Peasant Uprising of 1902

in Poltava and Kharkov provinces, a rebellion that flared up as a result of an incipient revolutionary crisis in regions where the capitalist transformation of the landlord economy led to mass impoverishment of the peasants, which was exacerbated by the poor harvests of 1901. Political action by the proletariat and propaganda by the Social Democrats revolutionized the peasantry. The revolt spread through the neighboring districts of Konstantinograd, Poltava, Valki, and Bogodukhov. Up to 40,000 peasants took part in the uprising. Between March 7 and April 3, 105 landlord estates were ransacked. The peasants seized grain, livestock, and equipment.

The uprising was crushed by troops, and there were mass executions. Of 1,092 persons brought to court, 836 were sentenced to prison. By the decree of May 11, 1902, the government imposed 800,000 rubles in retribution payments on the peasantry for losses suffered by the landlords. This decree was repealed in 1904.

Disturbances in Kursk, Chernigov, Voronezh, Kherson, Saratov, Simbirsk, Riazan’, Volyn’, and PodoPsk provinces and in the Kuban’ during the summer and autumn of 1902 were evoked by the uprising in Poltava and Kharkov provinces. Under the Decree of May 5, 1903, a district police guard was created in the 46 provinces of European Russia.