The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

461ERIK VON KUEHNELT-LEDDIHNWINSTON CHURCHILL used to saythat Russia is a riddle wrapped inan enigma within a mystery. Butto him who has studied that country,its history, religion, language,mentality, the truth will come moreeasily; the many widespread dangerouscliches will dissolve beforQhis mental eye.One of the most co:n;mon ofthese cliches is to the effect thatthe Russians are "by nature" collectivists,that their souls are achingfor tyranny, all of whichmakes them so susceptible to Communism.Did not the large mass ofthe Russian people consist ofserfs? The truth however is different.In old Russia, in contrastto America, slavery had never beenDr. Kuehnelt-Leddihn is a European scholar,linguist, world traveler, and lecturer. Of hismany published works, perhaps the best knownin America are Liberty or Equality? and TheTimeless Christian.institutionalized; the majority ofthe farming class had consisted offree people. As a matter of fact,serfdom as an institution had onlyexisted in central and westernRussia, but not in the far north,in the south, in the eastern partof the country, and certainly notin Siberia. (The Cossacks livednotoriously a very free life.)It is true that in large areas, asa result of the abolition of serfdomin 1861, the peasants were givenland collectively which resulted ina very poor agriculture with recurrentfamines; but Stolypin, the"arch-reactionary" Minister of theInterior, disestablished the collectiveholdings, the M irs, early inthis century. The subsequent individualfarming, together with asecond agrarian reform, initiatedthe rapid development of Russianagriculture with the ambitious