In Russia, the word "lashman" has been well known to everyone since the Petrine era. But it did not refer to peoples, especially those who had disappeared, but to the unfortunate inhabitants of the Volga region, whom the sovereign attributed to the most hard labor of that time - harvesting and delivering ship timber …
In the Peter the Great era, the Russian language was enriched with a huge number of foreign words, mainly German. The former orders turned into colleges, tsarist feasts - into assemblies, the boyar duma - into the Senate, large workshops with a division of manual labor - into manufactures, courts - into gofgerichts.
Ruthless "device"
There appeared prosecutors, governors, commissioners, auditors, fiscal officials, auditors, secretaries, flagships, officers, soldiers, dragoons, reitars, bergmasters, zeichmeisters, tsalmeisters, foresters, waldmeisters …
It is not surprising that the Petrine administration called ordinary lumberjacks lashmans, that is, lumberjacks or cutters, if this term is translated from German.
Combat, or ship, timber was necessary for Peter to build a fleet. The first lashmans of Peter were the unfortunate Voronezh peasants, who were obliged to supply wood for the tsar's needs by local landowners organized by the tsar into the Kumpanate. However, then, in 1696, even Peter did not call the woodcutters lashmans. At that time, his fleet was not yet built by the Admiral-teyv-collegium, but by the naval department "The Tsar's tent on Voronezh." Large-scale construction of ships began already during the Northern War. It was then that it turned out that the reserves of timber on the Voronezh River are not unlimited. But a suitable forest grew abundantly on the banks of the Volga.
There, in Kazan, the port administration was created, in 1718 it was renamed into the Kazan Admiralty.
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The timber was harvested for shipbuilding in Kazan itself, and for sending to St. Petersburg. Until 1713, people were simply assigned to logging operations and were not paid a penny. This event was called "device", a surprisingly accurate combination of two Russian words "order" and "set". The Kazan office rafted timber to Tver, and from there the St. Petersburg office delivered it to the capital. But, as a rule, local infidels were equipped for felling forests - Mordovians, Tatars, Chuvashes and servicemen, who, after the creation of a regular army, did not find a place in it. For a short period from 1713 to 1718, this work was still relatively voluntary, for hire, but after the decree of January 31, 1718, it became absolutely compulsory. It was then that the name appeared - lashman duty,and the poor fellows engaged in this work began to be called lashmans. Residents of the Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, Kazan provinces and the Simbirsk district fell under "devices without a patch", that is, payment. And for those who lived very far from the developed forests, they came up with a new fee - for the unprofitability of their use in felling centuries-old trees. Those who ended up in lashmans, from 1729, after Peter's death, had to receive a small fee, but this fee was not paid to them in full, the amount of the poll tax was deducted from it!from 1729, after Peter's death, they were supposed to receive a small fee, but this fee was not paid to them in full, the amount of the poll tax was deducted from it!from 1729, after Peter's death, they were supposed to receive a small payment, but this payment was not paid to them in full, the amount of the poll tax was deducted from it!
From sunrise to sunset
The work of the lashmans was not even hard, but terrible - even for the 18th century. They had not only to cut down the forest, but to do it in the most economical (for the forest) way. That is, they were supposed to cut trees (they had no saws!) At the very root, practically leaving no stumps. Logging works were carried out in winter, when there was a lot of snow. Therefore, the lashmans were instructed to first clear the snow at the root, and then fell the tree. Lashmans, on the other hand, had to determine the quality of the trees themselves, drill test holes, make test cuts for rot or disease of future building materials and put a stamp on each felled tree. If, nevertheless, an error occurred, and the tree turned out to be defective, they were supposed to trim it evenly until the damage was repaired. Then they had to raft the wood to the appointed point,and until that time, lay the trunks cleared of branches on the quays by rank and size. It was clearly defined how to take out the timber to the pier: one horse had to carry from 10 to 15 poods of weight, it was necessary to carry it on carts and carefully so as not to damage anything. Sometimes the logs were huge and very heavy, and several dozen horses were harnessed to one log. Part of the log was securely fastened to the cart, while the rest lay on long runners. And so they drove. Part of the log was securely fastened to the cart, while the rest lay on long runners. And so they drove. Part of the log was securely fastened to the cart, while the rest lay on long runners. And so they drove.
Lashmans were divided into horse and foot. Horsemen were engaged in the transportation of logs and had to appear for the performance of the duty with their horse. The pedestrians were engaged in cutting and packing. These lashmans and carpenters were supposed to walk to work, the carts were intended only for transporting trees and inspecting forests by inspectors. The documents specifically stated: not to drive horses in vain.
Lashmans were almost always torn away from their families and households for a long time. The forests where they fell trees were far from home. Often - off the beaten path. And they had to settle in the winter forest on their own: they built winter huts from branches and snow, and they worked. We warmed ourselves by the fires. Work began at the end of October and sometimes lasted until the snow melted. It was possible to get rid of the obligation - and even then only under subsequent emperors - only for a fee and not always. The fugitives were caught and, at the first offense, they were imposed fines in the amount of double taxes, and for subsequent violations, corporal punishment was applied.
Initially, the age of lashmans was not limited by law, later it was determined from 16 to 60 years. And the selection itself became stricter: they tried to take strong and healthy foreigners so as not to get out of the work schedule. After all, the forest was required very, very much. And to avoid shortages, if suddenly the logs turned out to be bad, it was necessary to cut down the forest with a reserve. The extraction of ship timber spread to the Tambov, Saratov, Penza, Vyatka, Orenburg provinces.
Since the end of the 18th century, lumberjacks have been a very popular profession: in 1799 there were more than 600 thousand people, and in 1817 - almost a million.
Why foreigners?
Both Voronezh and Volga had Russian villages. But the Orthodox peasants did not want to leave their homes for a long time, and the landowners, who were obliged to supply Peter with labor, sympathized with the co-religionists. Tatars, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Udmurts remained unbaptized until the middle of the 18th century, so for Christians they were not quite human. This is probably why, and not at all because of the shipbuilding talents, the Peter's administration imposed on them all the burdens of Lashman duty. Under Peter, there was a different experience: Russian peasants were enrolled in recruits and settled in Lashman villages. The experience was probably not very successful. And gradually there were no Russian timber procurers at all. The bulk of the professional lashmans were Tatars. They turned out to be more executive and accommodating.
But even the Tatars could not stand the free labor and in the end they revolted. They began to pay six kopecks a day to a foot worker and 10 kopecks to a horse worker. Taking into account the fact that the lashmans themselves had to buy fodder for the horses, acquire tools, food and warm clothing, all their wages were spent only on this. But they did not curse their fate, they did not complain of hardships, and in folk legends they appeared as dashing heroes who built the Russian fleet. Only here the lashmans have a very indirect relationship to the Russian fleet. They did not build ships.
It was a rather privileged job for Christians in those years. It was led by the foreign masters loved by Peter, and trained Russian peasants and artisans worked at the shipyards. Tatar shipbuilders were involved in the construction of ships only on the Volga. But they were not lashmans, these Tatar shipbuilders. They were masters … As for the lashmans, they officially existed until 1859. By this time, the need for such an amount of ship timber had disappeared, it was not possible to retrain lashmans as foresters or forest inspectors. And in the end they were returned to the same category from which they were previously withdrawn - the state peasants. And by the beginning of the 20th century, only the old people remembered what such a craft was. And when the old people died - no one remembered.
Magazine: Mysteries of History №41. Author: Nikolay Kotomkin