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

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA
431
astonishment of investigators,* and the latter in the shape
of the mass of “handicraftsmen,”—weak-chested, with
inordinately developed arms, “curvature of the spine,”**
etc., etc.
IV. THE TERRITORIAL DIVISION OF LABOUR
AND THE SEPARATION OF AGRICULTURE FROM INDUSTRY
Directly connected with division of labour in general
is, as has been noted, territorial division of labour—the
specialisation of certain districts in the production of
some one product, of one sort of product and even of a
certain part of a product. The predominance of hand
production, the existence of a mass of small establishments,
the preservation of the worker’s connection with the
land, the tying of the craftsman to a given trade,—
all this inevitably gives rise to the seclusion of the different
industrial districts of manufacture; sometimes this local
seclusion amounts to complete isolation from the rest of
the world,*** with which only the merchant masters have
dealings.
In the following effusion Mr. Kharizomenov underrates
the significance of the territorial division of labour: “The
vast distances of the Empire go hand in hand with sharp
differences of natural conditions: one locality is rich in timber
and wild animals, another in cattle, while a third
abounds in clay or iron. These natural features determined
the character of industry. The great distances and incon-
* Let us confine ourselves to two examples: Khvorov, the celebrated
Pavlovo locksmith, made 24 locks to a weight of one zolotnik
(4.25 grammes.—Ed.); some of the parts of these locks were no larger
than a pin’s head (Labzin, loc. cit., 44). One toy-maker in Moscow
Gubernia spent nearly all his life finishing harnessed horses and
achieved such dexterity that he could finish 400 a day (Statistical
Returns for Moscow Gubernia, Vol. VI, Pt. II, pp. 38-39).
** This is how Mr. Grigoryev describes the Pavlovo handicrafts-
men. “I met one of these workers . . . who for six years had been working
at the same vice and had with his bare left foot worn more than halfway
through the board on which he stood; with bitter irony he said
that the employer intended to get rid of him when he had worn the
board right through” (op. cit., pp. 108-109).
*** The squirrel-fur industry in Kargopol Uyezd, the woodenspoon
industry in Semyonov Uyezd.