Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 13 - From Marx to Mao

171XTHE “WORK” OF THE GERMAN BULGAKOV, E. DAVIDEd. David’s book, Socialism and Agriculture, is an exceptionallyclumsy and cumbrous summary of all the erroneousmethods and arguments which we have seen in theworks of Bulgakov, Hertz, and Chernov. We could, therefore,completely ignore David; but since his “work” is undoubtedlyat the present time the principal work of revisionismon the agrarian question, we think it necessaryonce again to show how the revisionist fraternity writelearned treatises.To the question of machinery in agriculture David devotesthe whole of Chapter IV of his book (pp. 115-93 ofthe Russian translation), apart from numerous referencesto the same subject in other chapters. The politico-economicessence of the matter is completely submerged in hundredsof technicalities which the author examines in minute detail.Machinery does not play the same role in agricultureas in industry; in agriculture there is no central motor;most of the machines are only temporarily employed; somemachines make no saving in production costs, and so onand so forth. David regards such conclusions (see pp. 190-93, the question of machinery summed up) as a refutationof Marxist theory! But this merely obscures the questioninstead of clarifying it. That agriculture is backward comparedwith manufacturing industry is not open to the slightestdoubt. This backwardness requires no proof. By examining,point by point, the various ways in which thatbackwardness is displayed, by piling example upon exampleand case upon case, David merely pushes into the backgroundthe actual subject of the research, namely: is the use