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

AGRARIAN PROGRAMME OF SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY2436. TWO LINES OF AGRARIAN PROGRAMMESIN THE REVOLUTIONIf we now compare the agrarian programmes put forwardby the different classes in the course of the revolution withthe economic basis outlined above, we shall at once perceivetwo lines in these programmes, corresponding tothe two types of agrarian evolution which we have indicated.Let us take the Stolypin programme, which is supportedby the Right landlords and the Octobrists. It is avowedlya landlords’ programme. But can it be said that it is reactionaryin the economic sense, i.e., that it precludes, orseeks to preclude, the development of capitalism, to preventa bourgeois agrarian evolution? Not at all. On thecontrary, the famous agrarian legislation introduced byStolypin under Article 87 is permeated through and throughwith the purely bourgeois spirit. There can be no doubtthat it follows the line of capitalist evolution, facilitatesand pushes forward that evolution, hastens the expropriationof the peasantry, the break-up of the village commune,and the creation of a peasant bourgeoisie. Without a doubt,that legislation is progressive in the scientific-economicsense.But does that mean that Social-Democrats should “support”it? It does not. Only vulgar Marxism can reason inthat way, a Marxism whose seeds Plekhanov and the Mensheviksare so persistently sowing when they sing, shout,plead, and proclaim: we must support the bourgeoisie inits struggle against the old order of things. No. To facilitatethe development of the productive forces (this highestcriterion of social progress) we must support not bourgeoisevolution of the landlord type, but bourgeois evolution ofthe peasant type. The former implies the utmost preservationof bondage and serfdom (remodelled on bourgeoislines), the least rapid development of the productive forces,and the retarded development of capitalism; it impliesinfinitely greater misery and suffering, exploitation andoppression for the broad mass of the peasantry and, consequently,also for the proletariat. The second type impliesthe most rapid development of the productive forces and