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

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA
of labour, it is important to note the excessively long working
day (14 to 15 hours) and the extremely insanitary
working conditions, payment in goods, etc. The centre of
the industry, Kimry village, “is more like a small town”
(Reports and Investigations, I, 224); the inhabitants are
poor agriculturists, and are engaged in their industry all
the year round; only the rural handicraftsmen give up the
industry during haymaking. The houses in Kimry village
are urban, and the inhabitants are distinguished for their
urban habits of life (such as “showiness”). Until very
recently this industry was not included in “factory” statistics,
probably because the masters “readily style themselves
handicraftsmen” (ibid., 228). The List has for the
first time included 6 boot workshops in Kimry district,
with 15 to 40 workers each on the premises, and with
no outside workers. Of course, it contains no end of
gaps.
Manufacture also includes the button industry of Moscow
Gubernia, Bronnitsi and Bogorodskoye uyezds—the making
of buttons from hoofs and rams’ horns. Engaged in this
industry are 487 workers, employed in 52 establishments; the
output totals 264,000 rubles. Establishments with fewer
than 5 employees number 16; those with 5 to 10—26; those
with 10 and more—10. Masters who do without wage-workers
number only 10; these work for big masters, using the
latter’s materials. Only the big industrialists (who, as is
evident from the figures given, should have from 17 to 21
workers per establishment) are quite independent. It is
they, evidently, who figure in the Directory as “factory
owners” (see p. 291: 2 establishments with an output totalling
4,000 rubles and with 73 workers). This is “serial manufacture”;
the horns are first steamed in what is called the
“smithy” (a wooden hut with a furnace); then they are
passed on to the workshop where they are cut up, after
which they go to a stamping press, where the pattern is
imprinted, and, lastly, are finished and polished on lathes.
The industry has its apprentices. The working day is 14
hours. Payment in goods is a regular thing. The relations
between masters and men are patriarchal, as seen in the
following: the master calls the workers “boys,” and the
pay-book is called the “boys’ book”; when the master pays
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