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

AGRARIAN PROGRAMME OF SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY303count” the raw product in agriculture!) are obligatory alsofor the capitalist farmer. There is not a grain of historismin Rodbertus’ s theory, not a grain of historical reality, forhe takes agriculture in general, regardless of time andplace, agriculture in any country and in any epoch. Marxtakes a special historical period in which capitalism haspromoted technical development in industry more quicklythan in agriculture; Marx takes capitalist agriculture restrictedby non-capitalist private ownership of land.Secondly, the reference to the tenant who “can always”make the last investment of capital the last but one showsthat our incomparable Pyotr Maslov has failed to understand,not only Marx’s absolute rent, but his differentialrent as well! That is incredible, but it is a fact. Duringthe term of his lease the tenant “can always” appropriate,and always does appropriate, all rent if he “makes the lastinvestment the last but one”, if—to put it more simply and(as we shall see in a moment) more correctly he investsfresh capital in the land. During the term of the lease,private ownership of land ceases to exist for the tenant;by paying rent, he has “ransomed himself” from that monopolyand it can no longer hinder him.* That is why, when afresh investment of capital in his land yields the tenantadditional profit and additional rent, it is the tenant, notthe landowner, who appropriates that rent. The landownerwill begin to appropriate that additional rent only afterthe tenant’s lease has expired, when a new lease is drawnup. What mechanism will then transfer the additionalrent from the pocket of the tenant farmer to that of thelandowner? The mechanism of free competition, since thefact that the tenant receives not only average profit butalso super-profit (=rent) will attract capital to this unusuallyprofitable enterprise. Hence it is clear, on the one hand,why, all other things being equal, a long lease is to theadvantage of the tenant and a short lease to the advantageof the landlord. Hence it is clear, on the other hand, why,for example, after the repeal of the Corn Laws, the English* Had Maslov read the “rough notes” in Volume III at all attentivelyhe could not but have noticed how frequently Marx deals withthis.