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

Groups
Rye flour (meras)
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA
Per head of both sexes
cereal produce same in terms of rye
(poods)
Barley and
millet flour
(poods)
Millet and buckwheat
(meras)
Wheat and
fine-wheat flour
(pounds)
a) 13.12 0.12 1.92 3.49 13.14 13.2 4.2 17.4 0.59
b) 13.21 0.32 2.13 3.39 6.31 13.4 3.0 16.4 0.49
c) 19.58 0.27 2.17 5.41 8.30 19.7 3.5 23.2 1.18
d) 18.85 1.02 2.93 1.32 6.43 18.6 4.2 22.8 1.29
e) 20.84 — 2.65 4.57 10.42 20.9 4.2 25.1 1.79
f) 21.90 — 4.91 6.25 3.90 22.0 4.2 26.2 1.79
18.27 0.35 2.77 4.05 7.64 18.4 3.8 22.2 1.21
163
This table shows that we were right in combining the
horseless and one-horse peasants and contrasting them to
the rest. The distinguishing feature of the groups of peasants
mentioned is insufficiency of food and its inferior quality
(potatoes). The food of the one-horse peasant is in some
respects even worse than that of the horseless peasant.
The general “average” even on this question is entirely
fictitious, the insufficient nourishment of the mass of the
peasants being obscured by the satisfactory nourishment of
the well-off peasantry, who consume almost one and a half
times as much agricultural produce and three times as
much meat* as do the poor peasants.
For the purpose of comparing the remaining data on the
peasants’ food, all produce must be taken at its value—
in rubles:
* The extent to which the meat consumption of the village peasants
is smaller than that of town dwellers is seen from even the following
fragmentary data. In Moscow in 1900, cattle weighing about 4
million poods and of a total value of 18,986,714 rubles 59 kopeks
were slaughtered in the city abattoirs (Moskovskiye Vedomosti
[Moscow Recorder], 1901, No. 55). This works out per head, both
sexes, at about 4 poods or nearly 18 rubles per annum. (Note to 2nd
edition.)
Potatoes (meras)
Rye and wheat
Other cereals
Total
Meat (poods)