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

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA
417
Thus, the organisation of the industry as outlined by
us prevails in all the districts. All in all, about three-fifths
of the total number of workers are employed capitalistically.
Here too, consequently, we find manufacture predominating
in the general structure of the industry* and holding masses
of workers under its sway, without, however, being able to
eradicate small production. The relative tenacity of the
latter is fully explained, firstly, by the fact that in some
branches of the Pavlovo industry mechanised production
has not yet been introduced at all (for instance, in lockmaking);
and, secondly, by the fact that the small producer
tries to save himself from sinking by resorting to means
that cause him to sink far lower than the wage-worker.
These means are: lengthening the working day, and reducing
the standard of living and of general requirements. “The
earnings of the group of handicraftsmen who work for
proprietors are less subject to fluctuation (Grigoryev, loc. cit.,
65); at Zavyalovs’, for example, the lowest-paid worker
is the handle-maker; “he works at home, and that is why
he is satisfied with lower earnings” (68). The handicraftsmen
who work “for factory owners” are “able to earn somewhat
more than the average earnings of the one who takes
his products to the market. Larger earnings are particularly
noticeable among the workers who live in the factories”
(70).** The working day in the “factories” is from 142
to 15 hours, with a maximum of 16 hours. “The working
day of the home-working handicraftsmen, on the other
hand, is never less than 17 hours and sometimes as much
as 18 and even 19 hours” (ibid.). It would not be in the
* The data we have given by no means express this predominance
to the full: as will presently be seen, the handicraftsmen who work
for the market are subjugated to capital even more than those who
work for proprietors, and the latter handicraftsmen even more than
the wage-workers. The Pavlovo industries show in strong relief that
inseparable connection between merchant’s and industrial capital
which in general is characteristic of capitalist manufacture in its
relation to the small producers.
** Connection with the land is also an important factor in reducing
earnings. The village handicraftsmen “on the whole earn less than the
Pavlovo locksmiths” (Annensky, Report, p. 61). True, we must bear
in mind that the former grow their own grain, but even so “the
conditions of the ordinary village handicraftsman can scarcely be
considered better than those of the average Pavlovo locksmith” (61).