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

138
V. I. LENIN
often unable to make economic use of their land and abandon
it. Both columns (total land held and area under crops)
show that the purchase and the renting of land lead to a
diminution of the share of the bottom groups in the general
system of economy, i.e., to their being ousted by the
well-to-do minority. The latter now play a dominant role
in the peasant economy, concentrating in their hands
almost as much of the area under crops as do all the rest of
the peasants put together.
The next two columns show the distribution of draught
and other animals among the peasantry. The percentages
of animals differ very slightly from those of area under crops;
nor could it be otherwise, for the number of draught animals
(and also of other animals) determines the area under crops,
and in its turn is determined by it.
The next column shows the share of the various groups
of the peasantry in the total number of commercial and
industrial establishments. One-fifth of the households (the
well-to-do group) concentrate in their hands about half of
these establishments, while half the households, the poor,
account for about 5,* that is to say, the “industries” that
express the conversion of the peasantry into a bourgeoisie
are concentrated mainly in the hands of the most affluent
cultivators. The well-to-do peasants, consequently, invest
capital in agriculture (purchase and renting of land, hire
of workers, improvement of implements, etc.), industrial
establishments, commerce, and usury: merchant’s and
entrepreneur capital are closely connected, and surrounding
conditions determine which of these forms of capital becomes
predominant.
The data on households with “employments” (the first
column to the left, among the negative indices) also characterise
the “industries,” which are, however, of opposite
significance, and mark the conversion of the peasant into a
proletarian. These “industries” are concentrated in the hands
of the poor (they constitute 50% of the households and ac-
* Even this figure (about 5 of all the establishments) is, of
course, an exaggeration, for the category of non-sowing and horseless
and one-horse peasants lumps agricultural labourers, unskilled labourers,
etc., together with non-cultivators (shopkeepers, artisans, etc.).