And in most of the countries of continental Europe when Serfage was abolished or went out of use, those who had cultivated the land as serfs remained in possession of rights as well as subject to obligations.
"Socialism"
John Stuart Mill
Of these there is but a trifling number-in fact, only thirty-eight millions-who can understand why a person should have an ambition to belong to the French army; and why, belonging to it, he should be proud of that; and why, having got down that far, he should want to go on down, down, down till he struck the bottom and got on the General Staff; and why, being stripped of this livery, or set free and reinvested with his self-respect by any other quick and thorough process, let it be what it might, he should wish to return to his strange Serfage.
"The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories"
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) Last Updated: February 18, 2009
Serfage was already recognized in Peter's time as an evil.
"The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 17"
Charles Francis Horne