>>510623735>How did it work then?Serfs in Russia were actually under heavy protection from the official government. Serfs that were living on landowners/dukes' property, were allowed to have their own income, roof, provided free medicine and medical care, given necessary tools/appliances, were provided new clothes, supplied food and etc.
They were also allowed to move about freely, to an extent, were never shackled or leashed.
The landowner/duke, in all actuality was VERY heavily supervised by the local and state authorities, and it was the landowner who was persecuted and penalized the harshest, in case of any mistreatment or outright death of a serf on their property/in their territory.
Moreover, literally every single serf had FULL ESTABLISHED-BY-LAW RIGHT to inherit ALL of the landowners'/duke's property, assets, or belongings, in case if landowner to suddenly pass away while not leaving any children behind, which was not an uncommon thing during Russian Empire's days, because many landowners were drafted to wars or military servitude (which was often indefinite, or lasting for many years), sometimes even whole families wholesale, or contracted illnesses/diseases that couldn't be cure easily at the time.
This is actually factually where then entire "cast" of "kulaks" originated from to begin with, as "kulaks" were LITERALLY nothing more than just serfs-turned-dukes suddenly, due to plagues, famines, conflicts, in which many landowners and their offspring perished. Kulaks ended up being absolute parasites and an absolute blight on the society, because they themselves were heavily mistreating their own "serf" peasants, obliging them with exorbitant taxes, stealing their resources, as kulaks often grew extremely greedy and power tripping.