Peasants and Land: 1789 and 1917 Compared

In both France and Russia, peasants were the majority and land was central. In France, peasant revolts in 1789 led to the abolition of feudal dues, and the sale of Church and émigré lands allowed many peasants to buy land, creating a large class of small proprietors who later resisted radical change. In Russia, peasants seized land in 1917, and the Bolshevik Decree on Land, issued the day after the October takeover, endorsed this.

But the Bolsheviks' long-term goal was collective agriculture, and grain requisitioning during the Civil War and later forced collectivization under Stalin from 1929 turned the state against the peasantry, causing famine and mass deportations. Comparison shows a dramatic contrast: the French Revolution made peasants owners who became a conservative force, while the Russian Revolution first gave land and then took it back.