The essays in this collection explore the social ‘construction’ of the Russian peasantry in the period between Emancipation and Collectivisation, and the impact of these constructions on Tsarist and Bolshevik agrarian policy. The international group of authors represent different trends in the historical, sociological and geographical investigations of the East European peasantry and draw both upon the insights of cultural studies and recently available archival materials to throw new light on the relationship between peasantry and other classes.