In the late 15th century and into the 16th century, serfdom emerged in Russia. The devastation caused by the wars which plagued Eastern Europe contributed to the growing strength of the nobility, while the increasing demand for grain in Western Europe gave the nobility a motive to seize land and force peasants on it. By the 1600s, serfdom had become a hereditary status in Russia.
By 1861, estimates are that about 52 million people in Russia were serfs out of a population of 74 million. Lords allotted their serfs a piece of land on which to live and work off their obligations. These allotments also were supposed to provide for the serfs' subsistence. Serfs either paid their obligation in labor on their lord's land (barshchina), or they paid in money or dues (obrok). By 1861, 71 % of serfs owed barshchina, and the rest owed a combination of obrok and barshchina.
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The legal status of serfs was much the same as the status of slaves in America. Serfs however were different from slaves because serfs were owned by the land and slaves were not. Lords could sell their serfs with or without their land, thus separating families. They could deprive serfs of their land allotment by forcing them to be house serfs. Serfs could own property only in the name of their lord and even when the law changed in 1848 to allow serfs to hold property in their own names; it was contingent on their owners' approval. Serfs were not allowed to register complaints against their lords. The Code of Punishments of 1845 stated that a serf could receive fifty blows with the birch rod for registering complaints against their lords. Other punishments included detention in a house of correction or a workhouse, work on a civilian correction labor gang, and exile to Siberia. Serfdom kept the peasantry in a state of utter poverty, leaving them no chance of improving their lot through property ownership or education.
