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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 />

275<br />

Mr. V. V. thinks otherwise. He is delighted with the “zeal”<br />

(p. 73, loc. cit.) <strong>of</strong> the peasant in tending his cattle; he is<br />

delighted with the “good results from lives<strong>to</strong>ck farming”<br />

obtained by the peasant woman who “spends all her life<br />

with her cow and sheep” (80). What a blessing, <strong>to</strong> be sure!<br />

To “spend all her life with her cow” (the milk <strong>of</strong> which<br />

goes <strong>to</strong> the improved cream separa<strong>to</strong>r), and as a reward<br />

for this life, <strong>to</strong> receive “one-fourth <strong>of</strong> the cost” <strong>of</strong> tending<br />

this cow! Now really, how after that can one fail <strong>to</strong> declare<br />

in favour <strong>of</strong> “small people’s production”!<br />

V. CONTINUATION. THE DIFFERENTIATION<br />

OF THE PEASANTRY IN THE DAIRY-FARMING AREA<br />

In the literature dealing with the effect <strong>of</strong> dairy farming<br />

on the conditions <strong>of</strong> the peasantry, we constantly come<br />

up against contradictions: on the one hand reference is<br />

made <strong>to</strong> progress in farming, the enlargement <strong>of</strong> incomes,<br />

the improvement <strong>of</strong> agricultural technique and the acquisition<br />

<strong>of</strong> improved implements; on the other hand, we have<br />

statements about the deterioration <strong>of</strong> food, the creation<br />

<strong>of</strong> new types <strong>of</strong> bondage and the ruin <strong>of</strong> the peasants. After<br />

what was stated in Chapter II, we should not be surprised at<br />

these contradictions: we know that these opposite opinions<br />

relate <strong>to</strong> opposite groups <strong>of</strong> the peasantry. For a more precise<br />

judgement <strong>of</strong> the subject, let us take the data showing<br />

the classification <strong>of</strong> peasant households according <strong>to</strong> the<br />

number <strong>of</strong> cows per household.*<br />

* Zemstvo statistics taken from Mr. Blagoveshchensky’s Combined<br />

Returns. 99 About 14,000 households in these 18 uyezds are<br />

not classified according <strong>to</strong> the number <strong>of</strong> cows owned: the <strong>to</strong>tal is<br />

not 289,079 households, but 303,262. Mr. Blagoveshchensky cites<br />

similar data for two other uyezds in the black-earth gubernias, but<br />

these uyezds are evidently not typical. In 11 uyezds <strong>of</strong> Tver Gubernia<br />

(Statistical Returns, XIII, 2) the percentage <strong>of</strong> allotment households<br />

owning no cows is not high (9.8), but 21.9% <strong>of</strong> the households, having<br />

3 and more cows, concentrate in their hands 48.4% <strong>of</strong> the <strong>to</strong>tal number<br />

<strong>of</strong> cows. Horseless households constitute 12.2%; households with 3<br />

and more horses constitute only 5.1% and they own only 13.9% <strong>of</strong><br />

the <strong>to</strong>tal number <strong>of</strong> horses. Let us note, in passing, that a smaller<br />

concentration <strong>of</strong> horses (as compared with that <strong>of</strong> cows) is also <strong>to</strong> be<br />

observed in other non-black-earth gubernias.

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