Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 26 - From Marx to Mao

228SOCIALIST-REVOLUTIONARY PARTYCHEATS THE PEASANTS ONCE AGAINThe Socialist-Revolutionary Party has made a solemnand public announcement, in its chief newspaper, DyeloNaroda, of October 18 and 19, that the Minister of Agriculture’snew land bill is a “major step towards the implementationof the Party’s agrarian programme”, and that the“Party’s Central Committee insistently urges all Partyorganisations to launch a vigorous campaign in favour ofthe bill and popularise it among the masses”.Actually, however, this bill, produced by the Minister,S. L. Maslov, who is a member of the Socialist-RevolutionaryParty, and summarised in Dyelo Naroda, is a fraud on thepeasants. The S.R. Party has deceived the peasants: it hascrawled away from its own land bill and has adopted theplan of the landowners and Cadets for a “fair assessment”and preservation of landed proprietorship. At its congressesduring the first Russian revolution (1905) and the secondRussian revolution (1917), the S.R. Party solemnly andpublicly committed itself to the peasant demand for confiscationof the landed estates, that is, for their transfer tothe peasants without compensation. Under Mr. Maslov’spresent project, however, not only are the landed estatesleft intact but the landlords are also to get the “fairly” assessedrent paid by the peasants for the “leased” lands.This bill of Mr. Maslov’s is downright betrayal of thepeasants by the S.R. Party, and signifies its completesubservience to the landed proprietors. The utmost must bedone, every effort must be made to drive this fact home tothe widest possible sections of peasants.