ABSTRACT
Among the issues of Russian politics on the threshold of the twentieth century the agrarian problem stood easily foremost. The agrarian organization of Russia, such as it was at the beginning of the twentieth century, dated from the Emancipation, though in certain important details the reforms of 1861, while they abolished serfdom, sanctioned local customs of tenure and certain traditional features in agrarian relations. While the general raising of the standards of farming in Russia was certainly needed and would go a long way in helping the solution of the agrarian problem, it depended, first and foremost, on the industrialization of the country and the consequent extension of the agricultural market, which would call it forth automatically. Another factor in the agrarian situation of Russia, which had played a considerable part in shaping the course of further evolution, was the position of the landowning gentry on the morrow of the Emancipation.
