytać i dopiero skończyłam, szczerze to srednia jak dla mnie, język w którym jest napisana przypominał mojego internala z historii napisanego jak miałam 17 lat
November 23, 2025
A must-read for anyone who wants to know the REAL history of Russia, and why the Russians are so fucked up even today.
Initially, I was not very enthusiastic about reading this book. You know, Russian serfdom belongs to subjects about which everyone believes that he/she knows enough already and that there cannot be anything especially interesting in all this. We have seen so many various mentions of it in the Russian classical literature that we subconsciously “internalized” it, not even knowing the phenomenon properly. We just know that Russian serfdom was one of the key problems for the normal development of this country for centuries, but we never actually investigated the subject as it deserves. And, after all, reading about slavery is depressing, right? Especially if we always considered this kind of slavery relatively “mild,” compared to Black slavery in the U.S., for example, which looks terribly violent, cruel, and inhumane (and therefore, “more interesting,” i.e., more appealing to our core values and emotions); nobody talks about anything like this in relation to the Russian Empire, because Russian serfdom seems more trivial and boring. And this is a pity, because Russian serfdom often was no less violent, cruel, and inhumane, and sometimes just unimaginable.
Take note also of these figures: the maximum population of Black slaves in the U.S. was up to 4 mln (in 1860), although it grew gradually from several thousands over two centuries and reached this figure only at its peak before abolition; the total U.S. population in 1860 was about 31 mln, and most of non-Black people were not slave owners. Also, slavery was prevalent mostly in one half of the country and, from some point in time, forbidden in the other half and not approved by most people there; eventually, it became the main reason for the U.S. Civil War, and the abolitionists won the war, thus ending slavery as an official public practice in the whole country.
At the same time, in 1861, the amount of slaves (peasant “serfs”) in Russia was about 23 mln (!), which made 34% (!) of the total population of the empire (67 mln), and this was not the maximum percentage of serfs during its history (depending on the region, the percentage could have been over 45-69%). Most of the non-peasants were slave owners (or at least potential slave owners if/when they had enough money for it), and serfdom was one of the main pillars in the structure of the state overall, created and vehemently supported by the emperors, government, church, and all the aristocratic elite.
Still “trivial and boring,” eh? This is actually the result of Russian propaganda, which very systematically diminished the real complexity and ghastliness of the practice even after it was liquidated. Somehow, even the Soviets just instilled a general notion that “serfdom was bad, but it is over now, so let’s move to other subjects.” In Russia, nobody talks about the unprecedented and devastating impact of this practice on the nation’s mindset up to our days. As the author of this book said in an interview, “совершенно сознательно создается альтернативная история, в которой сглаживаются все острые моменты. И сама проблема крепостного права подается с научной точки зрения неверно, начиная с причин его формирования и возникновения.”
Yes, in reality, it turned out to be a fascinating subject. This is the case when you discover aspects of the problems that you have never even thought about before, and all of them are mind-blowing! I thought that the reading would be very monotonous and boring and that “I know all this already,” but in fact I was in awe with the author’s thorough and systematic approach, his intent to show Russian serfdom in the context of much wider political, ideological, and cultural specifics of Russian society, and his calm but unapologetic attitude to all this. And I actually learned A LOT. This is definitely not what standard books and articles on Russian history usually tell us. The author shows us different aspects of serfdom and discusses each of them deeply and attentively, and you understand gradually that all your perception of the phenomenon was extremely naive and devoid of all the necessary nuances (seriously, many of the things he discusses are “hair-raising,” especially when you try to wrap your head around the notion that THEIR WHOLE COUNTRY KNEW ABOUT ALL THIS AND ALL THIS WAS NORMAL AND GOOD FOR THEM).
The book is also very well written, narrative and yet with an elaborate structure; although it is full of various names, facts, and events (quoted from real archival documents and published evidence of contemporaries), they are represented in such a consistent and logical manner that you effortlessly install all this into your system of knowledge and now feel enriched and empowered by it.
I especially appreciated that the author constantly mentions various public figures and famous surnames that became the objects of pride for Russians over time, symbols of the “Great Russian Culture” and progressiveness (starting from the sacramental Александр Сергеевич Пушкин, etc.). All these people were either participants and direct beneficiaries of this awful system of barbaric slavery (which was already perceived as unprecedented and barbaric at THEIR time and was still supported by 99% of Russian society), or, in very rare cases, just witnesses and documentarians of it (but never active protesters against it). In other words, you can learn a lot about the “Great Russian Culture” from this book — those aspects of it that the Russians prefer not to think about and not to discuss inside their own society or, especially, with the outside world. I think that this book is a very useful tool for us, Ukrainians, and for Western people as well, for a better understanding of the violent and inhumane nature of Russian society throughout history and the powerful reverberations of the practices of Russian serfdom on today’s politics and ideology of Russia. After all, for most Russians, nothing especially changed from those times.
My highest recommendations!
(The real surname of the author is Тарасов — Борис Юрьевич Тарасов. However, there is another Russian writer and historian named Борис Николаевич Тарасов, and people are obviously confused about who is who — even Goodreads mixed them up, and most reviews for this book were left on the page of Борис Николаевич Тарасов, despite that the cover of the book indicates “Б.Ю. Тарасов.” So, this is why Борис Юрьевич Тарасов eventually took a pseudonym, Керженцев. You may see this book published by either surname.)
“О том, что в России существовало крепостное право, знают все. Но что оно представляло собой на самом деле — сегодня не знает почти никто. Не будет преувеличением утверждать, что после гневных обличений крепостничества А. Герценом и еще несколькими писателями и публицистами того времени проблема была окружена своего рода заговором умолчания, продолжающимся до сих пор. Причина в том, что правда о двухвековом периоде народного рабства оказывается часто слишком неудобной по разным соображениям. Авторы академических исследований предпочитают углубляться в хозяйственные подробности, часто оставляя без внимания социальное и нравственное значение явления в целом; авторы учебных и научно-популярных работ избегают освещения этой темы, предпочитая ей более героические и патриотические сюжеты. В результате из исторической памяти общества выпадает целая эпоха, а точнее — формируются неверные представления о ней, не имеющие ничего общего с действительностью.”
Initially, I was not very enthusiastic about reading this book. You know, Russian serfdom belongs to subjects about which everyone believes that he/she knows enough already and that there cannot be anything especially interesting in all this. We have seen so many various mentions of it in the Russian classical literature that we subconsciously “internalized” it, not even knowing the phenomenon properly. We just know that Russian serfdom was one of the key problems for the normal development of this country for centuries, but we never actually investigated the subject as it deserves. And, after all, reading about slavery is depressing, right? Especially if we always considered this kind of slavery relatively “mild,” compared to Black slavery in the U.S., for example, which looks terribly violent, cruel, and inhumane (and therefore, “more interesting,” i.e., more appealing to our core values and emotions); nobody talks about anything like this in relation to the Russian Empire, because Russian serfdom seems more trivial and boring. And this is a pity, because Russian serfdom often was no less violent, cruel, and inhumane, and sometimes just unimaginable.
Take note also of these figures: the maximum population of Black slaves in the U.S. was up to 4 mln (in 1860), although it grew gradually from several thousands over two centuries and reached this figure only at its peak before abolition; the total U.S. population in 1860 was about 31 mln, and most of non-Black people were not slave owners. Also, slavery was prevalent mostly in one half of the country and, from some point in time, forbidden in the other half and not approved by most people there; eventually, it became the main reason for the U.S. Civil War, and the abolitionists won the war, thus ending slavery as an official public practice in the whole country.
At the same time, in 1861, the amount of slaves (peasant “serfs”) in Russia was about 23 mln (!), which made 34% (!) of the total population of the empire (67 mln), and this was not the maximum percentage of serfs during its history (depending on the region, the percentage could have been over 45-69%). Most of the non-peasants were slave owners (or at least potential slave owners if/when they had enough money for it), and serfdom was one of the main pillars in the structure of the state overall, created and vehemently supported by the emperors, government, church, and all the aristocratic elite.
Still “trivial and boring,” eh? This is actually the result of Russian propaganda, which very systematically diminished the real complexity and ghastliness of the practice even after it was liquidated. Somehow, even the Soviets just instilled a general notion that “serfdom was bad, but it is over now, so let’s move to other subjects.” In Russia, nobody talks about the unprecedented and devastating impact of this practice on the nation’s mindset up to our days. As the author of this book said in an interview, “совершенно сознательно создается альтернативная история, в которой сглаживаются все острые моменты. И сама проблема крепостного права подается с научной точки зрения неверно, начиная с причин его формирования и возникновения.”
Yes, in reality, it turned out to be a fascinating subject. This is the case when you discover aspects of the problems that you have never even thought about before, and all of them are mind-blowing! I thought that the reading would be very monotonous and boring and that “I know all this already,” but in fact I was in awe with the author’s thorough and systematic approach, his intent to show Russian serfdom in the context of much wider political, ideological, and cultural specifics of Russian society, and his calm but unapologetic attitude to all this. And I actually learned A LOT. This is definitely not what standard books and articles on Russian history usually tell us. The author shows us different aspects of serfdom and discusses each of them deeply and attentively, and you understand gradually that all your perception of the phenomenon was extremely naive and devoid of all the necessary nuances (seriously, many of the things he discusses are “hair-raising,” especially when you try to wrap your head around the notion that THEIR WHOLE COUNTRY KNEW ABOUT ALL THIS AND ALL THIS WAS NORMAL AND GOOD FOR THEM).
The book is also very well written, narrative and yet with an elaborate structure; although it is full of various names, facts, and events (quoted from real archival documents and published evidence of contemporaries), they are represented in such a consistent and logical manner that you effortlessly install all this into your system of knowledge and now feel enriched and empowered by it.
I especially appreciated that the author constantly mentions various public figures and famous surnames that became the objects of pride for Russians over time, symbols of the “Great Russian Culture” and progressiveness (starting from the sacramental Александр Сергеевич Пушкин, etc.). All these people were either participants and direct beneficiaries of this awful system of barbaric slavery (which was already perceived as unprecedented and barbaric at THEIR time and was still supported by 99% of Russian society), or, in very rare cases, just witnesses and documentarians of it (but never active protesters against it). In other words, you can learn a lot about the “Great Russian Culture” from this book — those aspects of it that the Russians prefer not to think about and not to discuss inside their own society or, especially, with the outside world. I think that this book is a very useful tool for us, Ukrainians, and for Western people as well, for a better understanding of the violent and inhumane nature of Russian society throughout history and the powerful reverberations of the practices of Russian serfdom on today’s politics and ideology of Russia. After all, for most Russians, nothing especially changed from those times.
My highest recommendations!
(The real surname of the author is Тарасов — Борис Юрьевич Тарасов. However, there is another Russian writer and historian named Борис Николаевич Тарасов, and people are obviously confused about who is who — even Goodreads mixed them up, and most reviews for this book were left on the page of Борис Николаевич Тарасов, despite that the cover of the book indicates “Б.Ю. Тарасов.” So, this is why Борис Юрьевич Тарасов eventually took a pseudonym, Керженцев. You may see this book published by either surname.)
“О том, что в России существовало крепостное право, знают все. Но что оно представляло собой на самом деле — сегодня не знает почти никто. Не будет преувеличением утверждать, что после гневных обличений крепостничества А. Герценом и еще несколькими писателями и публицистами того времени проблема была окружена своего рода заговором умолчания, продолжающимся до сих пор. Причина в том, что правда о двухвековом периоде народного рабства оказывается часто слишком неудобной по разным соображениям. Авторы академических исследований предпочитают углубляться в хозяйственные подробности, часто оставляя без внимания социальное и нравственное значение явления в целом; авторы учебных и научно-популярных работ избегают освещения этой темы, предпочитая ей более героические и патриотические сюжеты. В результате из исторической памяти общества выпадает целая эпоха, а точнее — формируются неверные представления о ней, не имеющие ничего общего с действительностью.”
September 6, 2024
Dla mnie też ta książka nie okazała się jakoś bardzo odkrywcza. O pańszczyźnie słyszało i czytało się w różnych miejscach. Jej polską odmianę pięknie przedstawiono w książce „Chamstwo”. Fakt, że ta rosyjska kilkuhetletnua odmiana była bardziej bezwzględna i okrutna, wprost kojarząca się po prostu z najgorszymi odmianami niewolnictwa. Autor szeroko opiera się na dokumentach z epoki, z tymże ich przedstawienie polega po prostu na okropieństwach które wyprawiało się chłopstwu. Całość kończy się gdzieś w połowie XIX w wraz z buntami chłopskimi. Oczekiwałem więcej nawiązań do współczesnej rosji i jakichś wywodów na temat totalnego poddaństwa skutkującego obecnymi zachowaniami społeczeństwa. Cały XX w został potraktowany bardzo po macoszemu przez co temat zdaje się niewyczerpany.
mniej
November 20, 2023
Tyle słyszeliśmy o niewolnictwie w Ameryce tymczasem zamiast "Chaty wuja Toma" powinno się nakręcić Chatę wuja Igora. Bestialstwo nie zna tu granic i im głębiej wchodzimy w książkę tym bardziej zaskakuje nas skala okrucieństwa. Potworna jest ta treść.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews