[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.
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.
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.
This was the first time in several hundred years that Lithuanians had a free choice of occupations and began entering trades, professions, and commerce.