History of serfdom process, referred to as "second serfdom" or "export-led serfdom", persisted until the mid-19th century and became very repressive and substantially limited serfs' rights. Before the 1861 abolition of serfdom in Russia, a landowner's estate was often measured by the number of "souls" he owned, a practice made famous by Gogol's 1842 novel "Dead Souls". Many of these countries abolished serfdom during the Napoleonic invasions of the early 19th century. Serfdom remained in force in most of Russia until the Emancipation reform of 1861, enacted on February 19, 1861, though in the Russian-controlled Baltic provinces it had been abolished at the
Decommunization in Russia Decommunization in Russia Decommunization in Russia is the process of dealing with the communist legacies in terms of institutions and personnel that tends towards breaking with the Soviet past. Compared with the efforts of the other former constituents of the Soviet bloc and the Soviet Union, it has been restricted to half-measures, if conducted at all. Notable anti-communist measures in the Russian Federation are the banning of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (and creating the Communist Party of the Russian Federation) as well as the names of some Russian cities reverting to what they were before the 1917