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

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

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA<br />

177<br />

<strong>of</strong> the well-<strong>to</strong>-do peasantry.* The spare cash obtained by<br />

these peasants in the shape <strong>of</strong> net income is either directed<br />

<strong>to</strong>wards commercial operations and usury, which are so<br />

excessively developed in our rural districts, or, under<br />

favourable conditions, is invested in the purchase <strong>of</strong> land,<br />

farm improvements, etc. In a word, these are small agrarians.<br />

Numerically, the peasant bourgeoisie constitute a<br />

small minority <strong>of</strong> the peasantry, probably not more<br />

than one-fifth <strong>of</strong> the <strong>to</strong>tal number <strong>of</strong> households (which is<br />

approximately three-tenths <strong>of</strong> the population), although, <strong>of</strong><br />

course, the proportion fluctuates considerably according <strong>to</strong><br />

district. But as <strong>to</strong> their weight in the sum-<strong>to</strong>tal <strong>of</strong> peasant<br />

farming, in the <strong>to</strong>tal, quantity <strong>of</strong> means <strong>of</strong> production<br />

belonging <strong>to</strong> the peasantry, in the <strong>to</strong>tal amount <strong>of</strong> produce<br />

raised by the peasantry, the peasant bourgeoisie are<br />

undoubtedly predominant. They are the masters <strong>of</strong> the<br />

contemporary countryside.<br />

5) The other new type is the rural proletariat, the class<br />

<strong>of</strong> allotment-holding wage-workers. This covers the poor<br />

peasants, including those that are completely landless; but<br />

the most typical representative <strong>of</strong> the Russian rural proletariat<br />

is the allotment-holding farm labourer, day labourer,<br />

unskilled labourer, building worker or other allotmentholding<br />

worker. Insignificant farming on a patch <strong>of</strong> land,<br />

with the farm in a state <strong>of</strong> utter ruin (particularly evidenced<br />

by the leasing out <strong>of</strong> land), inability <strong>to</strong> exist without the<br />

sale <strong>of</strong> labour-power (= “industries” <strong>of</strong> the indigent peasants),<br />

an extremely low standard <strong>of</strong> living (probably lower even<br />

than that <strong>of</strong> the worker without an allotment)—such are the<br />

distinguishing features <strong>of</strong> this type.** One must assign not<br />

less than half the <strong>to</strong>tal peasant households (which is<br />

* Let us note that the employment <strong>of</strong> wage-labour is not an<br />

essential feature <strong>of</strong> the concept “petty bourgeoisie.” This concept<br />

covers all independent production for the market, where the social<br />

system <strong>of</strong> economy contains the contradictions described by us above<br />

(Sec. 2), particularly where the mass <strong>of</strong> producers are transformed<br />

in<strong>to</strong> wage-workers.<br />

** To prove that it is correct <strong>to</strong> assign the indigent peasants <strong>to</strong><br />

the class <strong>of</strong> allotment-holding wage-workers, one must show not<br />

only how, and what sort <strong>of</strong>, peasants sell labour-power, but also how<br />

and what sort <strong>of</strong>, employers buy labour-power. This will be shown in<br />

subsequent chapters.

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