Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 3 - From Marx to Mao

94
V. I. LENIN
Thus, here again we see the concentration of land under
crops in the hands of the big crop growers: the well-to-do
peasantry, constituting only a fifth of the households (and
about a third of the population),* hold more than half the
total area under crops (53.3%), the size of this area clearly
indicating the commercial character of the farming: an average
of 27.6 dess. per household. The well-to-do peasantry
have also a considerable number of animals per household:
14.6 head (in terms of cattle, i.e., counting 10 head of small
domestic animals for one of cattle), and of the total number
of peasants’ cattle in the uyezd, nearly r (56%) is concentrated
in the hands of the peasant bourgeoisie. At the opposite
pole in the countryside, we find the opposite state of
affairs; the complete dispossession of the bottom group, the
rural proletariat, who in our example comprise a little less
than 2 of the households (nearly 3 of the population), but
who have only 8 of the total area under crops, and even less
(11.8%) of the total number of animals. These are mainly
allotment-holding farm labourers, day labourers and industrial
workers.
Side by side with the concentration of crop areas and with
the enhancement of the commercial character of agriculture
there takes place its transformation into capitalist agriculture.
We see the already familiar phenomenon: the sale of
according to categories of peasants.—The Saratov statisticians compiled
their combined tables as follows: all the householders are
divided into six categories according to size of allotment, each category
is divided into six groups according to the number of draught animals,
and each group is divided into four subdivisions according to
the number of working males in the family. Summarised data are
given only for the categories, so that we have to calculate those for
the groups ourselves. We shall deal with the significance of this table
later on.
* Let us note that when classifying households according to economic
strength, or to size of farm, we always get larger families among
the well-to-do strata of the peasantry. This phenomenon points to the
connection between the peasant bourgeoisie and large families,
which receive a larger number of allotments; partly it shows the
opposite: it indicates the lesser desire of the well-to-do peasantry to
divide up the land. One should not, however, exaggerate the significance
of large families among the well-to-do peasants, who, as our
figures show, resort in the greatest measure to the employment of
hired labour. The “family co-operation” of which our Narodniks are
so fond of talking is thus the basis of capitalist co-operation.