zemstvohttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zemstvo_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezemstvo, n.
Revised 2018

zemstvonoun

Now historical.
  1. 1865–
    Any council belonging to a system of elected district and provincial assemblies established in Russia by Tsar Alexander II in 1864 for the purposes of local government.
    In the early years of the 20th cent., the zemstvos agitated for political and constitutional reform, and were instrumental in sparking revolutionary activity. They were abolished in the period after the October Revolution of 1917.
    Recorded earliest in attributive use; cf. Compounds.
    1. 1865
      He..sneered at the upstart ambition of the Zempstwo class, by which is meant the mere owners of certain acreable amount of the soil.
      Saunders's News-letter 8 February 1/5
    2. 1896
      The Zemstwo of Odessa.
      Jewish Chronicle 17 January 8/1
    3. 1958
      The history of the pressure for political freedom was closely interwoven with the development of the organs of local self-government, the Zemstva.
      Times Literary Supplement 10 January 14/3
    4. 1983
      Members of local zemstvos might soon enjoy a voice in the internal government of the country.
      P. Ustinov, My Russia xi. 122
    5. 2002
      The zemstvos were run by paternal squires of the sort who fill the pages of Tolstoy and Chekhov—liberal, well-meaning men who dreamed of bringing civilization to the backward countryside.
      O. Figes, Natasha's Dance (2003) iv. i. 226

zemstvo, n. was revised in June 2018.

zemstvo, n. was last modified in December 2024.