1. A study of the Pugachev documents comprises documents from him to others, from others to him, and from others about him. These documents do not agree in every detail, leaving the reader to determine which part of conflicting statements is true. This paper asserts that although primary documents are used, this does not guarantee that everything in them is factual.
The main peasant grievances that Pugachev tried to exploit in his decrees included slavery, taxes, the inability to own land, and the oppression of judges and nobles.[1] To redress these wrongs, Pugachev proclaimed a two-part solution. First, the peasants would be given their freedom, including freedom from paying levies, soul taxes, and other taxes that the nobles saw fit to levy against them.[2] The peasants woudl be allowed to own land but would not be required to pay rent or any money against the purchase price; in other words, they would be given the land free of charge.[3] In addition to land, they would be allowed to own forests, salt lakes, and various other geographical entities in the same manner.
The second part of Pugachev's decrees dealt with the targets of the peasant revolution-the nobles that were, as Pugachev put it, "opposing our power, disturbing the empire, and despoiling the peasantry."[4] He declares that these nobles shall be "caught, executed, and hanged, and treated just in the same fashion as they, lacking any Christian feeling, dealt with you, the peasants."[5]
In addition to these practical matters, Pugachev also protests the violating of the Christian faith. In his decree of August 1774, Pugachev noted that "during our entire reign we beheld that the Christian faith as laid down by the ancient traditions of the holy fathers had been entirely violated and dishonored by the said villainous nobles."[6] He complains that the Christian faith was replaced by another faith that "introduced likewise the m...