Note 25 — Chapter III · THE PRODUCTIVE FORCES OF THE PEASANTRY.
Reading edition
The appendices to the Statistical Reports contain some figures for the comparison between the extent of land formerly held by the serf and now owned by the free “peasant-proprietor.” In 117 out of 562 communities of former serfs, there were held by the peasants:
Dessiatines.Per cent.
Before the emancipation53870100
After ” ”4053775
Cut off for the nobles1333325
It must be remembered that besides these 25 per cent., the nobles cultivated, before 1861, large portions of land on their estates by means of forced labor.