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

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394<br />

V. I. LENIN<br />

in 18 establishments, which have an average <strong>of</strong> 15.6 wageworkers.*<br />

The “handicraft” hat-makers perform only<br />

part <strong>of</strong> the hat-making operations: they make the shapes,<br />

which are sold <strong>to</strong> Moscow merchants who have their own<br />

“finishing establishments”; on the other hand, “clippers”<br />

(women who clip the down) work at home for the “handicraft”<br />

hat-makers. Thus, all in all, we find here capitalist<br />

co-operation based on division <strong>of</strong> labour and entangled<br />

in a whole network <strong>of</strong> diverse forms <strong>of</strong> economic dependence.<br />

In the centre <strong>of</strong> the industry (the village <strong>of</strong> Klenovo,<br />

Podolsk Uyezd) the separation <strong>of</strong> the industrialists<br />

(mainly wage-workers) from agriculture** is clearly <strong>to</strong> be<br />

seen, <strong>to</strong>gether with a rise in the level <strong>of</strong> the population’s<br />

requirements: they live “more decently,” dress in calico<br />

and even in cloth, buy samovars, abandon ancient cus<strong>to</strong>ms,<br />

etc., thereby evoking the bitter complaints <strong>of</strong> the local<br />

admirers <strong>of</strong> old times.*** The new era even occasioned the<br />

appearance <strong>of</strong> migra<strong>to</strong>ry hat-makers.<br />

A typical example <strong>of</strong> capitalist manufacture is the cap<br />

industry in the village <strong>of</strong> Molvitino, Bui Uyezd, Kostroma<br />

Gubernia.**** “The principal . . . occupation in the village<br />

<strong>of</strong> Molvitino and in . . . 36 hamlets is the cap industry.”<br />

Agriculture is being abandoned. Since 1861 the industry<br />

has greatly developed; sewing-machines have become widely<br />

used. In Molvitino 10 workshops are busy all year round<br />

with 5 <strong>to</strong> 25 male and 1 <strong>to</strong> 5 female workers each. “The<br />

best workshop . . . has a turnover <strong>of</strong> about 100,000 rubles<br />

per annum.”(*) Work is also distributed <strong>to</strong> homes (for example,<br />

materials for the crowns are made by women in their homes).<br />

Division <strong>of</strong> labour cripples the workers, who work under the<br />

most insanitary conditions and usually contract tuberculosis.<br />

The lengthy existence <strong>of</strong> the industry (for over 200 years) has<br />

produced highly skilled craftsmen; the Molvitino craftsmen<br />

are known in the big cities and in the remote outer regions.<br />

* Some <strong>of</strong> these establishments were occasionally included among<br />

“fac<strong>to</strong>ries and works.” See, for example, the Direc<strong>to</strong>ry for 1879, p. 126.<br />

** See above, Chapter V, §VII.<br />

*** Statistical Returns for Moscow Gubernia, IV, Pt. I, pp. 282-287.<br />

**** See Transactions <strong>of</strong> the Handicraft Commission, IX, and<br />

Reports and Investigations, III.<br />

(* ) By some accident, such workshops have not yet been included<br />

among “fac<strong>to</strong>ries and works.”

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