(i) The peasants were very discontented. In 1861, the peasant-serfs were freed in the Russian Empire. But despite this land reform, the landed aristocracy remained strong and continued to oppress the peasants. Also, the peasantry just did not have enough land: the peasants constituted about 80 percent of the population, but had hardly 50 percent of the land. The demand for land was therefore a major cause for anger against the Tsar who had let them down by such an inadequate land reform.

(ii) Also the freed peasants had to pay very heavily for both land and freedom, because the Tsar was interested in keeping the goodwill and support of the big landlords by giving more than fair compensation to them. The peasants had to pay such a heavy price that they remained continually in debt, and were forced to work very cheaply for the landlords. Peasants were also very heavily burdened with taxes.

(iii) Agriculture remained backward because the peasants did not have enough money to invest in the improvement of their land, and the landlords thought: why pay for buying machinery if peasants are there as cheap labour.

(iv) In all matters of interest to the peasants the autocracy sided with the landlords, and sent out troops to suppress peasant revolts. Since agriculture was the major sector of Russian economy and peasants were the majority population, the agricultural backwardness and the peasant discontent became important factors for the revolution. There were continuous peasants uprisings during the 19th century, and in the early 20th century they became part of the general revolutionary movement.