The peasants, it was generally if rather inaccurately assumed, were conservative, pious, monarchist, anti-liberal, anti-capitalist, and would form the ultimate bulwark of order in the face of the liberal advance. Therefore, acceding to their demands for the ending of serfdom could be seen as constituting a vital element in the preservation of the existing political order. So there were political forces of many kinds acting in favour of emancipation.
