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

180
V. I. LENIN
quite rightly remarks, the cottager “most closely approximates
to the general type of Russian peasant of the
central gubernias” (Hired Labour, p. 495); he is everlastingly
compelled to divide his time between seeking employment
and cultivating his plot of land. But what is particularly
interesting to us is the economic position of the farm
labourers. The fact is that the landlords themselves find
it advantageous to allot them land on account of wages. Here
are some examples of the holdings of Ostsee farm labourers:
1) 2 dess. of land (we have converted Loftstelle into dessiatines:
1 Loftstelle=3 dess.); the husband works 275 days
and the wife 50 days a year at a wage of 25 kopeks per day;
2) 2q dess. of land; “the farm labourer keeps 1 horse,
3 cows, 3 sheep and 2 pigs” (pp. 508, 518); the farm labourer
works alternate weeks and the wife works 50 days; 3) 6 dess.
of land (Bauska Uyezd, Courland Gubernia), “the farm
FROM MARX
TO MAO
labourer keeps 1 horse, 3 cows, 3 sheep and several pigs”
�⋆
(p. 518), he works 3 days a week and his wife 35 days a
year; 4) in Hasenpoth Uyezd, Courland Gubernia—8 dess.
of land, “in all cases the farm labourers get their flour milled
gratis and free medical aid and medicine, and their children
attend school” (p. 519), etc. We draw the reader’s
attention to the size of the holdings and the scale of the
farming of these farm labourers, i.e., to the very conditions
that, in the opinion of the Narodniks, set our peasants apart
from the general European agrarian system, which corresponds
to capitalist NOT production. FOR We combine all the examples
given in the publication quoted: 10 farm labourers own 31.5
dess. of land, that COMMERCIAL
is, an average of 3.15 dess. per labourer.
The farm labourers here include peasants who work the lesser
part of the year for the landlord (the husband half the
year, and the wife DISTRIBUTION
35 to 50 days) and also one-horse peasants
who own 2 and even 3 cows each. The question arises: what
constitutes the notorious difference between our “community
peasant” and the Ostsee farm labourer of this type? In the
Ostsee region they call things by their proper names, whereas
in Russia one-horse farm labourers are combined with
wealthy peasants, “averages” are struck, and sentimental
talk is indulged in about the “community spirit,” the “labour
principle,” “people’s production” and the “combination of
agriculture with industries”. . . .