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

226V. I. LENINinterested in the expropriation of these latifundia, an expropriationfrom which they stand to gain directly morethan anyone else; (2) a small minority of middle peasantsalready possessing an approximately average amount ofland, sufficient to conduct farming in a tolerable way; (3)a small minority of well-to-do peasants who are becomingtransformed into a peasant bourgeoisie and who are connectedby a number of intermediate stages with farming conductedon capitalist lines, and (4) feudal latifundia farexceeding in dimensions the capitalist farms of the presentperiod in Russia and deriving their revenues chiefly fromthe exploitation of the peasants by means of bondage andthe labour-rent system.Of course, the available data on landed property enableus to distinguish these basic groups only very approximatelyand sketchily. Nevertheless, we are obliged todistinguish them if we are to present a complete pictureof the struggle for land in the Russian revolution. And wecan safely say in advance that partial corrections of thefigures, partial shifting of the boundary line between onegroup and another, cannot substantially alter the generalpicture. It is not partial corrections that are important;what is important is that a clear contrast be made betweensmall landownership, which is striving for more land, andthe feudal latifundia, which monopolise an enormousamount of land. The chief falsity of both the government’s(Stolypin’s) and the liberals’ (the Cadets’) economics liesin the fact that they conceal, or obscure, this clear contrast.Let us assume the following sizes of landholdings for thefour groups mentioned: (1) up to 15 dessiatins; (2) 15 to20 dessiatins; (3) 20 to 500 dessiatins, and (4) over 500 dessiatinsper holding. Of course, in order to present a completepicture of the struggle for land, we must, in each ofthese groups, combine the peasants’ allotments with theprivate holdings. In our source of information the lattercategory is divided into groups: up to 10 dessiatins, andfrom 10 to 20 dessiatins, so that a group up to 15 dessiatinscan be singled out only approximately. Any inaccuracythat may arise from this approximate calculation and fromthe round figures that we give, will be quite negligible (as