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

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA<br />

395<br />

The centre <strong>of</strong> the hemp industry in the Medyn Uyezd,<br />

Kaluga Gubernia, is the village <strong>of</strong> Polotnyani Zavod. This<br />

is a large village (according <strong>to</strong> the census <strong>of</strong> 1897 it had<br />

3,685 inhabitants) with a population that is landless and<br />

highly industrial (over 1,000 “handicraftsmen”); it is the<br />

centre <strong>of</strong> the “handicraft” industries <strong>of</strong> Medyn Uyezd.* The<br />

hemp industry is organised in the following way: the big<br />

proprie<strong>to</strong>rs (<strong>of</strong> whom there are three, the biggest being<br />

Yerokhin) have workshops employing wage-workers and<br />

circulating capital <strong>of</strong> more or less considerable dimensions<br />

for purchasing raw materials. The hemp is combed in the<br />

“fac<strong>to</strong>ry,” spun by spinners in their homes, and twisted<br />

both in the fac<strong>to</strong>ry and in the home. It is warped in the<br />

fac<strong>to</strong>ry and woven both in the fac<strong>to</strong>ry and in the home. In<br />

1878 a <strong>to</strong>tal <strong>of</strong> 841 “handicraftsmen” was counted in the hemp<br />

industry; Yerokhin is considered <strong>to</strong> be both a “handicraftsman”<br />

and a “fac<strong>to</strong>ry owner,” employing 94-64 workers in<br />

1890 and in 1894-1895; according <strong>to</strong> Reports and Investigations<br />

(<strong>Vol</strong>. II, p. 187), “hundreds <strong>of</strong> peasants” work for him.<br />

In Nizhni-Novgorod Gubernia, the rope industry is<br />

also centred in non-agricultural industrial villages, Nizhni<br />

Izbylets and Verkhni Izbylets in the Gorba<strong>to</strong>v Uyezd.**<br />

According <strong>to</strong> Mr. Karpov (Transactions <strong>of</strong> the Handicraft<br />

Commission, <strong>Vol</strong>. VIII), the Gorba<strong>to</strong>v-Izbylets district is<br />

one large rope-making area; part <strong>of</strong> the inhabitants <strong>of</strong> the<br />

<strong>to</strong>wn <strong>of</strong> Gorba<strong>to</strong>v are also engaged in the industry, and the<br />

villages <strong>of</strong> Verkhni Izbylets and Nizhni Izbylets are, in<br />

fact, “almost part <strong>of</strong> the <strong>to</strong>wn <strong>of</strong> Gorba<strong>to</strong>v”; the inhabitants<br />

live like <strong>to</strong>wnspeople, drink tea every day, wear<br />

clothing bought in the shops, and eat white bread. Al<strong>to</strong>gether,<br />

as many as two-thirds <strong>of</strong> the inhabitants <strong>of</strong> 32<br />

villages are engaged in the industry, a <strong>to</strong>tal <strong>of</strong> 4,701 working<br />

(2,096 men and 2,605 women) with an output <strong>of</strong> about<br />

12 million rubles. The industry has been in existence<br />

* Transactions <strong>of</strong> the Handicraft Commission, II.<br />

** According <strong>to</strong> Zemstvo statistics (<strong>Vol</strong>. VII <strong>of</strong> Material, Nizhni-<br />

Novgorod, 1892) in these villages in 1889 there were 341 and 119<br />

households, numbering respectively 1,277 and 540 persons <strong>of</strong> both<br />

sexes. There were 253 and 103 allotment households. Households<br />

participating in industries numbered 284 and 91, <strong>of</strong> which 257 and<br />

32 did not engage in agriculture. There were 218 and 51 horseless<br />

households. Those leasing their allotments numbered 237 and 53.

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