PROJECTS FOR REFORMING THE PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION 301as the moral consequences; The unproductive and demoralizing charactet
of serf labor contributed to the depopulation of towns, the deterioration
and disappearance of handicrafts. The legal fetters imposed on the
peasants in general, and on the serfs in particular, limited greatly their
participation in trade. Not being able to dispose of the product of
their labor in complete freedom, the incentive for producing more and
more efficiently was killed at the very outset. Improvements in
agricultural techniques were stymied, for the Russian peasant suffered
not so much from a lack of land as from a lack of capital. But capitalfor improvements could be obtained only through the sale of surplus
products. Hence the absolute necessity for eliminating the legal disabil-
ities which handicapped the serf and peasant in the market. 1
Speransky noted, however, that the situation was not too serious
yet. For the time being at least, the desires and demands of the peasants
were determined by specific local and temporary grievances and by the
indifference shown by local authorities to the decrees and prescriptions
of the government. This passive and as yet inchoate discontent, though,
could become more intense and then the danger of a revolt and of a
second Pugachevshchina would be great indeed. Interest and duty
demanded that the government stop this dangerous deterioration and
that it take the necessary measures right now. These measures could
and should be very gradual; there was no need for ill-considered
haste. a
Unlike some other publicists of his time, Speransky put no faith in
the actions of individual serf-owners (the failure of the Law on Free
Agriculturists of 1803 had been a lesson that could not be easily
dismissed). He relied entirely on government action, an attitude which
was consonant with his own basic political thinking and also a reflection
of the traditional outlook of the lower classes from which he had
sprung. As he had occasion to observe, the nobility, and even more
so the merchants, had woefully lagged behind the state in leading the
country to a higher level of cultural and moral development. It was
natural to assum~ that in the peasant question, too, success was more
likely to come from the leadership and guidance of the state.
The gradual process of solving the vital problem should begin by an
equalization of the legal and material conditions of private and state
peasants. For ii the material circumstances of privately owned serfs
were at times much better than those of state peasants, the latter en-- "Zapiska 0 krepostnom prave ... ," loco cit., pp. 160-162; "Nuzhdy i zhelaniia,"
Pamiati, p. 813.
2 "Nuzhdy. i zhelaniia," loco cit.,p. 813.