The revolutionary events of 1848 had a strong impact in the Great Kikinda District, where the unresolved agrarian and national questions sparked an anti-feudal agrarian movement among the peasant masses. The first violent clash between the rebellious Serbian peasants and the military occurred in Kikinda on April 24.
The immediate cause of the conflict was the hoisting of the Hungarian flag, which the youth burned, replacing it with the Serbian tricolor as a symbol of freedom. A key figure in these events was the student Đorđe Radak, a friend of Svetozar Miletić. He led agitation in the spirit of liberal bourgeois youth, advocating national and civil freedoms, which the rebellious peasants embraced. However, their demands were more revolutionary; they called for the division of large estates and the complete abolition of feudalism. They overthrew the organs of the feudal district authorities, who had oppressed them, and began their struggle under the slogan: "Defeat the Hungarian and German nobility," eventually turning against the Serbian nobility as well.
The revolutionary movement soon spread to many nearby villages. Armed peasants from Kuman, as well as from other villages, rushed to assist the people of Kikinda. They took revenge on the exploiters by destroying farmsteads on the common lands, burning hay and straw, cutting down vineyards, orchards, and similar actions.
This spontaneous, unorganized movement of peasant masses was brutally suppressed.
It is not known how many Kuman peasants perished in the armed conflicts of 1848–1849. However, later data shows that the fighters, who were referred to as battalion men, continued to fight until the surrender of arms in 1849, with many falling in battle. Based on scant information, it is evident that Kuman peasants, in August and September 1848, participated under the command of Major General Volnhofer, with two battalions, 2000 infantry, and three squadrons, 499 cavalry, in the battles near Srbobran. Despite being outnumbered and better armed, the Hungarian army lost the battle. However, in 1849, after numerous clashes, the Hungarians captured Srbobran. The Kuman peasants were supposed to receive two juts of land for lifetime use as a reward for their participation in the battles. This issue was unresolved for years. However, under the pressure of the masses, when the District was renewed in 1861, it was decided that all municipalities would fulfill their obligations toward the volunteers. On July 29, 1862, the Kuman municipal authorities stated: "Not having any available land plots to reward, we request permission from the magistrate to conclude an agreement with them on this matter."
Thus, the Municipality of Kuman rewarded its volunteers.
After the failed revolution, the counter-revolutionary period began — Bach's absolutism. During this period, although not all the gains of the revolution could be destroyed, Kuman underwent all the phases that the District passed through until its abolition in 1876.
According to new regulations from 1848, the ninth legal clause definitively abolished the payment of feudal taxes on the old or session lands, which then became the full property of the district population.
At the beginning of March 1853, the Imperial Urbarial Patent was passed, which recognized the right of the district population to use common lands. This patent was confirmed by the Hungarian Parliament in 1861, making it effective in the District. Under Bach's absolutism, it was difficult to address the issue of redeeming the common lands. However, when the District was renewed at the end of 1861, the situation regarding the use and payment for the common lands was completely unresolved. This led to new conflicts.
According to statistical data on the population of the District, Kuman had 3,642 inhabitants (Serbs) in 1863, or according to other data, a total of 4,616 inhabitants. Regardless of which figure is accurate, the number of inhabitants was not small, but due to impoverishment, the number of taxpayers decreased, leading to a budget deficit in the municipality. The people of Kuman could not even afford to maintain the school.
In that year, Gavrilo Pešić, a teacher from Kuman, requested through the Magistrate that he be paid his two-month salary. The response from S. Sekulić and Laza Sekulić, the municipal prince, indicates that the municipality could not pay him "because there was no money in the treasury."
To resolve the issue of paying educators, a Church-School Committee was established. The minutes from January 2, 1869, mention the first school administration. Matej Predragović, a priest, was elected as the school manager, and Stevan Sekulić was appointed as the guardian. On March 6, 1869, a fund was established by the Church Municipality for the maintenance of the church and the school. The fund included lands such as Adica (50 juts), Mali Rit (16 juts), Kupusari (50 chains), and Veliki Rit (105 chains). The land was leased, and the proceeds went into this fund. Gliša Perić Bajka worked as the longest-serving teacher in Kuman, for about 48 years. He is mentioned in records as a teacher who worked with a hundred students who sat on the floor, yet "he taught them all well." This indicates that the school had no desks, let alone other teaching materials. They had some textbooks, which parents paid for. The teachers obtained them for all the children, and in some cases, poor children received textbooks for free.
Unfortunately, we have no information about the development of crafts in the village in the following period. In 1862, there were 22 craftsmen in Kuman, 19 of whom were Serbs: 8 blacksmiths, 5 tanners, 4 cobblers, 1 wheelwright, and 1 tailor. The rest were immigrants of other nationalities. Some well-known craftsmen from the late 19th century include Rada Sokolović, a wheelwright; Miša Kumrić, a blacksmith; Farkić and Santovac, tanners; Jefta Petrović, a blacksmith, whose son Jovan succeeded him. The family became known as the Kovačevi, a surname derived from their trade.
Just before the abolition of the District, it was reorganized. Based on Article XLII of the 1876 law, the District was organized as an independent municipality with self-government. Its representatives included half virilists and half elected members. With 62,208 inhabitants in the District, the representation consisted of 62 virilists (residents who paid the highest taxes and automatically entered the representation) and 62 elected members. According to the Financial Directorate's accounting records, the virilists in Kuman in 1872 were Miloš Doroslovac, two priests Jefta Sekulić and Matej Predragović, the municipal judge Laza Sekulić, and the notary S. Sekulić. For the election of the presidency, the District was divided into six districts and three sub-districts. The Kumane District consisted of two villages: Kumane and Taraš. According to the voter list from 1870, Kumane had 316 voters, and Taraš had 123, who elected eight representatives. Due to an outbreak of cholera in 1873 that killed about 10% of the population, the number of voters had to be reduced.
Over time, the heavily drained land of the rits was increasingly used as farmland. The division and leasing of the land hindered the more intensive development of agriculture, especially "when large complexes of rit land began to accumulate in the hands of a few landowners in the District—usually Magistrate and municipal leaders—or even landowners—spahijas—from outside the District." The masses began to demand the definitive division of rit land through purchase and the conversion of common land into private property. However, due to opposing views between the Hungarian government and the District, this issue could not be resolved. To remove the main obstacle to solving the problem, the Hungarian Parliament abolished the Great Kikinda District as a privileged self-governing territory on June 12, 1876. The territory of the former District was attached to the Torontal County, where it remained until the end of World War I. In 1877, the political districts in Torontal County were rearranged, and Kumane was assigned to the Bečej District.
Regarding the purchase of common land, a commission was selected on August 26, 1877, with representatives from all ten municipalities of the former District. Kuman provided four members, including Stevan Sekulić. After lengthy negotiations and obstacles imposed by the Hungarian government, an agreement for the purchase of common land was reached in 1882. The state sold the common land to the municipalities of the former District, and the municipalities, following regulations, distributed the common land to individual landowners. The total cost for purchasing all the common land was 8,822,860 krunas. In late May 1882, the Law on Common Land was enacted. The municipalities paid off the land purchase loan in a lump sum from the Hungarian Mortgage and Credit Bank in Pest. The loan was taken for 40 years with 6% annual interest. The Municipality of Kumane borrowed 305,950 krunas for the purchase.
A Committee of Five was established by the Municipality to oversee the purchase. Debts and high interest rates devastated the peasants, especially the poorer ones. This led to executions and the sale of properties worth a few hundred krunas at very low prices. The issue of common land, for which the people had fought for years, was thus resolved in favor of the landowners, who had the support of the authorities. All of this led to the decline of small and medium-sized peasants. The impoverished peasants became proletarianized, and class conflicts intensified. As a consequence, the first organized movement of the agrarian proletariat emerged in Kuman and other areas of northern Banat.
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