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

392V. I. LENIN(S.R.) in the Second Duma (16th session, March 26, 1907,p. 1101). The landlords must be thrown off not becausethere are not enough “norms” to go round, but because thefarmer does not want to be burdened with donkeys andleeches. There is a “big difference” between these two arguments.The peasant does not talk about norms, but with remarkablepractical intuition he “takes the bull by the horns”.The question is: Who is to fix the norms? This was excellentlyput by the clergyman Poyarkov in the First Duma.“It is proposed to fix a norm of land per head,” he said.“Who is to fix this norm? If it is to be fixed by the peasantsthemselves, then, of course, they will not neglect their owninterests; but if the landlords as well as the peasants are todo so, then it is a question as to who will gain the upperhand in working out the norm” (12th session, May 19, 1906,p. 488).That exactly hits the mark in regard to all the talk aboutnorms.In the case of the Cadets it is not mere talk, but downrightbetrayal of the peasants to the landlords. And thatkindly village priest Mr. Poyarkov, who has evidently seenliberal landlords in action in his part of the countryside,instinctively perceived where the falsity lay.“Another thing people are afraid of,” said the same Poyarkov,“is that there will be a multitude of officials. Thepeasants will distribute the land themselves!” (488-89.)That is the crux of the matter. “Norms” do, indeed, smackof officialdom. It is different when the peasant speaks:We shall distribute the land on the spot. Hence the idea ofsetting up local land committees, which expresses the trueinterests of the peasantry in the revolution and naturallyrouses the hatred of the liberal scoundrels.* Under sucha plan of nationalisation all that is left to the state is to* Workers’ governments in the towns, peasant committees in thevillages (which at a certain moment will be transformed into bodieselected by universal, etc., suffrage)—such is the only possible form oforganisation of the victorious revolution, i.e., the dictatorship ofthe proletariat and peasantry. It is not surprising that the liberalshate these forms of organisation of the classes that are fighting forfreedom!