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

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA
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relating to them in our table; Appendix I) is done mainly
at fairs all over Russia. To do business oneself at a fair one
must have, firstly, a considerable amount of capital, as
only wholesale trade is conducted at the fairs; and, secondly,
one must have an agent to buy up wares where they are made,
and to send them on to the merchant. These requirements
are met “by the one merchant-peasant,” who is also a “craftsman,”
possesses a considerable amount of capital and
engages in finishing the abacuses (i.e., fitting the frames and
beads) and marketing them; his six sons are “engaged
exclusively in commerce,” so that two persons have to be
hired to cultivate the allotment. “It is not surprising,”
observes the investigator, “that he is able to sell his wares . . .
at all the fairs, whereas the smaller traders usually sell theirs
at nearby markets” (Industries of Moscow Gubernia, VII, Pt. I,
Sec. 2, p. 141). In this case the representative of merchant’s
capital was still so little differentiated from the general
mass of “muzhik cultivators” that he even continued to
retain his allotment farm and his large patriarchal family.
The spectacle-frame makers of Moscow Gubernia are
entirely dependent upon the industrialists to whom they sell
their wares. These buyers-up are at the same time “craftsmen”
possessing their own workshops; they lend raw materials
to the poor on condition that the finished articles are
delivered to them, the “masters,” etc. The small industrialists
made an attempt to sell their wares in Moscow themselves,
but failed; it did not pay to sell goods in small quantities
amounting to a matter of 10 or 15 rubles (ibid., 263).
In the lace industry of Ryazan Gubernia the tradeswomen
make profits amounting to 12 to 50% of the lace-makers’
earnings. The “substantial” tradeswomen have established
regular-connections with marketing centres and send goods
by mail, which saves travelling expenses. How necessary
wholesale marketing is can be seen from the fact that the
traders consider that even sales amounting to 150 and 200
rubles do not cover marketing expenses (Transactions of
the Handicraft Commission, VII, 1184). The marketing of
Belyov lace is organised as follows. In the town of Belyov
there are three grades of tradeswomen: 1) The distributor,
who hands out small orders, makes the round of the
lace-makers herself and delivers the finished article to the