Bezdna unrest

The Bezdna peasant revolt, also known as the Bezdna unrest (Russian: Бездненские волнения) was an uprising organised by former serfs after the 1861 Russian Emancipation Reform. The event took place in the Spassky Uyezd of Kazan Governorate, specifically in a village of Bezdna (Russian: Бездна, Biznä Tatar Cyrillic: Бизнә). The leader of the unrest was a literate peasant Anton Petrov. He began convincing his neighbours that the local officials were misinterpreting new reforms brought about by the 1861 Russian Emancipation Reform. The insurgents believed that the tsar had granted them total freedom and declared that they would refuse to continue to pay payments to their landlords and suspend all works on their lots. Thousands of peasants joined the unrest. The unrest was put down by Major General Count Apraksin and a group of military troops who opened fire on the peasants. Between one hundred and three hundred peasants were either wounded or killed.