Dubinshchina

disturbances from 1762 to 1764 by the peasants of the Dalmatovo Assumption Monastery near the town of Shadrinsk (in present-day Kurgen Oblast, RSFSR).

These disturbances were caused by the heavy noncash obligations and harsh exploitation of the assigned peasants. The monastery authorities succeeded in compelling some of the peasants to carry out these work obligations. Those remaining free began to arm themselves as best they could (for the most part, with clubs [dubinas], hence the name of the movement; they created two detachments, of 200 and 500 peasants, and besieged the monastery. The siege lasted throughout the winter of 1763-64. The peasants of three neighboring monasteries joined the insurgents. A regiment of dragoons was sent to pacify them, and by the middle of May 1764 the uprising had been crushed; 198 peasants were subjected to public punishment by flogging. The surviving participants of the dubinshchina later took an active part in the peasant war led by E. I. Pugachev.