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

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA
The relations between the groups are similar here to those
in the gubernias and uyezds already mentioned (concentration
of purchased and of rented land, the transfer of allotment
land from the poor peasants, who lease out land, to the
renting and affluent peasants, etc.); but here the significance
of the affluent peasants is very much smaller. The extremely
negligible scale of peasant farming even raises the question,
nd naturally so, of whether the local peasants do not belong
to the “industrialists” rather than to the tillers of the soil.
Here are data on the “industries,” first of all on their distribution
according to groups:
Groups of
householders
117
Improved % of % of farms% of money
implementsfarms income from
per 100 farms
% of total
hiring farm
labourers
providing farm
labourers
Commercial
& industrial
establishments
per 100 farms
engaging in
industries
Horseless -- -- 0.2 29.9 1.7 94.4 7.3 70.5 87.1 10.5
With 1
horse 0.06 2.1 1.1 15.8 2.5 89.6 31.2 55.1 70.2 23.5
With 2 or
3 horses 1.6 43.7 7.7 11.0 6.4 86.7 52.5 28.7 60.0 35.2
With 4
and more 23.0 54.2 28.1 5.3 30.0 71.4 60.0 8.1 46.1 51.5
Total 1.2 100 3.8 17.4 4.5 90.5 33.2 48.9 66.0 29.0
The distribution of improved implements and of the two
opposite types of “industries” (the sale of labour-power and
commercial and industrial enterprise) is the same as in the
data examined above. The enormous percentage of households
engaging in “industries,” the preponderance of grain-purchasing
over grain-selling farms, the preponderance of money
income from “industries” over money income from agriculture*—all
this gives us grounds for regarding this uyezd
as “industrial” rather than agricultural. Let us, however,
* In the numerically small top group of the peasantry we see
the opposite: the preponderance of grain sales over purchase, the
receipt of money income mainly from the land, and a high percentage
of peasants employing farm labourers, possessing improved implements,
and owning commercial and industrial establishments. All
the typical features of the peasant bourgeoisie are clearly visible here
too (despite its small numbers); they are visible in the shape of the
growth of commercial and capitalist agriculture.
selling grain
buying grain
industries
sale of agricultural
produce