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

AGRARIAN PROGRAMME OF SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY221ern region” (in the Arkhangelsk, Olonets and Vologdagubernias). Of course, by deducting all these lands we considerablyoverestimate the area of land unsuitable for agriculture.It suffices to point out that such a cautious statisticianas Mr. A. A. Kaufman calculates that in the Vologdaand Olonets gubernias 25,700,000 dessiatins of forest land(with over 25 per cent of forest) could be utilised for additionalallotment to the peasants.* However, since we aredealing with general data about the land area, withoutgiving separate figures for forest land, it will be more correctto take a more cautious estimate of the land area suitablefor agriculture. After deducting 107,900,000 dessiatins,there will be left 287,300,000 dessiatins, or in round figures,280,000;000 dessiatins, leaving out a portion of urban land(the total of which is 2,000,000 dessiatins) and a portion ofthe state lands in the Vyatka and Perm gubernias (the totalarea of state land in these two gubernias is 16,300,000 dessiatins).Thus, the aggregate amount of land suitable for agriculturein European Russia is distributed as follows:A. Privately owned land 101.7 million dessiatinsB. Allotment land 138.8 ” ”C. State land and land ownedby various institutions 39.5 ” ”Total land in European Russia 280.0 ” ”Now we must give separate figures for small and large(particularly very large) holdings in order to obtain aconcrete idea of the conditions of the peasant struggle forland in the Russian revolution. Such figures, however, areincomplete. Of the 138,800,000 dessiatins of peasant allotmentland 136,900,000 dessiatins are classified accordingto size of holdings. Of the 101,700,000 dessiatins of privatelyowned land, 85,900,000 dessiatins are so classified;the remaining 15,800,000 dessiatins are recorded as belongingto “societies and associations”. Examining the latterwe find that 11,300,000 dessiatins are owned by peasant* The Agrarian Question, a collection of articles published byDolgorukov and Petrunkevich, Vol. II, Moscow, 1907, p. 305.