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

AGRARIAN PROGRAMME OF SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY299“As differential rent, ground rent arises from competition. Asabsolute rent, it arises from monopoly.... In practice, ground rentdoes not present itself to us divided in parts; it is impossible to saywhich part is differential rent and which part is absolute rent. Moreover,it is usually mixed with the interest on capital expended by thelandowner: Where the landowner is also the farmer, ground rent appearsas a part of agricultural profit.“Nevertheless, the distinction between the two forms of rent isextremely important.“Differential rent arises from the capitalist character of productionand not from the private ownership of land.“That rent would continue to exist even under nationalisation ofthe land, as demanded [in Germany] by the advocates of land reform,who would nevertheless preserve the capitalist mode of agriculture.In that case, however, rent would no longer accrue to private persons,but to the state.“Absolute rent arises out of the private ownership of land, outof the antagonism of interests between the landowner and the restof society. The nationalisation of the land would make possible theabolition of that rent and the reduction of the price of agriculturalproduce by an amount equal to that rent. [Our italics.]“To proceed: the second distinction between differential rentand absolute rent is that the former is not a constituent part affectingthe price of agricultural produce, whereas the latter is. The formerarises from the price of production; the latter arises from the excessof market price over price of production. The former arises from thesurplus, from the super-profit, that is created by the more productivelabour on better soil, or on a better located plot. The latterdoes not arise from the additional income of certain forms of agriculturallabour; it is possible only as a deduction from the availablequantity of values for the benefit of the landowner, a deductionfrom the mass of surplus value—therefore, it implies either areduction of profits or a deduction from wages. If the priceof foodstuffs rises, and wages rise also, the profit on capital diminishes.If the price of foodstuffs rises without an increase in wages,then the workers suffer the loss. Finally, the following may happen—and this may be regarded as the general rule—the loss causedby absolute rent is borne jointly by the workers and the capitalists.”*Thus, the question of the nationalisation of the land incapitalist society falls into two essentially distinct parts:the question of differential rent, and that of absolute rent.Nationalisation changes the owner of the former, and underminesthe very existence of the latter. Hence, on the* K. Kautsky, The Agrarian Question, German original, pp.79-80.