Salt Riot
The
Salt Riot, also known as the
Moscow Uprising of 1648 (
Соляной бунт,
Московское восстание 1648 in
Russian), was a
riot in
Moscow in 1648, triggered by the government's substitution of different
taxes with a universal direct
salt tax for the purpose of replenishing the state
treasury, which, in turn, made salt a much more expensive commodity.
The indignation of
peasants and townsfolk forced the government to abolish this new way of
taxation, but the previous
arrears, however, were being collected for the past three years all at once. On
June 1 of 1648, upon
Alexei I's return to Moscow from his trip to
Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra, a crowd of townspeople surrounded the
tsar and complained about the
boyars and
prikaz officials. The royal
bodyguards started dispersing the crowd, pushing them away from the tsar. This caused a major outbreak of anger among the people. On
June 2, most of the
Streltsy joined the rebelling citizens. The insurgents burst into the
Moscow Kremlin and demanded the surrender of
Leontiy Pleshcheyev (head of
Zemsky Prikaz and Moscow
police department),
Duma diak Nazar Chistoy (salt tax initiator), boyar
Boris Morozov (actual head of government) and his brother-in-law
Pyotr Trakhaniotov (head of
Cannon Prikaz). The tsar was forced to surrender Leontius Pleshcheyev to the people on
June 3, who would be soon executed. The rebels set fire to the
White City and
Kitai-gorod and sacked some 70
households of the most hated boyars, diaks,
okolnichys, and
merchants, killing Nazar Chistoy. Pyotr Trakhaniotov tried to escape, but was soon apprehended and executed on
June 5.
On
June 6, the Streltsy withdrew from the unrest due to receiving the belated allowance and promises of salary increase. Boris Morozov, however, was relieved from his post by the tsar and sent to
Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery on
June 11. After that, the uprising gradually began to fade away, partly because of the ravaging
fires. Soon, however, the provincial
nobility, big merchants, and top
posad people seized the initiative and came out with a
petition demanding the convocation of the
zemsky sobor, salary distribution, increase of time limits for search of the runaway peasants etc. These demands, however, were very narrow in their scope and were aimed at the reinforcement of
serfdom without meeting the needs of other categories of people. Upon Morozov's removal, a new anti-Morozov boyar group came to power, led by Prince Yakov
Cherkassky and boyar Nikita
Romanov. They began distributing money and lands to the dvoryane and made a few concessions to the remaining rebels, including the postponement of collection of arrears on
June 12. The government's measures widened the split among the rebels, and soon many of the leaders of the uprising were arrested and executed on
July 3. On
October 22, Boris Morozov was summoned to Moscow and appointed head of the Russian government yet again.
Sporadic rebellions, triggered by the Salt Riot in Moscow, continued to take place throughout
Russia, but they would all die down by January of 1649 with the adoption of the
Sobornoye Ulozheniye (Legal Code), which satisfied most of the demands posed by the nobility.
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Copper Riot*
Plague Riot
