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Anniversary of Zemstvo Department of Ministry of the Interior foundation
27 July (8 August), 1861 under the Ministry of the Interior was established Zemstvo Department for the land arrangement and public administration of peasantry in post-reform Russia.
On the basis of the opinion of the State Council approved by the emperor 4 (16) March 1858, under the Ministry of the Interior was established the Central Statistical Committee, whose goal was to focus on statistics relating to the administration. In view of the forthcoming Emancipation reform of 1861, the Committee was divided into two departments: Statistics Department and Zemstvo Department. The duties of the Zemstvo Department included a preliminary discussion and handling of all cases on matters relating to Zemstvo and economy in the Russian Empire. The Deparment also conducted preliminary work to an act of liberation of peasants from serfdom.
After the release of Regulations of February 19 (March 3), 1861, Zemstvo Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was responsible for its implementation, as well as the progress of the entire peasant question locally. Soon the department became an independent institution, no longer a part of the Central Statistical Committee.
After the reorganization, Zemstvo Department was engaged in public management and economy arrangements for villagers, and in matters relating to military service. Functions of the Zemstvo Department were distributed among eleven offices, each of which consisted of a office manager and his senior and junior assistants. At the discretion of the Minister of the Interior, the meetings of the Council of the Zemstvo Department could be attended by the governors, provincial and district leaders of the nobility, members of provincial offices for peasant affairs, conciliators and other persons permanently or temporarily residing in St. Petersburg. Ya. A. Soloviev was appointed the Chief of the Zemstvo Department.
The Office of the Zemstvo Department oversaw the legal provisions on the peasants, the conciliators; led secret correspondence relating to Zemstvo Department; collected audit reports on peasant institutions. Under Zemstvo Department was also established the Office for Peasant Affairs in the provinces of the Kingdom of Poland, headed by the chief of Zemstvo Department. This division managed the issues which had been under jurisdiction of the Interim Commission on Peasant Affairs of provinces of the Kingdom of Poland.
Zemsky Department did not consider affairs involving Zemstvo institutions. Such cases were resolved by the Economic Department of the Interior Ministry.
Lit.: Полное собрание законов Российской империи. Собрание 2-е. СПб., 1863. Т. 36. Отделение 2. № 37290. С. 197; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.runivers.ru/bookreader/book9935/#page/199/mode/1up; РГИА. Ф. 1291. Д. 95490.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: