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

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA<br />

FROM MARX<br />

TO MAO<br />

149<br />

67 budgets we leave out one, as being quite incomplete (budget<br />

No. 14 for Koro<strong>to</strong>yak Uyezd), and divide the rest in<strong>to</strong><br />

six groups according <strong>to</strong> draught animals, as follows: a—<br />

with no hoses; b—with 1 horse; c—with 2 horses; d—<br />

with 3 horses; e—with 4 horses and f—with 5 horses<br />

and more (we shall designate the groups only by these<br />

letters a <strong>to</strong> f). True, classification along these lines is not<br />

quite suitable for this locality (in view <strong>of</strong> the enormous<br />

significance <strong>of</strong> “industries” in the economy <strong>of</strong> both the bot<strong>to</strong>m<br />

groups and the <strong>to</strong>p), but we have <strong>to</strong> take it for the sake<br />

<strong>of</strong> comparing the budget data with the above-examined<br />

house-<strong>to</strong>-house census data. Such a comparison can only be<br />

made by dividing the “peasantry” in<strong>to</strong> groups, whereas<br />

general and all-round “averages” are purely fictitious, as<br />

�⋆<br />

we have seen and shall see further on.* Let us note here,<br />

incidentally, the interesting phenomenon that “average”<br />

budget figures nearly always characterise the farm <strong>of</strong> aboveaverage<br />

type, i.e., they picture the facts in a better light<br />

than they actually are.** This happens, probably, because<br />

the very term “budget” presupposes a farm that is balanced<br />

<strong>to</strong> at least a minimum degree, a kind that is not easily<br />

found among the poor. To illustrate this let us compare<br />

the budget and other data <strong>of</strong> the households, classified<br />

according <strong>to</strong> draught animals held.<br />

NOT FOR<br />

COMMERCIAL<br />

DISTRIBUTION<br />

treatment <strong>of</strong> data on all non-agricultural occupations and all sorts <strong>of</strong><br />

“employments” (all “industries” are given only 4 columns, whereas<br />

the description <strong>of</strong> clothing and footwear alone takes up 152 columns!).<br />

* “Averages” <strong>of</strong> exclusively this kind are used, for example, by<br />

Mr. Shcherbina both in the publications <strong>of</strong> the Voronezh Zemstvo<br />

and in his article on peasant budgets in the book The Influence <strong>of</strong> Harvests<br />

and Grain Prices, etc.<br />

** This applies, for example, <strong>to</strong> the budget data for Moscow<br />

Gubernia (Returns, <strong>Vol</strong>s. VI and VII), Vladimir Gubernia (Industries<br />

<strong>of</strong> Vladimir Gubernia), Ostrogozhsk Uyezd <strong>of</strong> Voronezh Gubernia<br />

(Returns, <strong>Vol</strong>. II, Part 2), and particularly <strong>to</strong> the budgets cited in<br />

the Transactions <strong>of</strong> the Commission <strong>of</strong> Inquiry in<strong>to</strong> Handicraft Industry55<br />

(<strong>of</strong> Vyatka, Kherson, Nizhni-Novgorod, Perm and other<br />

gubernias). The budgets given by Messrs. Karpov and Manokhin in the<br />

Transactions and also by Mr. P. Semyonov (in Material for a Study<br />

<strong>of</strong> the Village Community, St. Petersburg, 1880) and by Mr. Osadchy<br />

(Shcherbani <strong>Vol</strong>ost, Elisavetgrad Uyezd, Kherson Gubernia) compare<br />

favourably with the others in that they describe the various groups<br />

<strong>of</strong> peasants.

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