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

192V. I. LENINand oxen 553 kilogrammes. The latter type of draughtanimal, the strongest, accounted in 1884 for more thanhalf of the total draught animals of the big capitalist farmers,for about a fourth of those of the medium and smallcapitalists, for less than a fifth of those of the small peasants,and for less than a tenth of those of the semi-proletarianfarmers. Consequently, the bigger the farm the higherthe quality of the draught animals. The average weightof an average draught animal was as follows:1875 1884(a) Estates 554 598(b) Farms of 25 ha and over 542 537(c) ” 7.5 to 25 ha 488 482(d) ” 5.5 to 7.5 ” 404 409(e) ” up to 2.5 ” 377 378Average 464 460Consequently, on the whole, the draught animals havedeteriorated. Actually, in the large capitalist farms wesee a considerable improvement; in all the others there waseither no change, or a deterioration. As regards the qualityof draught animals, the difference between large-scale andsmall-scale production also increased between 1875 and1884. The use of cows as draught animals by the smallfarmers has become general practice in Germany.* Ourfigures show with documentary accuracy that this practicedenotes a deterioration of the conditions of agriculturalproduction, the increasing poverty of the peasantry.To complete our survey of the data in Drechsler’s monograph,we shall quote an estimate of the number and weightof all animals per unit of land area, i.e., the estimate which* Concerning this see above, Chapter VIII, “General Statisticsof German Agriculture”. (See present edition, Vol. 5, pp. 194-205.—Ed.)