Defunct After the Emancipation of serfs in Russia, Alexander II began to have serious doubts about his course.
After suffering a backlash from the Russian aristocracy for his act, Alexander II moved to the right, and began to replace progressive, government administrators with members from Kryepostniki.
[1] The Kryepostniki are known to represent "a vast majority of the gentry owners of Russia’s 111,555 estates."
[2] The party was known for its very vocal press, which made endless complaints about the lack of "hands" available for the estates of the nobility, as well as advocating for a number of things: abolishing the obshchina (the village community), abolishing justices of the peace (popularly-controlled judicial system), and establishing a "nobility bank," in which the government would give interest-free loans to the rich.
Herbert Spencer criticized the party by saying "the reality is that few landlords care to cultivate their estates...[the landlord's wealth] have been squandered in maintaining the old standard of living..."[3] The famous author, Vera Broido, remembers the history of the Emancipation Act, with all of its reactionary rigor, and reflected that it satisfied nobody, "not even the Kryepostniki.