Why did Chichikov buy up dead souls? The whole fault of the incident in legislation

Why did Chichikov buy up dead souls from the landlords

In order to understand what the actions of the main character were, the reader should get acquainted with the original source - the poem by N. Gogol "Dead Souls". From it it becomes clear why Chichikov bought dead souls. But sometimes there is not enough time for reading, and writing should be written somehow. Well, of course, it's hard to sing like Basque. Therefore, instead of conveying the rich language palette of Gogol, I will confine myself to a simple retelling. And it's a pity, because there are only lyrical digressions in the "Dead Souls" - you read and you see picturesque pictures. Well, intrigued reader at leisure will read the work, is not it? And I will continue.

What is the intrigue

The key intrigue on which Gogol's Dead Souls poem was built consisted in the possibility of obtaining a loan - the money paid by the guardian council. At the same time pledged property belonged to the landowner serf peasants. The events described by Gogol could have occurred almost two hundred years ago, so it would be appropriate to inform the reader of some of the circumstances of Russian life of that era. And at the same time mention the position of the protagonist in society. In the end, we intend to understand the question of why Chichikov bought up dead souls.

How it all began

At the end of 1718, Peter I issued a decree on the census of the male population. Since office equipment in those days was primitive, the time allocated for the execution of the royal decree was not enough. Instead of one year, there were spent as much as three, and then three more to do an "audit" - checking the accuracy of the compiled lists, called "fairy tales." Before the abolition of the serfdom of such "revisions" ten were held, the years of their conduct are known. And here there is one curious moment - the time interval in which events described in the poem could occur. By indirect evidence, it can be judged that the action develops in the first third of the XVIII century. And already the domestic war of 1812 not only passed, but even slightly forgotten.

Casus of the era

Even without figuring out why Chichikov bought up dead souls, we know that he bought up only the peasants and only "to the conclusion," that is, he had the intention of relocating them to another province. It is also known that in 1833 a decree was issued, according to which it was not allowed to "separate the families". Consequently, the adventures of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov fall on the interval of time between the "revisions" of 1815 and 1833. So, one of the circumstances of the Russian life of that era is the following incident: the deceased peasants were conditionally considered to be alive, and for them from the landowner a tax was levied up to the nearest population census - "revision".

Tax liabilities

Together with the acquired peasants, Pavel Ivanovich assumed tax liabilities, which looks like a continuous loss. It would seem that there is no logical explanation for such actions and at first it is unclear why Chichikov bought up dead souls. But there were still some nuances in the then legislation, allowing the protagonist to build a fraudulent scheme to receive money. At that time, the state supervised the landlord farms in order to prevent a decrease in their numbers and to prevent loss-making. After all, the state needed to receive taxes and recruits. If the owner died without leaving the adult (active) heirs, or the management was improperly managed, guardianship could be appointed over such estates.

Guardianship Councils

Imperial custodial councils were established at the Moscow and Petersburg educational houses. Their task was to maintain the aristocratic landownership, if only it did not cease to exist. The ruined estates could be sold at auction to a more prosperous owner. Either the landlord could receive an interest loan to restore the economy on land and peasants' security. Such loans were issued by the trusteeship councils, whose main source of income was precisely the money received from the auction. In case of untimely payment of interest or non-return of the loan at the appointed time, the estate was alienated in favor of the credit institution and sold at auction. This "wheel" could rotate for a long time, but enterprising Chichikov figured out how to ride on it with benefit for themselves.

Fraud

As a matter of fact, he wanted to get a loan secured by serfs, but, since he did not have any, he decided to buy them. At the same time, he intended to buy cheaply the peasants, who died, but legally were considered to be alive. Of course, Chichikov was not going to pay the poll tax in the future , interest on the loan, and even more so to repay the loan. It would be impossible to turn off his scam with obtaining collateral if Chichikov had only fictitious peasants, but there was no land. Buy land in the same province, where the peasants, it would be expensive. In addition, it would be too noticeable that there are actually no serfs. Therefore, wise Pavel Ivanovich decided to buy an inexpensive land in the uninhabited Kherson province, and to her peasants "to the conclusion." On paper all converges, but no one will check, so they will give a loan.