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

AGRARIAN PROGRAMME OF SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY267gramme. No wonder Maslov found it necessary, in talkingabout nationalisation, to drag in even the Napoleonic peasantin order to conceal from the public the absurd position wehave put ourselves in before the representatives of bourgeoisdemocracy by our muddled “municipalisation”!The only difference between the two—a real essentialdifference—is the attitude towards the peasants’ allotmentlands. Maslov singled these out only because he was afraidof a “Vendée”. And it turned out that the peasant deputieswho were sent to the First and Second Dumas laughed atthe fears of the tail-ist Social-Democrats and declared infavour of the nationalisation of their own lands!The municipalisers should now oppose the Trudovikpeasants and urge them not to nationalise their lands.The irony of history has brought the arguments of Maslov,John, Kostrov, and Co. tumbling down upon their ownheads.4. THE AGRARIAN PROGRAMME OF THE PEASANTRYWe shall try to analyse the question (as to why all thepolitical groups which reflect the interests and hopes of thesmall proprietors should have spoken in favour of nationalisation)in regard to which P. Maslov flounders so helplessly.First of all, let us see to what extent the Land Bill ofthe 104, i.e., of the Trudoviks in the First and SecondDumas, really expresses the demands of the peasantry ofthe whole of Russia. That it does is borne out by the natureof the representation in both Dumas, as well as by the natureof the political struggle on the agrarian question whichdeveloped in the “parliamentary” arena among the spokesmenof the different classes. The idea of landownership ingeneral, and of peasant ownership in particular, far frombeing pushed into the background in the Duma, was, onthe contrary, constantly brought to the fore by certainparties. The idea was supported by the government, in theshape of Stishinsky, Gurko, and all the ministers, as well asall the official press, addressing especially the peasantdeputies. The political parties of the Right, too, beginningwith the “famous” Svyatopolk-Mirsky in the Second Duma,