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

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA
281
factory) they do so, of course, to the detriment of their own
nourishment”; whereas the well-to-do peasants improve
their cattle (pp. 32-33). Among the types of wage-labour
undertaken, one finds employment away from home, at
cheese-making establishments; from among the young peasants
a body of skilled cheese makers is arising. In the
Poshekhonye Uyezd “the number . . . of cheese and butter
establishments is increasing from year to year,” but “the
benefits accruing to peasant farming from cheese and butter
making hardly compensate for the disadvantages to peasant
life resulting from our cheese and butter establishments.”
On the peasants’ own admission they are often compelled to
starve, for with the opening of a cheese or butter factory in
some locality, the milk is sent there and the peasants usually
drink diluted milk. The system of payment in kind is coming
into vogue (pp. 43, 54, 59 and others), so that it is to be regretted
that our “people’s” petty production is not covered by
the law prohibiting payment in kind in “capitalist” factories.*
Thus, the opinions of people directly acquainted with
the matter confirm our conclusion that the majority of the
peasants play a purely negative part in the progress of
local agriculture. The progress of commercial farming
worsens the position of the bottom groups of peasants and
forces them out of the ranks of the cultivators altogether.
Be it noted that reference has been made in Narodnik literature
to this contradiction between the progress of dairy
* Here is the characteristic view of Mr. Stary Maslodel [Old Butter
Maker]: “Whoever has seen and knows the countryside today and
remembers what it was 40 or 50 years ago will be amazed at the difference.
In the old villages all the houses were the same both outside
and inside; today, however side by side with hovels stand fine houses,
side by side with the indigent live the rich, side by side with the
downtrodden and despised live those who feast and make merry.
In former times one often came across villages in which there was not
a single landless peasant; now in every village there are no less than
five and sometimes a full dozen. And to tell the truth, butter making
is much to blame for this transformation of the villages. In 30 years
butter making has enriched many, has beautified their homes; many
peasants who supplied milk during the period of development of the
butter industry have become prosperous, acquired more cattle, and
purchased land on a community or individual basis; but many more
have fallen into poverty; landless peasants and beggars have appeared
in the villages” (Zhizn [Life], 1899, No. 8 quoted from Severny Krai
[Northern Region], 1899, No. 223). (Note to 2nd edition.)