Why did the end of serfdom not give most Prussian peasants economic independence?

The emancipation of Prussian peasants, initiated by the October Edict of 1807 under Karl, Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein, did not grant most peasants economic independence because it failed to provide a satisfactory solution for the transfer of land ownership to the peasantry.1

In the eastern provinces of Prussia, the reform allowed the Junkers (aristocratic landowners) to enlarge their estates by absorbing the holdings of small farmers. Consequently, many former serfs were transformed into a propertyless rural proletariat, forced to work on the large estates of the nobility. This process entrenched the economic and social dominance of the landed aristocracy rather than fostering an independent class of smallholders. While the edict was a decisive step toward civil liberty and equality before the law, the practical implementation left many peasants without the land or resources necessary for true economic autonomy.21