Reasons for Reform - Russia, Alexander II.

... Reasons for Reform: Some historians have suggested that Alexander II was not really a liberal and that he introduced his reforms for practical reasons. He feared that peasant unrest could lead to revolution. Alexander made an important speech to a meeting of nobles in Moscow in 1856. He said: '...the existing order of serfdom cannot remain unchanged. Its is better to begin abolishing serfdom from above that to wait for a time when it will begin to abolish itself from below...' Although Alexander I and Nicholas I had recognised the problems caused by serfdom, this was the first time the government had committed itself publicly to its reform. Alexander did not relish this choice but knew that serfdom was at the root of Russia's economic backwardness. Without change the army could not be modernised. Industry could not develop rapidly without a plentiful supply of free labour and this could only be possible

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