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

AGRARIAN PROGRAMME OF SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY381(1614). The Rights applaud. But then he passes on to thequestion of “land hunger”. “You can hold all the debatesyou like,” he says, “but you will never create another world.Therefore you will have to give us this land. One speakersaid here that our peasants are backward and ignorantand, therefore, it is useless giving them a lot of land, becauseit won’t be any good to them all the same. To besure, the land has not been of much good to us up to now,that is to those who have not had any. As for our beingignorant, well, all we are asking for is some land in order,in our stupidity, to grub about in. Personally, I don’t thinkit’s dignified for a nobleman to busy himself with the land.It has been said here that private landed property mustnot be touched because it is against the law. Of course, Iagree that the law must be upheld, but to do away withland hunger a law must be passed to make all that lawful.And so that nobody should have any grievance, DeputyKutler proposed that good terms be offered. Of course,being a wealthy man, he has named a high figure, and we,poor peasants, cannot pay such a price. As for how weshould live—in communes, on separate holdings, or onkhutors—I, for my part, think that everybody should beallowed to live as he finds convenient” (1616).There is a wide gulf between this Right peasant andthe Russian liberal. The former vows devotion to the oldregime, but actually he is out to get land, he is fightingthe landlords and will not agree to pay the amount of compensationthe Cadets propose. The latter says that he isfighting for the people’s freedom, but actually he is engineeringa second enthralment of the peasants by the landlordsand the old regime. The latter can move only to theRight, from the First Duma to the Second, from the Secondto the Third. The former, finding that there is no hope ofthe landlords “giving up” the land, will move the otherway. The “Right” peasant will, perhaps, be found going ourway more than the “liberal”, “democratic” Cadet....Take the peasant Shimansky (Minsk Gubernia). “I havecome here to defend our faith, tsar, and country and to demandland ... not by robbery, of course, but in a peacefulway, at a fair value.... Therefore, in the name of all thepeasants I call upon the landlord members of the Duma to