Arguably peasants working conditions did change however to a limited extent from 1855 to 1964. This was due to government reforms during tsarist Russia that had significant effects on peasants such as Stolypin and Alexander’s reforms as this was first steps taken to improve peasantry. However their freedom, transportation and the right to own land was very limited, redemption payments were almost impossible and they were still bound to the Mir. Similar to the communist era under Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev from 1917 peasant working conditions did change as Lenin introduced the new economic policy that improved peasant working conditions financially, but war communism did not benefit the peasants at all, agriculture was very low and caused a huge feminine what effected work life. When Stalin came to power 1924 there was huge transformation in peasant working conditions due to the industrialisation of Russia where machinery and agriculture increased however peasants were practically treated as slave labour during the five-year plans. Khrushchev also changed peasant-working lives as peasants became freer after Stalin’s death, for example they were paid more for grain and the removal of the MTS in 1958 allowed farmers to buy their own machinery. Overall change was very limited in peasant working conditions until 1950’s as the majority of the population were no longer peasants, machinery and new methods of faming became advanced and those who were peasants, they started to get paid a fair amount for their grain.

Peasant working conditions in Tsarist Russia changed over 50 years due to the terms of the Edict of Emancipation issued on 19th February 1861. Peasants were granted ownership of the houses in which they lived and the plots around the houses which they worked in previously, meaning they needed less financial support. They were also granted their personal freedom over a period of two years, and had the same legal freedoms that other Russians had, for example the freedom to own land. This was a vast change for peasants and serfs as it meant that they gained more freedom in their lives and they could own their own land instead of working for their landlords. Peasants were charged ‘redemption dues ‘in the form of regular repayments over a period of 49 years and the same applied to state peasants, peasants didn’t have to worry about repaying the government so quickly meaning their working conditions altered. It is also arguable to say that peasant-working conditions in Tsarist Russia did change due to Stolypin’s land reforms. When Stolypin came to power in 1906 he realised there were problems with the rural economy. Stolypin believed that the peasants were natural conservatives at heart and introduced peasant reforms. He allowed peasants to buy land and set up peasant’s banks to help peasant fund their land ownership, this led to the creation of a new class called kulaks (richer peasants). The amount of State and crown land available for peasants to buy was increased in October, peasants were granted equal rights in their local administrations. Land organisation commissions were also set up containing representatives elected by peasants. Redemption payments were abolished meaning that peasants didn’t have to pay back what they owed which most of the time their landowners charged them more than the land was worth. His legislation encouraged land transfers and the development of larger farms. Peasant ownership grew; a run of good harvest played a significant part in increases in production and rising peasant prosperity. John Laver mentions how ‘emancipation of the serfs was carefully thought out. Consultation begun three years before 1816’ Arguably peasants working conditions did change as this was the first step of leader ship in Russia that tried to change peasant life and it was ‘carefully thought out’ three years before 1816.

In the other hand, Alexander's land reforms did not satisfy radicals and liberals who wanted a parliamentary democracy and the freedom like they saw in European countries and the USA. The land reforms didn’t change their working conditions completely; in some regions it took peasants nearly 20 years to obtain their land. Peasant’s economic situations did not improve as landlords overestimated the price of land. David moon suggested that peasants were over charged by 90%, redemption payments were too high and many peasants were forced to pay more than the land was worth . Others were given inadequate amounts for their needs meaning their standers of living did not change financially. Peasants also didn’t get as much freedom as declared; they still remained bound to the Mir. Michaellynch mentions how ‘arguably, after 1861, the freed Russian peasant was restricted as he had been when a serf’ , It was economically inefficient who restricted their travel and freedom of enterprise, the Mir was retained as a system of communal land tenure and a government of local administration. Similarly to Stolypin’s reforms, it did not modify peasant working lives to a large extent, the reforms were not operative until approved by the third duma in 1910 and only 14% of communal allotment land had passed into private consolidated ownership by May 1915 and changes in the land tenure arrangement took a long time to proses. Stolypins reforms produced a growing class of alienated, landless and poor peasants whilst on the other hand some peasants became kulaks, lives between peasants was not fair. It could be argued that Stolypin didn’t actually want to change peasantry lives as the reforms were not very successful, Michael Lynch mentioned that Stolypin judged, ‘where possible, reform should be introduced as a way of reducing the social bitterness that produced opposition . This could indicate that Stolypin was only carrying out Land reforms so that opposition could stay at its minimum meaning the peasant economic and working conditions did not alter.

Arguably peasant-working conditions during the communist era did change under Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev rule from 1917 to 1964. Lenin changed peasant working conditions by introducing the New Economic Policy 1921. The new economic policy was put in place to restart the economy after the unpopular civil war and war communism. For peasants, Steve Phillips mentions how ‘Peasants were more inclined to grow the much needed food surpluses’ . NEP allowed an increase of food production by giving the peasants an incentive to grow more crops. Peasants who had been forced to give their crops to the war effort were allowed to keep some and sell for profit, some peasants became kulaks, and kulaks were known as rich peasants. Victor Serge recorded that "The New Economic Policy was, in the space of a few months, already giving marvelous results. From one week to the next, the famine and the speculation were diminishing perceptibly; this indicates peasant-working conditions did change as agricultural production was at a healthy rate. Peasant working conditions under Stalin after Lenin’s death also changed, due to the five year plans and collectivisation 1855 90% of the population were peasants working in farms where there was poor machinery and agriculture was never reliable as weather conditions disrupted farming. By 1950’s less than half of the population were peasants, instead they were working in factories as industry and technology grew. Collectivisation forced peasants to learn new skills, 110,000 engineering and agricultural experts taught new methods, and 2 million peasants learned how to drive a tractor. When Stalin died 1953 Khrushchev came to power and introduced agricultural reforms that changed peasants working conditions. The reforms included to make collective farms larger where 121 000 Kolkhoz became 44 000 between 1950 and 1960. Higher prices were paid for grain in order to reduce rural poverty and peasant taxes were reduced, the amount of grain requisitioned was also recued, therefore there was some left for peasants to sell. This indicates that peasants had to work less and gained a fair amount of money for their produce. As production rose peasant consumption of consumer goods increased illustrating they gained surplus from work and where able to spend it for themselves. The reforms also included to remove the MTS in 1958 and allowed farmers to buy their own machinery; it is accurate to say that during Khrushchev rule peasant working conditions did change as real income increased and for the first time essentials were covered.

In the other hand during Lenin’s rule there is evidence that peasant working lives only changed to an extent. When War communism was introduced the first measures contained the nationalisation of land, banks and shipping and foreign trade was declared a state monopoly. Grain was taken from the peasants using force. The state took peasants' surplus grain and even food needed by their families "on credit, for paper money." Paper money was worthless so peasants grew an increase in opposition. Steve Phillips mentions how ‘the collapse of the Russian currency and its replacement by bartering was seen as a sign of the liberation from capitalism, when in fact it was caused by inflation. Illustrating that peasant working and economic conditions did not change as they there was huge inflation in the country. Peasant farmers only grew crops for themselves, as they knew that extra food could be taken by the government to provide for the war. War communism led to a series up risings coming from the peasants in 1920-1921, the up risings were taken in grain areas of Volga basin, north Caucasus and western Siberia, and this indicated peasantry unhappiness. War communism also resulted in famine in 1921-1922 killing five million Russians, however Russian peasants were not strangers to famine; thousands of Russian peasants fled the country side into the city in order for them to find employment in factories and have better access of food were the government wouldn’t force take grain away from them. It is fair to say that peasants working conditions didn’t change during Lenin’s rule as peasants only experienced a disaster during war communism. Similar to when Stalin was in power 1924 there was a huge transformation in peasant working conditions as he disagreed with NEP, he introduced a new system called collectivisation of the creating of larger agriculture units where peasants could farm collectively rather than individual farms, many peasants hated it as 90% of what they grew was taken by the state, they set fire to their farms and slaughtered their animals rather than handing it to the state. The impact on the countryside was pronounced due to the rise in grain seized, Stalin’s plan was to sell grain abroad in order to industrialise Russia. This meant that peasants had no freedom and worked the majority of the time in order to fulfil the state’s demands, peasants starved to death and there was a wide spread feminine in rural areas leading to millions of deaths. Steve Philips argues in his book ‘Stalinist Russia’ that the collective system partly became to resemble serfdom from which peasants had been liberated in 1861 . It is accurate to say that when Stalin was in power there was a dramatic change on peasants working conditions, their freedom was never so oppressed in the past as fear of purges and gulags where it provided slave labour to carry out dangerous work such as logging and gold-mining forced peasants work.

To conclude it is fair to say that peasant-working conditions didn’t change to a large extent from 1855 until the 1950’s, despite reforms and changes to peasantry life such as Stolypins and Alexander’s reforms it was very limited, peasants were still working long hours, poorly paid and farming methods were unreliable, in some cases where there was change, it only lasted a short amount of time such as NEP. It is accurate to say that it wasn’t only until 1950’s that peasant working conditions changed to a large extent, 1855 90% of the population were peasant working in farms and by 1950’s due to the five-year plans less than half of the population were peasants, instead some were working in factories as and those in farms worked with reliable machinery such as tractors and new farming methods. Russia also experienced Wars that either disrupted or kept peasant-working lives the same, the two main wars was the Civil War during Lenin’s rule that involved war communism and the Cold War where arguably Stalin treated peasants as serfs as he felt that Russia was behind western countries and needed to industrialise.