Crime, Cultural Conflict, and Justice in Rural Russia, 1856-1914

This book is the first to explore the largely unknown world of rural crime and justice in post-emancipation Imperial Russia. Drawing upon previously untapped provincial archives and a wealth of other neglected primary material, Stephen P. Frank offers a major reassessment of the interactions between peasantry and the state in the decades leading up to World War I. Viewing crime and punishment as contested metaphors about social order, his revisionist study documents the varied understandings of criminality and justice that underlay deep conflicts in Russian society, and it contrasts official and elite representations of rural criminality—and of peasants—with the realities of everyday crime at the village level. Stephen P. Frank is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, and coeditor, with Ben Eklof, of The World of the Russian Peasant: Post-Emancipation Culture and Society (1990) and, with Mark Steinberg, of Cultures in Flux: Lower-Class Values, Practices, and Resistance in Late Imperial Russia (1994). Representations Institutions and the Problem of Order 17 Colonial Perspectives Representations and Realities of Rurol Crime and Justice 19 CRIME AS CULTURAL IMPOVERISHMENT 24 FORCES OF ORDER? LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE POLICE 30 RURAL JUSTICE AND THE NEW LEGAL ORDER 36 A Portraiture of Numbers Rurol Crime and Peasant Felons in the Judicial Statistirs 51 SOURCES AND THEIR SHORTCOMINGS 53 A PECULIAR PROFILE 66 CRIMES AGAINST THE FAITH 181 INVESTIGATING CRIME 187 EXPLOITING POPULAR BELIEF 193 FROM SUPERSTITION TO CRIME 197 POWERS OF THE DEAD 201 Varieties of Punishment Between Court and Administrative Authority Dont beat a peasant with cudgels beat him with rubles POPULAR SAYING RE... 209 FOUNDATIONS OF PUNISHMENT IN RURAL COMMUNITIES 210 PUNISHMENT BY VOLOST COURTS 215 CRIME AND THE INTERESTS OF STATE 72 Crime Justice and the Law in Village Life Views from Below 83 Understandings of the Law Property Crime and Justice through Peasant Eyes Where there is law there will be crime PEASANT SAYING 85 JUSTICE AND THE AMICABLE COMMUNITY 95 LAND OWNERSHIP AND PROPERTY CRIME 103 THE STRUGGLE OVER FORESTS 109 The Hidden Reahn of Rural Property Crime 115 THEFT 117 BOOTLEGGING 122 GANGS BANDITS AND HORSETHIEVES 124 ARSON 132 THE ECONOMICS OF PROPERTY CRIME 137 From Insult to Homicide Honor Violence and Crimes against Persons What happens during ruml kolidays ? Peasants drink themseloes into an utter f... 145 INSULT AND HONOR 147 ASSAULTS AND FIGHTS 155 HOMICIDE 166 Questions of Belief Superstition Crime and the Law Tkou shall not permit a sorceress to line exodus 22sH 176 Public Work 216 Fines 218 Incarcemtion 221 Corporul Punishment 226 THE CASE OF BANISHMENT 236 Unofficial Justice in the Village 243 DEFINING POPULARJUSTICE 247 SAMOSUD AND PROPERTY CRIME 261 SORCERY 269 Savages at the Gates Bandits Hooligans and the Last Crime Wave 276 THE HOOLIGAN PHENOMENON 280 RURAL HOOLIGANS AND THEIR CRIMES 289 THE END OF LAW 297 Conclusion 307 BIBLIOGRAPHY 319 INDEX This book is the first to explore the largely unknown world of rural crime and justice in post-emancipation Imperial Russia. Drawing upon previously untapped provincial archives and a wealth of other neglected primary material, Stephen P. Frank offers a major reassessment of the interactions between peasantry and the state in the decades leading up to World War I. Viewing crime and punishment as contested metaphors about social order, his revisionist study documents the varied understandings of criminality and justice that underlay deep conflicts in Russian society, and it contrasts official and elite representations of rural criminality—and of peasants—with the realities of everyday crime at the village level.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1999.This book is the first to explore the largely unknown world of rural crime and justice in post-emancipation Imperial Russia. Drawing upon previously untapped provincial archives and a wealth of other neglected primary material, Stephen P. Frank offers a m