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

AGRARIAN QUESTION AND “CRITICS OF MARX”207ments of the market, and slowness in readjusting the farmto the new conditions. The big capitalist farms (40 to 120hectares, 120 hectares and over) cut down unprofitable sheepfarming most (28.9 per cent and 3.8 per cent of sheep, asagainst 33-37 per cent and 8-12 per cent of other types of livestock).The small farms were less adaptable: they still keepa larger number of sheep; for example, farms up to 2.5 hectareshave 9.3 per cent of the total number of sheep, asagainst 6-5 per cent of the other types of livestock. Theypossess 8.1 per cent of the pigs—a smaller proportion thanof sheep. The capitalists have 35 and 9.6 per cent, i.e.,a larger share than of sheep. Capitalist agriculture is muchbetter able to adapt itself to the requirements of the internationalmarket. In regard to the peasant, we still haveto say, in the words of Marx: the peasant turns merchantand industrialist without the conditions enabling him tobecome a real merchant and industrialist. 95 The marketdemands of every farmer, as an absolute necessity, submissionto the new conditions and speedy adjustment to them.But this speedy adjustment is impossible without capital.Thus, under capitalism small-scale farming is condemnedto the utmost of routine and backwardness and the leastadaptability to the market.To envisage more concretely the real economic featuresof this needy mass and of the small wealthy minority, weshall quote figures of the average amount of land andlivestock on the farms of the various groups. It is natural forbourgeois political economy (and for the revisionist gentry)to gloss over capitalist contradictions; socialist politicaleconomy must ascertain the difference in types of farms andstandard of living between the prosperous capitalist farmersand the needy small farmers. See table, page 208.These figures clearly show that all three lower groups,comprising half the total number of farms, belong to poorpeasants. “Farmers” owning no horses and no cows predominate.Only in the group with land up to 2.5 hectares isthere one whole head of cattle, one sheep, and one pig perfarm. Obviously, there can be no question of this half ofthe total number of farms making any profit out of dairyand meat livestock farming. For this half, the prosperityof Danish agriculture means dependence upon the big