[pandaman]

>In fact, one of the reforms of the last Tsar was to unbind (legally, if not in practice) serfs from their estates.

Serfs were freed in 1861[1]. A year before slaves were freed in the USA[2]. By Alexander II - the grandfather of the last Tsar.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_reform_of_1861

[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation