22.12.2012 Views

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

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

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA<br />

455<br />

deal with the development <strong>of</strong> capitalism. Whoever<br />

confuses these two stages deprives himself <strong>of</strong> the possibility<br />

<strong>of</strong> understanding the transforming, progressive role <strong>of</strong> capitalism.<br />

That is the mistake made by our Narodnik economists,<br />

who, as we have seen, naïvely identify capitalism<br />

generally with “fac<strong>to</strong>ry” industry and propose <strong>to</strong> solve the<br />

problem <strong>of</strong> the “mission <strong>of</strong> capitalism” and even <strong>of</strong> its “unifying<br />

significance”* by simply referring <strong>to</strong> fac<strong>to</strong>ry statistics.<br />

Apart from the fact that on matters <strong>of</strong> fac<strong>to</strong>ry statistics<br />

these writers (as we shall show in detail below) have<br />

betrayed as<strong>to</strong>nishing ignorance, they commit a still graver<br />

error in their amazingly stereotyped and narrow understanding<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>Marx</strong>’s theory. In the first place, it is ridiculous<br />

<strong>to</strong> reduce the problem <strong>of</strong> the development <strong>of</strong> large-scale<br />

machine industry <strong>to</strong> mere fac<strong>to</strong>ry statistics. It is a question<br />

not only <strong>of</strong> statistics, but <strong>of</strong> the forms assumed and<br />

the stages traversed by the development <strong>of</strong> capitalism<br />

in the industry <strong>of</strong> the country under consideration. Only<br />

after the substance <strong>of</strong> these forms and their distinguishing<br />

features have been made clear is there any sense in<br />

illustrating the development <strong>of</strong> this or that form by<br />

means <strong>of</strong> properly compiled statistics. If, however, they<br />

restrict themselves <strong>to</strong> Russian statistics, this inevitably<br />

leads <strong>to</strong> lumping <strong>to</strong>gether the most diverse forms <strong>of</strong> capitalism,<br />

<strong>to</strong> not seeing the wood for the trees. Secondly,<br />

<strong>to</strong> reduce the whole mission <strong>of</strong> capitalism <strong>to</strong> that <strong>of</strong><br />

increasing the number <strong>of</strong> “fac<strong>to</strong>ry” workers means <strong>to</strong><br />

betray as pr<strong>of</strong>ound an understanding <strong>of</strong> theory as did<br />

Mr. Mikhailovsky when he expressed surprise as <strong>to</strong> why<br />

people talk about the socialisation <strong>of</strong> labour by capitalism,<br />

when all that this socialisation amounts <strong>to</strong>, he averred,<br />

is that several hundred or thousand workers saw, chop,<br />

cut, plane, etc., under one ro<strong>of</strong>.**<br />

The task <strong>of</strong> our further exposition is tw<strong>of</strong>old: on the<br />

one hand, we shall examine in detail the condition <strong>of</strong> our<br />

fac<strong>to</strong>ry statistics and the question <strong>of</strong> their suitability.<br />

* Mr. N. —on in Russkoye Bogatstvo, 1894, No. 6, pp. 103 and<br />

119.—See also his Sketches, and Mr. V. V.’s Destiny <strong>of</strong> Capitalism,<br />

passim.<br />

** Otechestvenniye Zapiski, 1883, No. 7, Letter <strong>to</strong> the edi<strong>to</strong>r from<br />

Mr. Pos<strong>to</strong>ronny [Outsider].

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!