Peasant Revolt of 1888

Peasant Revolt of 1888

 

an uprising in Rumania caused by land hunger and the increased exploitation of the peasantry. The immediate impetus was a rumor that the landowners had suppressed a government decree to distribute land among the peasants. After beginning in late March in the districts of lalomiṭa, Ilfov, Prahova, and elsewhere, the spontaneous mass movement, rallying around demands for land distribution and a re-view of the harsh tenant contracts, spread to 27 of the 32 provinces of the country. The peasants attacked landowners and tenants with large holdings, ransacked estates, destroyed tenant contracts and debt receipts, and seized grain.

Industrial workers were extremely sympathetic to the peasant revolt. Meetings and solidarity strikes were held in Bucharest, Mizil, lasi, and Galaṭi. The peasant revolt was savagely crushed with the aid of troops. About 1,000 peasants were killed or wounded, and 3,000 were arrested.

V. N. VINOGRADOV