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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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344<br />

V. I. LENIN<br />

a peasant bourgeoisie and <strong>of</strong> a rural proletariat increased<br />

the demand for the products <strong>of</strong> the small peasant industries,<br />

while at the same time supplying free hands for these industries<br />

and free money.*<br />

IV. THE DIFFERENTIATION OF THE SMALL COMMODITY-<br />

PRODUCERS. DATA ON HOUSE-TO-HOUSE CENSUSES OF<br />

HANDICRAFTSMEN IN MOSCOW GUBERNIA<br />

Let us now examine the social and economic relations<br />

that develop among the small commodity-producers in<br />

industry. The task <strong>of</strong> defining the character <strong>of</strong> these relations<br />

is similar <strong>to</strong> the one outlined above, in Chapter II, in relation<br />

<strong>to</strong> the small farmers. Instead <strong>of</strong> the scale <strong>of</strong> farming,<br />

we must now take as our basis the size <strong>of</strong> the industrial<br />

establishments; we must classify the small industrialists<br />

according <strong>to</strong> the size <strong>of</strong> their output, ascertain the part<br />

wage-labour plays in each group, the conditions <strong>of</strong> technique,<br />

etc.** The handicraft house-<strong>to</strong>-house censuses that we need for<br />

such an analysis are available for Moscow Gubernia.*** For<br />

* The fundamental theoretical error made by Mr. N. —on<br />

in his arguments about the “capitalisation <strong>of</strong> industries” is that he<br />

ignores the initial steps <strong>of</strong> commodity production and capitalism in<br />

its consecutive stages. Mr. N. —on leaps right over from “people’s<br />

production” <strong>to</strong> “capitalism,” and then is surprised, with amusing<br />

naïvety, <strong>to</strong> find that he has got a capitalism that is without basis<br />

that is artificial, etc.<br />

** Describing “handicraft” industry in Chernigov Gubernia,<br />

Mr. Varzer notes “the variety <strong>of</strong> economic units” (on the one hand,<br />

families with incomes from 500 <strong>to</strong> 800 rubles, and on the other,<br />

“almost paupers”) and makes the following observation: “Under such<br />

circumstances, the only way <strong>to</strong> present a full picture <strong>of</strong> the economic<br />

life <strong>of</strong> the craftsmen is <strong>to</strong> make a house-<strong>to</strong>-house inven<strong>to</strong>ry and <strong>to</strong><br />

classify their establishments in a number <strong>of</strong> average types with all<br />

their accessories. Anything else will be either a fantasy <strong>of</strong> casual<br />

impressions or arm-chair exercises in arithmetical calculations based<br />

on a diversity <strong>of</strong> average norms ...” (Transactions <strong>of</strong> the Handicraft<br />

Commission, <strong>Vol</strong>. V, p. 354).<br />

*** Statistical Returns for Moscow Gubernia, <strong>Vol</strong>s. VI and VII.<br />

Industries <strong>of</strong> Moscow Gubernia, and A. Isayev’s Industries <strong>of</strong> Moscow<br />

Gubernia, Moscow, 1876-1877, 2 vols. For a small number <strong>of</strong> industries<br />

similar information is given in Industries <strong>of</strong> Vladimir Gubernia.<br />

It goes without saying that in the present chapter we confine ourselves<br />

<strong>to</strong> an examination <strong>of</strong> only those industries in which the small

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