High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Emancipation Reform of 1861 in Russia (Russian: Крестьянская реформа 1861 года, lit. "The Peasant Reform of 1861") was the first and most important of liberal reforms effected during the reign of Alexander II of Russia. The reform, together with a related reform in 1861, amounted to the liquidation of serf dependence previously suffered by peasants of the Russian Empire. In some of its parts, the serfdom was abolished earlier.