The volost government is a collegial body of elected officials governing a volost, an administrative unit of peasant self—government in the Russian Empire.

The volost board consisted of the volost foreman, his assistants (for example, clerks), village elders. The volost government solved a very limited range of issues: financial issues (income and expenses), hiring and firing of hired volost officials, sale of peasants' property through lawsuits. The volost board also performed some notarial functions, being a participant in transactions between peasants. The clerk kept a book of contracts, where he was obliged to record the concluded acts.

The entire volost board rarely met, for example, if the village head could not attend the meeting, then a representative was sent from the peasantry to replace him. The real power in the volost belonged to the volost foreman and his assistants.

The volost foreman headed the volost government (among the Cossacks, this position was called the stanichny ataman). He had assistants and village elders under his command. He was in charge of the property of the volost government and the lay volost money.

The volost foreman was elected by the volost assembly for a term of no more than three years. A candidate for the position of a volost foreman must be an independent householder, be over 25 years old, and not be under trial or investigation. Persons who had been subjected to corporal punishment in the past and persons of "deliberately depraved behavior" were deprived of the right to be elected.

The volost foreman was subordinate to the county authorities. It was they who approved the new candidate for office.

It was the duty of the volost foreman to explain government orders to the peasants, issue residence permits to the peasants, protect public order, detain vagrants and fugitives, monitor the peasants' duties to repair bridges, roads and gatehouses, and so on. The volost foreman was obliged to monitor the execution of the decisions of the volost court. In general, the duties of the volost elders were the same wherever the peasants lived.

A volost court is an internal court of a volost consisting of non-professional elected judges.

The volost court consisted of four judges, who were elected by rural societies for three years. An independent owner, at least 35 years old, who is not under trial or investigation, who is not engaged in the wine trade and does not perform other positions in the parish, could become a volost judge. A peasant could refuse the post of a volost judge if he was over 60 years old and suffered from bodily ailments, as well as if he served one term by election.

The volost court met at least twice a month. One of the four judges was the chairman of the trial. The proceedings were conducted in a simplified form, the minutes of the meeting were not kept, since many volost judges were illiterate. However, the court’s decision was made in writing.

The volost court resolved disputes between peasants about property (in the amount of up to 300 rubles), cases of inheritance of property (in the amount of up to 500 rubles).

Administrative offenses and minor criminal cases were considered in the volost court (they were called "punishments imposed by magistrates"). These included quarrels, fights, spreading false rumors, disturbing public order, appearing in a public place in a state of obvious intoxication, arranging prohibited gambling, non-compliance with fire handling rules, etc.

The volost court could subject a peasant to arrest for not complicated offenses for a period of no more than 15 days, for theft, drunkenness, fraud — up to 30 days or a fine of no more than 30 rubles. Those who could not pay the fine could voluntarily serve their arrest, at the rate of 2 rubles per day.

Until 1903, the volost court could also impose a punishment of no more than 20 strokes of the rod for male peasants under the age of 60, healthy, without education, who did not serve in the army. But such sentences had to be approved by the county authorities.

The activity of the parish courts was criticized because they often acted according to local customs, and not according to the current law. The judges took gifts from the peasants, small sums of money, and decided cases in favor of their relatives.

Volost assembly is an institution of public civil self-government in the Russian Empire.

The institute of volost assembly was established by the "General Regulation on peasants who came out of serfdom" dated February 19, 1861. Volost assemblies were the same wherever peasants lived, regardless of whether there were zemstvo institutions in the area or not. Among the Cossacks, the village assembly corresponded to the village assembly.

The volost assembly consisted of officials and elected representatives from the peasants. The officials at the volost meeting were the volost foreman, the assistants of the volost foreman, the judge of the volost court and the village headman. On a voluntary basis, the volost assembly could elect an assessor of the volost government and a collector of applicants. The peasants nominated one representative from ten households to the meeting. If there were less than ten households in the village, then one person from each household was selected.

The volost assembly was obliged to meet twice a month. The volost foreman presided over the meeting.

The following issues were resolved at the volost meeting: the election of volost officials, the election of vowels to county zemstvo assemblies, the appointment and distribution of volost lay fees and duties, economic issues, the appointment of custody of orphans, etc.

The assembly could make a decision if only the volost foreman and two thirds of the peasants were present. The decisions of the gathering were subject to verification by the county authorities for legality. All decisions regarding the amount and accounting procedure of lay fees were subject to mandatory approval by the county congress. Complaints could be submitted to the county congress about the decisions of the meeting.

Volost assemblies existed until 1917.

A volost is a small administrative-territorial unit in Russia.

In the XIII-XVI centuries, the volost was given to the volost for "feeding", and the population was taxed and levied in his favor. The officials in the volosts were the elders, hundreds and tens. Since the middle of the XVI century, the government has begun to abolish the "feeding" system.

At the beginning of the XVIII century, the main formation of volosts took place. According to the reform of Peter I in 1708, the territory of Russia was divided into provinces. Under Catherine II, the number of provinces increased. Under Paul I, state-owned volosts were introduced to manage state peasants. Thus, the division of the province-county-volost was fixed. Provinces consisted of counties, and counties of volosts. The affairs of the volost were managed by the volost government, which consisted of the volost foreman, village elders and other elected officials.

During the Kiselyov reform (1837−1841), the state-owned volosts were divided into rural societies. Peasant problems were solved by the volost assembly, which was headed by the volost foreman. The volost foreman was elected for three years, approved by the world mediator, then by the county authorities. He had administrative and police authority.

In 1861, the volost became a unit of estate territorial administration. In addition, the Government decided that when organizing new volosts, pay attention to the already existing division into church parishes.

In the 1920s, the volosts were abolished during the zoning process.

In the second half of the 19th century, significant changes took place in the legal status of the peasantry. On the basis of the regulations of 1861 and the law of November 21, 1879, rural societies, public (secular) and volost governments were formed. The affairs of the peasants were considered by representatives of the volost authorities, whose control over the activities was entrusted to the world mediators, zemstvo assessors and Special Presences for peasant affairs. The management of grain stocks and worldly capital was entrusted to the police and the Treasury Chamber.

On March 1, 1883, the Opinion of the State Council on institutions for peasant affairs was highly approved. According to it, supervision over the public administration of rural inhabitants of the Tobolsk province and consideration of peasant complaints was entrusted to officials on peasant affairs and district presences.

The transformation of the peasant administration did not make fundamental changes in administrative procedures and did not eliminate the numerous abuses of officials and peasant officials. In the 1890s, administrative and police control over the peasants was further strengthened. In 1898, the posts of peasant chiefs were established in the Tobolsk province.

Kulaks is the name of a layer of well-to-do peasants accepted in Russian and Soviet literature. Initially, the term "kulaks" originated in the peasant environment and denoted peasants who were engaged in buying and selling, speculation and usury. V.I. Dahl in his dictionary reported that a kulak is a miser, a Jew, a flint, a sturdy man; a brisk and dexterous person; a reseller, a trader, a maklak, a prasol, a pimp, especially in the grain trade, in bazaars and marinas, he is penniless, lives by shortchange, fraud, underweight.

In the second half of the 19th century, peasant farms that had over 20 acres of arable land were considered rich. Gleb Uspensky, during a trip to Siberia, noted that "there is no manor house here, but there is a peasant living in such a vast expanse, who bred huge herds there, set up huge spacious villages …". The peasants of the southern districts of the Tobolsk province even engaged in the bread trade.

At the end of the century, up to 100 dessiatines of land were sown in the richest peasant farms, more than a thousand haystacks were planted per season, there were more than 50 horses, up to 40 cows and up to 100 heads of small cattle. For example, in the farm of the Krasnousov brothers in the village of Kostyleva, Tyukalinsky district, there were 2 mills, 300 heads of cattle, and up to 100 acres of arable land were processed. In addition, these owners bought bread for 17−20 kopecks per pound and sold on the market for 70 kopecks per pound.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the total number of large farms in Western Siberia was 1.5−2%. The main occupations of such farms were agriculture, cattle breeding, milling, soap and brick making, and trade. Often rich peasants were engaged in hauling and maintaining inns.



The rural poor are the poorest peasants, often farmhands. A farmhand is an employee in agriculture.

About a quarter of the peasants were poor. If in European Russia a poor farm had 1 good horse or a pair of working oxen, then in Siberia a peasant with 2 to 4 horses was considered poor. According to the Tobolsk Provincial Statistical Committee, in 1890, peasants who had 2 horses, 1 cow, 2 heads of young animals, 3 sheep and 2 tithes of arable land were considered poor (for the European part of the country, such farms were medium-sized).

The majority of the peasants were middle-class peasants, that is, the middle peasants.



The middle peasants were peasants who occupied an average economic position between the Kulaks and the poor. According to V.I. Lenin, a middle peasant is a peasant who does not exploit someone else’s labor, does not live by someone else’s labor, does not use the fruits of someone else’s labor in any way, but works himself, lives by his own labor.

In the second half of the 19th century, the middle peasants included peasants who had from 4 to 6 horses and from 5 to 10 acres of land on their farm.

The famous Siberian researcher B. Gorodkov at the beginning of the twentieth century defined the standard of living of the majority of middle peasants as "comparatively well-off people". In the Tobolsk province, the proportion of middle peasants at the end of the 19th century was 55−60%. The most backward middle peasant farm had 5−10 acres of land, 4−6 working horses, 4−6 heads of dairy cows, 15−20 heads of sheep. The maximum parameters for this group of farms were: 10−15 acres of land, 10−15 working horses, 25−30 dairy cows, 40−50 sheep.

The lowest socio-administrative unit in pre-revolutionary Russia was a rural society, which consisted of one or more villages whose peasants used common land. The rural society could elect or appoint tax collectors, caretakers of rural schools, hospitals, etc.

The village assembly was the administrative body of the rural society. It consisted of peasant homeowners and elected officials. It was headed by the village headman. The village assembly and the headman had to carry out the orders of the district police officer, the world mediator, the zemstvo chief.

The county is an administrative-territorial unit known in Russia since the XIII century.

The county consisted of a city and its subordinate volosts. Initially, the counties were ruled by princely governors, and since the beginning of the XVII century — by voivodes.

Since the beginning of the XVIII century, the counties have become part of the province. Since 1755, the county has become the lowest administrative, judicial and financial unit, with a population of 20−30 thousand people. The police and administrative authority in the county was exercised by the county police officer — the head of the county police.

In documents of the 19th century, the term "county" was often replaced by the term "district" and vice versa. Since 1876, Tobolsk Province has included 10 cities with districts: Tobolsk, Berezov, Ishim, Kurgan, Surgut, Tara, Turinsk, Tyukalinsk, Tyumen and Yalutorovsk.

Tobolsk Сounty is one of the largest in area (10,8296 square miles) at the beginning of the twentieth century. It included the territory of modern Tobolsk, Vagaysky, Demyansky, Uvatsky, Yarkovsky districts, part of the Tyumen County and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. In 1869, there were 684 villages in the Tobolsk county, of which 36 villages, 408 countrysides, 2 slobodas, 42 settlements, 194 Tatar and Ostyak yurts, 1 zaimka and 1 farm. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the county included 31 volosts, among which 22 were Russian, Ostyak and Vogul, and 9 were Tatar. In 1912, the population consisted of 117 218 people. There were 350 trading shops, 251 blacksmith shops, 125 watermills, 92 windmills, 65 shops, 24 wine shops on the territory of the county. The religious composition of the population was represented by Orthodox, Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Pagans, but the majority of the population professed Orthodoxy and Islam. There were 64 churches, 81 chapels and 85 mosques in Tobolsk County.

In the 1920s, counties were abolished in the USSR in connection with the zoning on the basis of a new administrative-territorial division.