This study analyzes the abolition of hereditary subjection and compulsory labour duties (‘Robot’, or ‘Fronarbeit’, or ‘robota’) during and after the revolution of 1848/49. In the summer of 1848 the Vienna Reichstag was the scene of long and heated debates regarding the conditions and mechanisms for the abolition. The study describes these debates and the motivation behind the positions taken by the right-wing and left-wing factions in the parliament. The author then analyzes the law which eventually abolished hereditary subjection and Robot (31 August 1848), including the implementing regulations of 4 March 1849.
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