zemstvo

American  

[zemst-voh, zyem-stvuh] / ˈzɛmst voʊ, ˈzyɛm stvə /

noun

Russian History.

plural

zemstvos

1. one of a system of elected local assemblies established in 1864 by Alexander II to replace the authority of the nobles in administering local affairs after the abolition of serfdom: became the core of the liberal movement from 1905 to 1917.

---

zemstvo British  

/ ˈzɛmstvəʊ, ˈzjɛmstvə /

noun

1. (in tsarist Russia) an elective provincial or district council established in most provinces of Russia by Alexander II in 1864 as part of his reform policy

---

Etymology

Origin of zemstvo

1860–65; < Russian zémstvo, derivative of zemlyá land, earth; see humus

Example Sentences

One reason: officials, lest they appear to lack revolutionary fervor, stayed at their offices 24 hours a day, were consequently too sleepy to tell a kulak from a zemstvo.

From Time Magazine Archive

A town-duma or zemstvo member is supported by the amorphous mass of electors, which entrusts its full powers to him for a year and then breaks up.

From From October to Brest-Litovsk by Trotzky, Leon Davidovich

But I work for the zemstvo, I am a member of the district council, and I consider my service as worthy and as high as the service of science.

From Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series by West, Julius

When I said that my father had been a judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia I might have been calling him a voivode of Montenegro or the president of a zemstvo.

From The High Heart by King, Basil

The zemstvo of former times was made up of only class representatives; the elections to the new zemstvos were effected by universal suffrage, equal, direct, and secret.

From Bolshevism The Enemy of Political and Industrial Democracy by Spargo, John