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the bureaucracy, working under the stimulus of a pressthen for a time comparatively free and in conjunction withcommittees, sometimes elected, sometimes appointed, ofthe serf-owners or the professional classes. The directshare of the non-bureaucrats was of great importance insome of the reforms, but broadly speaking these werethe handiwork of the bureaucracy, and they were notlinked up with any national body, not even with a nationalrepresentation of the serf-owners.The greatest of the reforms was the emancipation ofthe serfs (1861), which will be discussed in the followingchapter: with it went a reorganization of the communeas an organ of peasant self-government (see pp. 135-139).The others were largely inspired by the ideas of separationof administrative from judicial powers, of decentralizationand of self-government. This last causeda prolonged struggle in which the conservative forceswon the day. The new (1864) provincial and districtcouncils (zemstva) were indeed based on the jointparticipation of all classes in a given area, but electionswere on a three-class basis, analogous to that of thePrussian provincial assemblies, with indirect election forthe peasants through heads of households. Predominantinfluence was given inevitably to the gentry, the progressivesamong whom for some years set the pace.These new bodies, which were established in most ofEuropean Russia but not elsewhere, were additional tothe existing local government machinery; there was noclear delimitation of their competence; their financialpowers were very confined; and they were subject tothe close control of the provincial governors and theministry of the interior. After an initial period of hopefulactivity reaction set in, and under Alexander III (1881-94) the dead hand of the central authorities paralysedmost of their activities. In 1890 they were reorganized;election by the peasantry was virtually suppressed, anda large absolute majority given to the gentry. At thesame time (1889) the justices of the peace, who hadpreviously been elected by the district councils, werereplaced by reactionary appointees of the ministry of theinterior, who again combined judicial and administrative77