How to abolish the serfdom in Russia?

[Wild colonial boy]

Just start a campaign in 1726 year. There is no decision to abolishment??

[Bics93]

There is an event which trigger after 1780, basically at the end of the game... Historically Russia was quite beackward regarding this aspect of the society...

[spartakisteqc]

If you start earlier, there is an event that asks you if you want to implement serfdom or not. You should always say no even if the manpower boost seems nice. The horrible maluses to institutions spread are harming you way more than any other bonuses you could get from serfdom. Otherwise, you need to wait for later events to allow you to abolish it and it's very long. You can thank Ivan the Terrible for having taken, unsurprisingly, terrible decisions on that matter.

[50 Shades of Gandalf the Grey]

Fairly sure Ivan's epithet means terrible in the sense of fearsome ;)

He did quite a bit of good for Russia actually, despite his occasional insanity and fairly frequent brutality.

[TheSaboteur]

Originally posted by bics93:

There is an event which trigger after 1780, basically at the end of the game... Historically Russia was quite beackward regarding this aspect of the society...

That moment when Russia freed the slaves before America. It really wasn't, not until mass industrialization at least. Catherine the Great in the 1700s toyed with the idea but decided not to after the peasants joined with a cossack who was pretending to be her former husband and former Tsar. Rebellion probably made her think twice about freeing them.

[spartakisteqc]

Originally posted by 50 Shades of Gandalf the Grey:

Fairly sure Ivan's epithet means terrible in the sense of fearsome ;)

He did quite a bit of good for Russia actually, despite his occasional insanity and fairly frequent brutality.

I know, I was making a pun. :) His early reign was rather effective although his wars were abject failures. However, he got quite tyranical after that and he started enforcing what would become one of the most brutal kind of serfdom in Europe. It was almost as horrible as slavery in fact since, unlike serfdom in the West, peasants could be bought or given as gifts even at the cost of separating famillies which the church denounced, but mostly in vain. But as for violence, it was mostly directed at boyars and not so much against the ordinary people.

Originally posted by Mr. Whiskers:

Originally posted by bics93:

There is an event which trigger after 1780, basically at the end of the game... Historically Russia was quite beackward regarding this aspect of the society...

That moment when Russia freed the slaves before America. It really wasn't, not until mass industrialization at least. Catherine the Great in the 1700s toyed with the idea but decided not to after the peasants joined with a cossack who was pretending to be her former husband and former Tsar. Rebellion probably made her think twice about freeing them.

Yeah, although it was initially in her program, she didn't free them mostly because she knew the aristocrats would turn on her and she needed them as officers in her army and as bureaucrats. Serfdom was only abolished by Tsar Alexander II in 1861, curiously at the same time that the US Civil War started largely because of the abolition of slavery debate.

[dr pussy]

Originally posted by Mr. Whiskers:

Originally posted by bics93:

There is an event which trigger after 1780, basically at the end of the game... Historically Russia was quite beackward regarding this aspect of the society...

That moment when Russia freed the slaves before America. It really wasn't, not until mass industrialization at least. Catherine the Great in the 1700s toyed with the idea but decided not to after the peasants joined with a cossack who was pretending to be her former husband and former Tsar. Rebellion probably made her think twice about freeing them.

This is so beyond wrong it hurts. Peter the Great was ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ great but just because he was doesn't mean we can ignore the utterly awful country he started out with. Before Peter, Russia was honestly Poland-tier awful as a nationstate and culturally inferior to everything west of the Urals due to isolation, fundamentalism, and constant war for the last 600 years.

[Wild colonial boy]

Thanks for answers lads!