Discuss the relationship between peasants and nobles in Russia during the early 20th century.

In Russia, the nobility, the Crown and Orthodox Church owned large landed properties.

(i) Unlike the peasants of France, the Russian peasants did not have any respect for the nobles.

(ii) In Russia, the peasants wanted the land of the nobles and sometimes, they refused to pay rent. They sometimes even murdered the landlords.

(iii) In 1902, a peasant agitation occurred on a large scale in South Russia and by 1905, it spread all over Russia.

(iv) Russian peasants were different from the other European peasants. Sometimes, they pooled their land together.

(v) Peasants established communes (mir) which divided the land according to the needs of the individual family.