Slavery in Lithuania

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The Third Statute of Lithuania abolished slavery in 1588.^[1] Serfdom or baudžiava (Lithuanian for 'to punish') which is, in turn, derived from Lithuanian bausmė (punishment) on the territory of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, continued to exist throughout Rzeczpospolita period and later under the rule of Russian empire until Emancipation reform of 1861.

From the 14th century onward (about the same time ethnic Lithuania was converted from paganism to Christianity), the feudal system had been imposed on the vast majority of the population, mainly by Polish nobles, who along with Polish clergy, imposed Christianity on the Baltic tribes. In the second half of the 16th century, the Volok Reform has destroyed the remnants of peasant land ownership, consolidated its feudal monopoly, separated the classes of nobles and peasants (serfs); peasant land became the property of the grand duke. Peasants turned into serfs made up more than 1/2 of all Lithuanian peasants.^[2] The landowners in Lithuania at that time were often foreigners – Polish, German, Russian, and some Polonized or Russianized Lithuanians. Polish language and culture became high culture, subordinating Lithuanian language and culture much as ethnic Lithuanians were subordinated by feudal bondage or serfdom. Serfdom was, by definition, a form of land bondage: essentially, slavery to the feudal noble in the form of unpaid labor on the lands of his estate. Serfs were legally bonded to the land, so whoever owned the land "owned" them. Such bondage continued generation after generation, with serfs subject to whipping, even torture or murder, at the whim of nobles and their estate managers.^[3]

During the 18th century in the last third of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the process of modernization of society began. On 3 May 1791 that trend was reflected in the adopted constitution, but further spontaneous development was stopped by the conquerors and Third Partition of 1795.^[4] In 1795, after the annexation of Lithuania (without Užnemunė and Klaipėda region) to Russia, serfdom became more difficult. Peasants began to be sold without land. Peasants had to perform the heavy duty of Rekrut. In Western Europe. serfs, unlike slaves,could not be bought, sold, or traded individually though they could, depending on the area, be sold together with land. Serfs in Eastern Europe or kholop as called in Russia, by contrast, could be traded like regular slaves, could be abused with no rights over their own bodies, could not leave the land they were bound to, and could marry only with their lord's permission.^[5] Government officials spoke only Russian. After unsuccessful Lithuanian uprisings against the Russians in 1830 and 1831,^[6] whose activists were executed or exiled to Siberia: "The rebels' landholdings were parceled out to court favorites and other Russians in a far-reaching colonization process that led to a large Russian influx".^[7]

Lithuanian serfs were not freed until a decree by the Russian czar in 1861. But that declaration, much like the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation in the US, was not accompanied by land reform. In short, freed Lithuanian serfs were not granted their own version of "40 acres and a mule", so their only resort, if remaining in Lithuania, was to continue to work on post-feudal estates for starvation wages, and to largely remain subject to the rough "justice" of still powerful, neo-feudal lords. Available education to Lithuanians was limited – books and newspapers in Lithuanian language were prohibited due to Lithuanian press ban from 1864 until 1904^[8] as a form of repression after unsuccessful January Uprising.

In 1918, after much struggle and First World War, Lithuanians had opportunity to gain independence. Act of Independence of Lithuania was signed by the Council of Lithuania on February 16, 1918, proclaiming the restoration of an independent State of Lithuania, governed by democratic principles, with Vilnius as its capital. This was the first time in several hundred years that Lithuanians had a free choice of occupations and began entering trades, professions, and commerce.

• Slavery in Poland
• Slavery in Russia