The Emancipation of the serfs in Russia was instigated by the Tsar himself and supported by a narrow coterie of liberal intellectuals who considered serfdom a moral evil. The Tsar’s opposition to serfdom originated in moral indignation against what he considered a centuries old injustice.. It did not arise from pressure on the part of the nobility nor as a result of agitation on the part of the peasants themselves.
More importantly, it did not result from any sort, however limited or simplistic, of analysis of the economic problems of …