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

156
V. I. LENIN
conditions enabling him to produce his products as commodities”
(Das Kapital, III, 2, 346. Russ. trans., p. 671). 58
Let us observe that the budget data utterly refute the
view, still fairly widespread, that taxes play an important
part in the development of commodity production. Undoubtedly,
quit-rents and taxes were at one time an important
factor in the development of exchange, but at the present
time commodity economy has become firmly established,
and the indicated importance of taxes is becoming altogether
secondary. A comparison of the expenditure on taxes and
duties with the peasants’ total cash expenditure shows a
ratio of 15.8% (for the respective groups it is: a—24.8%;
b—21.9%; c—19.3%; d—18.8%; e—15.4% and f—
9.0%). Hence, the maximum expenditure on taxes is onethird
of the remaining cash expenditure unavoidably
incurred by the peasant under the present conditions of
social economy. If, however, we do not take the role of taxes
in the development of exchange, but take them relative to
the income, we shall see that it is an excessively high one.
How heavily the traditions of the pre-Reform epoch weigh
down upon the peasant of today is seen most strikingly
in the existence of taxes which absorb one-seventh of the
gross expenditure of the small farmer, or even of the
allotment-holding farm labourer. Moreover, the distribution
of taxes within the village community is astonishingly
uneven: the better off the peasant, the smaller the part of
his total expenditure that goes in taxes. The horseless peasant
pays in proportion to his income nearly three times as
much as the peasant owning many horses (see above, table
on distribution of expenditure). We speak of the distribution
of taxes within the village community, because if we
calculate the amount of taxes and duties per dessiatine of
allotment land, it will be found to be nearly uniform.
After all that has been stated, this unevenness should not
astonish us; it is inevitable in our village community,
so long as the village community retains its compulsory,
feudal character. As we know, the peasants share all taxes
according to land held: share of taxes and share of land merge
in their minds in the one concept “soul,” or person.* As
* See V. Orlov, Peasant Farming, Statistical Returns for Moscow
Gubernia, Vol. IV, Pt. I.—Trirogov, The Village Community and