Lashmans ( Laschmann , from the German n. Laschen - chop, cut, trim and Man - man) - former service Tatars (for the most part) involved in the preparation of ship timber for the construction of the Russian fleet.
By a decree on January 31 ( February 11 ), 1718 [1] it was ordered: in the Kazan, Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod provinces and Simbirsk district, to take logging and shipping ship forests, to take service murzas, Tatars, Mordvinians and Chuvashs without any payment, and from those of those who live too far from forest dachas, raise money to hire free workers.
Thus a special class of “lashmans” was formed, who were heavily burdened by the natural duties imposed on them, forcing them to leave the house for 300-500 versts.
Content
History
At the beginning of the reign of Peter the Great, logging of ship timber in the Azov and Kazan provinces and its delivery to the admiralty was carried out on the account of the conscription “from the county people of the Kazan province”.
In 1774 a fee was assigned to foot lashmans at 10 kopecks per day, and horseback at 16 (from 1782 - 20 kopecks). In 1799, detailed rules were established on the procurement of ship scaffolding by lashmans. By the end of the XVIII century there were up to 609 thousand lashmans, and in 1817 - already 943 thousand, which significantly exceeded the need that existed in them. During the transformation (in the same year) of the management of ship’s forests, it was recognized as possible to save Tatars living in the far away areas of logging from the Lashman conscription, and to limit the composition of Lashman to 120 thousand souls, with an appointment of 8,000 people each year. The lashmans were given the duty to harvest in the provinces of the lower okrug ship forests - Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Vyatka, Orenburg, Simbirsk, Penza, Tambov and Saratov - except mast, up to 28 thousand oak trees. For the performance of this duty, lashmans were exempted from supplying recruits and also paid them wages. In 1767 and 1832 attempts were made to entrust protection of state forests to lashmans.
After the transfer in 1859 of ship's forests from the Ministry of the Sea to the Ministry of State Property, Lashmans were turned into a general category of state peasants .
National composition
When Peter I in 1718 issued a decree on laying in Kazan a shipyard for the construction of ships for the Caspian fleet, all the hardships and hardships that followed him fell on the shoulders, primarily of former serving Tatars.
At the same time, it was decided to recruit up to 300 people of carpenters, blacksmiths, sawmills and bochars from Russian villages and volosts of the same provinces (except Voronezh ), enlist them in recruits and settle in special villages, with the responsibility of them to prepare ship timber for the fleet.
For baptized fellow villagers this duty was performed by non-baptized ones. When in 1740-1750 almost all the Cheremis, Chuvash, Mordovians, Udmurts converted to Christianity, then the Tatars became fully entrusted with the Lashman service. So, if in 1747, out of the 44,739 peasants attached to the admiralty, more than 37 thousand were Tatars, then in 1767 out of 66,151 lashmanas, 45,146 were Tatars.
Cons
Centennial oaks and pines, suitable for building ships, sometimes had to be harvested in forests located tens of miles away and rafted down the rivers to Kazan. Former servants of the Tatars attached to the Kazan Admiralty were most often used in these difficult works. Men from 15 to 60 years old were sent to loggers. They were forced to work in the forests without a break for either a whole year or six months. When recruiting for lashman for six months, from nine peasants they took one foot and one horse, while recruiting for a year - from 25 peasants one horse and two foot.
When, due to Lashmanism, the head of the family was absent, his household was desolate. The peasants, leaving for logging, could not sow bread, prepare hay and firewood. Despite such deprivations, the tsarist administration did not exempt lashmans from annual poll taxes. And for the hellish labor in the forests, for the torment of peasants in cold huts and dugouts, the government did not pay a single penny. Only starting in 1757 (under the influence of the Batyrsha revolt ) a ridiculous payment was introduced: for a horse peasant in the winter - 8, in the summer of 10 kopecks, and on foot - 5 kopecks per day, despite the seasons. And no one took into account the fact that the Lashman-peasant was forced to bring with him to logging both tools, clothes and products for himself, as well as fodder and ammunition for the horse. Under logs or from cold, lashmans in the forests perished in the hundreds. Quote from the book of N. Kalinin “The Past of the Peasants of Our Land”: “Many Tatars were crippled during Lashman works. Among ten people, eight always became disabled. They spent three times more money on logging than they received from the treasury for work. ”