Student-Led Presentations Rural Russia: The Village Commune and The Russian Peasant Woman · The Commune (Obshchina) Directed all aspects of peasant life o Regionality: Agricultural villages, but no two communes were identical in terms of size or economic activity/ agricultural production e.g. trade and craft 8 main functions: (1) Economic - regulation of land distribution and organization of production on communal land (2) Taxation - levying merchant dues and peasant labour for obligatory tasks e.g. bridge-building (3) Legal - investigating criminal cases (4) Administrative police - maintaining public order and neutrality; customs and accepted norms of public life (5) co-operative charity/ mutual aid and assistance - seek to establish certain differences between economic differences e.g. food provision in times of famine and poor relief for the elderly and orphans (6) Regulatory/ educational (7) Cultural - traditions, forms of recreation for public holidays (8) Religious - maintenance of the churches o Mironov's 'Social and Functional Dualism': · Hierarchical structure: Formal, governmental structure vs. informal structure · Dualism in peasant's moral code e.g. morality dealing with neighbours vs. outsiders/ foreigners/ governmental officials " Legal matters i.e. common law vs. official state law · Regulatory . The real leaders of the commune are stariki (representatives of the older generation with more wisdom) who would coerce certain people if decisions were not unanimous . The Russian peasant woman and her role within the commune Russian proverb: 'A hen is not a bird, a woman is not a human' The peasant woman had neither direct access to land nor a role in the conduct of domestic or communal life " Land was crucial in determining rewards, occupation, and labour - a male possession · Women only had dowries A peasant woman is subordinate to her father and husband, but also the whole of the male community i.e. no woman is formally represented in the courts or communes Rigid patriarchy - patrilocal and almost universal marriage
· Dominant idea of sex e.g. sickle for women and sotya for men o Intense domestic obligations e.g. care for the whole family, cleaning, dress everyone in the household, weaving, washing, milking cows, cooking, production in the summer - racking hay · Conflict between the matushka (mama) and the snokha (daughter-in law) - heightened tensions from having a younger female presence in the household as she usurps some of the power of the mother-in-law Wives were twice as likely to appeal against her husbands than him against her person i.e. domestic violence was a common occurrence . Kustar production: In the post-abolition of serfdom, there is a development of capitalism and a new economy o This affected the labour roles of women e.g. more heavy labour roles such as bridge-building; and leads to non-agricultural labour for women In the context of urbanisation when men migrated to the city and left their families/ wives behind in the countryside · Payments from absentee husbands helped to stimulate a higher standard of living . More literate and educated husbands/ sons increasingly taught the