Slavery: Theory and Practice

18-30

Authors: Sergey L. Dudarev

The article analyzes the section “Slavery and the slave trade” from a valuable monograph by the famous historian F.V. Totoev “The social structure of Chechnya (second half of the 18th – 40s of the 19th century). Nalchik, 2009. 375 p.”, which has a difficult fate. Being published many years after its writing, this work, even today, by coincidence, was "unnoticed" by experts. Meanwhile, this section contains interesting arguments of a specialist, who have not lost their scientific significance so far and demonstrate the real level of development of slavery (possession of prisoners) in Chechnya during this period. According to the scientist, this phenomenon developed in Chechnya in line with the genesis of the local society, which followed the path of feudalization. Slaveholding relations could not reach the systemic “formational” level in Chechnya due to the lack of social, economic and political prerequisites for this. At the same time, the functioning of slavery played a major role in the process of strengthening the position of the Chechen teip elite, which increased its power by raiding actions in order to capture prisoners and booty. The final integration of Chechnya into the Russian state following the “Caucasian War” and the subsequent peasant reform in 1861 stopped the development of local slave-owning (captive) relations, which had progressive historical consequences for this region.

40-48

Authors: Evgenia S. Tyutyunina

The author analyzes the judicial-legal conflict related to the fate of the Pago female-hilander, who actually had the status of a slave-unauta and was originally a serf in the Cossack of the Terek Cossack army, Yegor Tambiyev, who came from the Circassian-Gai (Armenian Circassian). Subsequently, Pago was acquired from him by Colonel Sokolov, whose wife was a relative of Tambiyev. A few years later, the colonel attempted to return Pago to its original owner. However, Tambiyev, who by this time emerged from the Cossack class, became a tradesman and changed his name (he became Melikov), lost the right to own serfs. For this reason, he refused to accept Pago and return the money. In this regard, the sons of Sokolov sold a woman in Mozdok to a resident of Malaya Kabarda I. Zagashtov. The sale was contested by the Pago hot house, which was first taken from the new owner and transferred to bail by the administration representative, and finally released in 1867. The fate of the Pago woman reflected the particularities of the transition period and were related to the fact that the North Caucasus was on the eve of the abolition of serfdom, already accomplished at this time in Russia.

68-79

Authors: Artyom Y. Peretyatko

At the beginning of the XX century some don authors, including S.G. Svatikov and A.A. Karasev, used the term «enslavement» in relation to the modern Cossacks. According to them, in the years 1880–1890. Don Cossacks turned into a «military serfs». In the article we try to analyze the validity of such statements. On the basis of archival documents and materials of a number of Don Commissions, it is shown that the Cossacks of the service category were actually attached to the villages, several times a year calling in them to check equipment. The military authorities received the right to arrest and insult them for any malfunction in this equipment. Finally, for the debts in the amount of the villages, the property of the Cossack could be sold, and its share was leased. Based on these factors, it is necessary to recognize that the statement about the «enslavement» of the Cossacks is based on certain factual data.

18-30

Authors: Sergey L. Dudarev, Dmitry S. Dudarev

A widely known historical phenomenon in the North Caucasus in the first half of the 19th century was the capture of people with their subsequent sale to the markets of the East or within the region. This phenomenon has not received a stable definition from researchers: it is called slave trade, plenoprodavstvo (captives’ trade), "predatism", and so on. The task of this study is to clarify the meaning of the term "yasyr" and the scope of its functioning among the North Caucasians, especially with regards to the status of those who are called "Caucasian captives", i.e. captive Russians, captured by the mountaineers during their raids, etc. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that this term, which in principle covered Russian captives too, was spread throughout the North Caucasus, but was most common in its northeastern part. In the west of the same region it is known in isolated cases. Foreigners who visited the territory of Adygea (E. Spencer, J. Bell, J. A. Longworth, T. Lapinsky) and were able to get a good acquaintance with the social life of the local population, did not come across this term. The authors of the article believe that today it is impossible to unambiguously use the terms "slavery" and "slave-owning" as applied to the situation of the first half of the 19th century in the mountain environment, also with regard to Russian captives: slavery took place in the region not as a formation, but as a way of life, one of the possible names of which is a captive one. The status of captive Russians is closest to the term "yasyr." They were not strictly slaves but people with unstable status. The Russian captives who were waiting for ransom/ exchange in this temporary state sometimes acquired the "hypostasis" of a captive guest, or "a junior member of the family". If the ransom/exchange did not work out, the captives turned into a means of exchange, a kind of "currency" in the absence of the mountain people's developed monetary circulation and the dominance of the exchange of products and goods. The Russians did not play a serious role in production.

42-51

Authors: Yu.Yu. Klychnikov

The article considers the slave trade practice following the example of the Northern Caucasus and its influence on the Russian politics in the region. The trade of slaves was practiced by local peoples long ago. Having faced to this thing, the Russian authorities began to root out such activities. Some part of the region population took action against it which to a certain extent predetermined military, political and social conflict. The unfavourable factors of foreign policy complicated the situation. The neighbouring states interested in getting “lively goods”, provoked the dragging out of the opposition. Only in the second part of the XIX century it was a success to overcome the crisis and stop the practice of slave trade. But while weakening the political system the phenomenon was appearing again and large efforts were needed to put up with it. The thread of slave trade with deep historical roots in the Northern Caucasus is still actual. The recent events, connected with the going out of the legal space of the Russia, testify to it.

14-23

Authors: Anvar M. Mamadaliev

The article is devoted to the comparative analysis of the institutions of classical slavery of antiquity with the institution of slavery in the heyday of the feudal monarchy of Russ – in the second half of the XI century. This period is on the board of one of the most productive national rulers – Yaroslav I Vladimirovich the Wise and his sons. The paper gives a characterization and comparative analysis of classical slavery of antiquity, the slavery of the ancient Slavs and in the early period of the Russian state, the institution of slavery, enshrined in the Russian Truth. The author comes to the conclusion that the ancient russian state, which according to tradition was called the Kievan Rus, it is hardly fair to call the slavery feudal monarchy, as the slavery in the form in which it is usually understood (referring to his classic version) does not exist.