Peasant Sentiment during First World War: A Study of Lèse-majesté Cases in Imperial Russia

This article examines court records of lèsemajesté crimes as an indicator of peasant morale during the First World War. It pays particular attention to the “revolutionary watershed” generation, comprising individuals born between approximately 1885 and 1900. The analysis prioritizes rural attitudes toward mass mobilization, the requisition of horses, wartime inflation, and other home-front hardships. The author also explores the peasants’ reception of the Stolypin agrarian reforms and the land question more broadly. A statistical analysis of lèse-majesté cases was conducted, disaggregating defendants by age. The study quantifies the distribution of sentences and categorizes the offending statements by their nature. The proportion of crimes committed while intoxicated is also calculated. The statistical findings reveal that peasants of the “revolutionary watershed” cohort were predominantly charged for using “profane language,” making anti-war statements, and expressing political grievances; their rhetoric was characterized by significant radicalism and politicization. In contrast, the rhetoric of older peasants featured a high proportion of anti-war sentiment, personal insults, and discontent with the deteriorating economic situation. The article concludes that these cases evidence a sharp decline in the Emperor’s authority during the war, signaling a crisis of “naïve monarchism” within rural society and a profound desacralization of the Tsar’s image, particularly among the younger peasant generation.

Russian Peasantry, Socio-Political Sentiment, Lèse-majesté, Tsar Nicholas II, First World War, Monarchism