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

264
V. I. LENIN
This table clearly illustrates (though the data are very
obsolete) the emergence of special dairy-farming areas, the
development there of commercial farming (the sale of milk
and milk-processing) and the increase in the productivity
of dairy cattle.
To judge the development of dairy farming, we
can only make use of data on butter production and cheese
making. This industry arose in Russia at the very end
of the 18th century (1795); cheese making on landlords’
estates began to develop in the 19th century, but suffered
a severe crisis in the 1860s, which opened the period of
cheese making by peasants and merchants.
The number of cheese-making establishments in the 50
gubernias of European Russia was as follows:*
In 1866 72 with 226 workersand output valued at 119,000 rbs.
” 1879 108 ” 289 ” ” ” ” ” 225,000 ”
” 1890 265 ” 865 ” ” ” ” ”1,350,000 ”
Thus, in 25 years production increased more than tenfold;
only the dynamics of the phenomenon may be judged
from these data, which are extremely incomplete. Let us
quote some more detailed material. In Vologda Gubernia
an improvement in dairy farming began, properly speaking,
in 1872, when the Yaroslavl-Vologda railway was opened;
since then “farmers have begun to see to the improvement of
their herds, to introduce grass cultivation, to acquire
improved implements . . . and have tried to place dairy
farming on a purely commercial basis” (Statistical Sketch,
* Data from Military Statistical Abstract and Mr. Orlov’s
Directory (1st and 3rd eds.). Concerning these sources, see Chapter VII.
Let us merely observe that the figures quoted minimise the actual
rapidity of development, since the term “factory” or “works” was
employed in a narrower sense in 1879 than in 1866; and in 1890 in a
still narrower sense than in 1879. The 3rd ed of the Directory contains
information on the date of establishment of 230 factories; it
appears that only 26 were established before 1870, 68 in the 70s,
122 in the 80s and 14 in 1890. This speaks of a rapid increase in production.
As for the latest List of Factories and Works (St. Petersburg,
1897), utter chaos reigns there: cheese making is registered for two
or three gubernias and for the rest omitted altogether.