Peasant War Under the Leadership of S. T. Razin

(1670–71), a peasant war against feudal oppression in Russia. The Peasant War led by Razin was caused by an intensification of the oppressiveness of feudal serfdom in central Russia and by the extension of serfdom into the southern and southeastern regions of the country.

Class contradictions had grown sharper, particularly during the wars of 1654–67 with the Rzecz Pospolita (the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania) and with Sweden (1656–58), when, in response to increased requisitions, masses of peasants and posadskie liudi (merchants and artisans) fled to the frontier regions. Beginning in the late 1650’s the government, under pressure from the dvorianstvo (nobility or gentry), implemented the norms of the Sobornoe Ulozhenie (Assembly Code) of 1649 by organizing a state search for fugitive peasants in many districts of European Russia. This policy aroused even greater discontent among the peasants. The sluzhilye liudi po priboru (servitors by contract) who defended the southern frontiers were also dissatisfied, for the heavy obligations imposed on them and the character of their landownership put them on almost the same level as the peasantry. The greatest number of malcontents were concentrated on the Don, which became the center of the uprising.

The movement of the cossack detachments of Vasilii Us toward Tula in 1666 was the prelude to the uprising. The cossacks, who wanted to be given the means to subsist while they were in military service, were joined on their march by the peasants and kabal’nye kholopy (a category of serfs) of the area south of Moscow. The movement took on an antifeudal character. In the spring of 1667 impoverished cossacks and fugitive peasants who wanted to set out on a raid gathered in the Don region. Razin took command of them and led them to the Volga, and from there to the Caspian Sea. Inasmuch as the tsar’s voevodas (military commanders) were under orders to restrain the cossacks, the actions of Razin’s band often had a mutinous character.

The cossacks subdued the town of Iaitskii Gorodok (present-day Ural’sk). After wintering there, Razin sailed along the western coast of the Caspian Sea to the shore of Iran. The cossacks returned from their raid in August 1669 with rich booty. The Astrakhan voevodas failed to hold them back, and the cossacks pushed on to the Don. Other cossacks and fugitive peasants began to stream into Razin’s headquarters at Kagal’nitskii Gorodok.

The government of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich anxiously followed the struggle between the impoverished cossacks and their elders, which became extremely critical after Razin’s return. A tsarist envoy, G. A. Evdokimov, was sent to the Don to find out Razin’s intentions. But Razin, who arrived in Cherkassk with his followers on Apr. 11, 1670, had the envoy executed as a spy. Razin became the head of a cossack host and decided to organize another raid on the Volga.

From the beginning of Razin’s new raid on the Volga, the uprising of the cossacks became an antigovernment rebellion. The cossacks were joined by fugitive peasants and by the inhabitants and strel’tsy (semiprofessional musketeers) of Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan, and other cities and towns along the Volga. The rebellion took on a mass character when it was joined by Russian and Ukrainian peasants, posadskie liudi, and sluzhilye liudi po priboru of the Middle Volga and southern districts and by the indigenous peoples of the Volga. It became a peasant war against the nobility and gentry, serfdom, and the tsarist authorities. The political orientation of the Peasant War under Razin was more clearly defined than that of the Peasant Uprising under the leadership of I. I. Bolotnikov (1606–07). The insurgents killed pomeshchiki (landlords) and their stewards and voevodas and their aides. They created their own bodies of authority, usually modeled after cossack self-government. Everywhere, city and peasant elders, atamans, esauls, and sotniki (commanders of cossack squadrons) were elected.

Characteristic of the insurgents were their naїvely monarchical concepts. Razin appealed to his followers to serve the tsar and “give the chernye liudi (black people; taxpaying townspeople and state peasants) their freedom” (that is, freedom from state taxes). The insurgents announced that the Tsarevich Aleksei Alekseevich (the son of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich, who had died in 1670) had joined them and was going to Moscow under his father’s orders to “beat” the boyars, nobles, voevodas, and tradespeople “for their treason.” Although the initiators and leaders of the Peasant War under Razin were Don cossacks, the active participants in it were the sluzhilye liudi po priboru, the non-Russian peoples of the Volga Region, and the inhabitants of Slobodskaia Ukraina. This feature distinguished it from other peasant wars.

In May 1670 the cossacks captured Tsaritsyn. The insurgents defeated 1,000 Moscow strel’tsy who had sailed to Tsaritsyn under the command of I. T. Lopatin. Troops commanded by the voevoda Prince S. I. L’vov moved out of Astrakhan. Near Chernyi lar on June 6 the Astrakhan strel’tsy went over to the side of the rebels without a fight. The insurgents moved toward Astrakhan, storming it in the early hours of June 22. The rank-and-file strel’tsy and the posadskie liudi offered no resistance. After taking the city, the rebels executed Voevoda I. S. Prozorovskii and the strel’tsy officers, dividing the property of the executed men among themselves.

Leaving a contingent of cossacks in Astrakhan under the command of V. Us and F. Sheludiak, Razin and 6,000 of his followers sailed in longboats to Tsaritsyn. A cavalry of about 2,000 men marched along the shore. By July 29 the host had reached Tsaritsyn where the cossack leaders decided to move toward Moscow with their main forces and to deliver an auxiliary strike from the headwaters of the Don. On August 7, Razin moved on Saratov with 10,000 men. On August 15 the city’s inhabitants welcomed the rebels with open arms. Samara also surrendered without a fight.

Counting on massive peasant support, the insurgent leaders planned to go out into the districts inhabited by enserfed peasants when the season for work in the fields was over. On August 28, when Razin was 70 versts (74.9 km) from Simbirsk (the center of the Simbirsk line of fortifications), Prince Iu. N. Bariatinskii rushed to the aid of the Simbirsk voevoda with troops from Saransk. The posadskie liudi let the insurgents into the Simbirsk stronghold on September 6. When his attempt to force Razin out of Simbirsk failed, Bariatinskii retreated to Kazan. Voevoda I. B. Miloslavskii barricaded himself inside the Simbirsk kremlin with 5,000 soldiers, Moscow strel’tsy, and local nobles. The siege of the Simbirsk kremlin held up Razin’s main forces. In September the rebels mounted four attacks, all of them unsuccessful.

The cossack Atamans la. Gavrilov and F. Minaev moved from the Volga to the Don with detachments of 1,500–2,000 men. Soon the rebels moved up the Don. On September 9 the advance detachment of cossacks captured the town of Ostrogozhsk. Ukrainian cossacks led by Colonel I. Dzin’kovskii joined the insurgents. But in the early hours of September 11 wealthy townspeople whose property, like that of the voevodas, had been confiscated by the rebels, made a surprise attack on Razin’s men, capturing many of them. Thus, the advance detachment of cossacks did not succeed in securing a position on the territory of Slobodskaia Ukraina. Not until September 27 did 3,000 rebels commanded by Frol Razin (brother of S. I. Razin) and Gavrilov arrive at the town of Korotoiak. After a four-hour battle with the advance detachment led by Prince G. G. Romodanovskii, the cossacks were forced to retreat.

Another cossack detachment, under Lesko Cherkashenin, began to move up the Severskii Donets at the end of September. On October 1 it took the towns of Moiatsk, Tsarev-Borisov, and Chuguev. However, a detachment of Romodanovskii’s troops soon caught up with them, and they retreated. The rebels were defeated in a battle near Moiatsk on November 6.

Hoping to prevent the tsar’s troops from coming to the aid of Miloslavskii’s besieged troops, Razin sent out small detachments from Simbirsk to incite the peasants and townspeople of the Volga’s right bank to rebellion. Moving along the Simbirsk line of fortifications, a detachment led by Atamans M. Kharitonov and V. Serebriak pressed toward Saransk. Everywhere along their route, peasants, sluzhilye liudi po priboru, and the peoples of the Volga Region rose in rebellion. On September 16, Russians, Mordovians, Chuvash, and Mari took Alatyr’ by force. On September 19 local Russian peasants, Tatars, and Mordovians, together with one of Razin’s detachments, seized Saransk. Kharitonov’s and V. Fedorov’s detachments occupied Penza without a fight. The entire Simbirsk line had fallen to Razin’s forces. Aided by peasants, strel’tsy, and cossacks, M. Osipov’s detachment occupied Kurmysh. The peasants of the Nizhny Novgorod District rebelled. In early October one of Razin’s detachment’s took Koz’modem’iansk without a fight. From there, Ataman I. I. Ponomarev’s detachment, which had raised a revolt in the Galich District, set out up the Vetluga River. The uprising spread to Tambov District. In September and October rebel detachments appeared in a number of districts, including Tula, Efremov, and Novosil’. At the same time, peasant disturbances broke out even in districts not yet penetrated by Razin’s forces (Kolomna, Iur’ev-Pol’skii, Yaroslavl, Kashira, and Borovsk).

The tsarist government began to assemble a large punitive force. The experienced voevoda, Prince Iu. A. Dolgorukov, was put in command. The army consisted of nobles and gentry from towns west of Moscow and from towns on the southern border, five reitar (noblemen’s cavalry) regiments, and six units of Moscow strel’tsy. Later, they were joined by the Polish gentry of Smolensk and by regiments of dragoons and soldiers. By January 1671 the punitive force numbered more than 32,000 men.

On September 21, Dolgorukov advanced from Murom, hoping to reach Alatyr’. But the uprising already seethed everywhere, and he was forced to halt in Arzamas on September 26. The rebels advanced on Arzamas from several directions. However, because the atamans did not succeed in organizing a coordinated attack, the tsarist voevodas were able to repel their attack and smash them, detachment by detachment. Later, about 15,-000 rebels with artillery again mounted an attack on Arzamas. They were defeated in a battle outside Murashkino on October 22. Subsequently, the voevodas pushed on to Nizhny Novogorod, crushing the revolt along the way. In mid-September, Voevoda Iu. N. Bariatinskii again went to the aid of the garrison at Simbirsk. On their way the punitive forces fought four battles against the combined forces of Russian peasants, Tatars, Mordovians, Chuvash, and Mari. The tsarist forces did not reach Simbirsk until October 1. The rebels attacked Bariatinskii’s forces twice but were defeated both times. Seriously wounded, Razin was carried away to the Don. On October 3, Bariatinskii joined forces with Miloslavskii.

From mid-October the rebels fought primarily defensive battles. Iu. N. Bariatinskii mounted a new offensive on November 6, breaking through to Alatyr’. At the end of November the main punitive forces, which were commanded by Dolgorukov, left Arzamas, and on December 20, they entered Penza. Bariatinskii recaptured Saransk on December 16.

After Razin’s defeat near Simbirsk, Voevoda D. A. Bariatinskii’s troops, who were in Kazan at that time, moved up the Volga, breaking the siege of Tsivil’sk and capturing Koz’modem’iansk on November 3. However, D. A. Bariatinskii was unable to join Voevoda F. I. Leont’ev’s detachment, which was advancing from Arzamas, because the inhabitants of Tsivil’sk District (Russians, Chuvash, and Tatars) rose again in rebellion, besieging Tsivil’sk. Battles against insurgents in Tsivil’sk, Cheboksary, Kurmysh, and Iadrin districts, who were led by Atamans S. Vasil’ev and S. Chenekeev, a Chuvash, as well as by other commanders, continued until early January 1671. Ponomarev’s detachment moved through Galich District to the coastal districts of the White Sea, but his advance was temporarily halted by stewards and wealthy Vetluga peasants. When the rebels took Unzha (December 3), tsarist troops overtook and defeated them.

Fierce battles were fought for the important fortified centers of Shatsk and Tambov. The detachments of Atamans V. Fedorov and Kharitonov moved toward Shatsk. On October 17 a battle took place outside the town against troops led by Voevoda la. Khitrovo. Despite the rebels’ defeat in this battle, the uprising in this region continued until mid-November, when Khitrovo’s and Dolgorukov’s troops joined forces. The insurrection around Tambov was the most protracted and the most hard fought. On about October 21 the peasants of Tambov District rebelled. Before the peasants’ revolt could be crushed by the punitive forces, the sluzhilye liudi po priboru rebelled under the leadership of Ataman T. Meshcheriakov and besieged Tambov. The siege was broken by tsarist troops from Kozlov. When the punitive forces returned to Kozlov, the people of Tambov rose up again, repeatedly storming the town between November 11 and December 3. Voevoda I. V. Buturlin reached Tambov from Shatsk on December 3 and lifted the siege. The rebels retreated to the woods, where help reached them from the Khoper River. On December 4 the rebels defeated Buturlin’s advance detachment, driving it back to Tambov. Only with the arrival of Prince K. O. Shcherbatyi’s troops from Krasnaia Sloboda did the uprising begin to wane.

As the tsarist troops won more and more battles, the wealthier Don cossacks became more active. On about Apr. 9, 1671, rich cossacks attacked Kagal’nik, took Razin and his brother Frol prisoner, and on April 25 sent them to Moscow, where they were executed on June 6, 1671.

Despite the treachery of the Don cossack elders, Astrakhan continued the struggle. Ataman I. Konstantinov sailed to Simbirsk from Astrakhan on May 29. On June 9 the rebels mounted an attack on Simbirsk, but they were repulsed. By this time, V. Us had died, and the Astrakhan rebels elected F. Sheludiak as their ataman. In September 1671, Miloslavskii’s troops began a siege of Astrakhan. On November 27 the city fell.

Like other peasant wars of the feudal epoch, the Peasant War of 1670–71 was characterized by spontaneity, disorganized rebel forces and uncoordinated rebel actions, localized outbreaks, naive monarchism, and lack of a mature political program. The tsarist government defeated the peasant troops relatively quickly because the class of feudal lords closed ranks to defend its privileges and because the government was able to mobilize forces that were better organized and better armed than those of the rebels. The victory won by the serf owners made it possible for them to consolidate their feudal ownership of the land, to extend the serf-owning economy into the country’s southern regions, and to broaden their proprietary rights over the peasants. Nonetheless, the Peasant War of 1670–71 played an important role in the struggle of the peoples of Russia against serfdom.

SOURCES

Krest’ianskaia voina pod predvoditel’stvom Stepana Razina, vols. 1–3. Moscow, 1954–62.

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