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

476
V. I. LENIN
The tallow trade has undoubtedly declined in the post-
Reform period. Thus, the value of output of the tallowcandle
and tallow-boiling trade was estimated in 1866-
1868 at 13.6 million rubles, and in 1890 at 5 million
rubles.* This decline is to be explained by the growing use
of mineral oils for lighting, which are displacing the oldtime
tallow candle.
For leather production (1866: 2,308 establishments with
11,463 workers and an output totalling 14.6 million rubles;
1890: 1,621 establishments with 15,564 workers and an
output totalling 26.7 million rubles) statistics constantly
lump together factories and small establishments. The
relatively high cost of raw materials, which explains the
high total output, and the fact that this trade requires very
few workers, make it particularly difficult to draw a line
of demarcation between the handicraft establishments and
the factories. In 1890, of the total number of factories
(1,621), only 103 had an output of less than 2,000 rubles;
in 1879 there were 2,008 out of a total of 3,320**; in 1866,
of 2,308 factories*** 1,042 had an output of less than 1,000
rubles (these 1,042 factories employed 2,059 workers and
had an output totalling 474,000 rubles). Thus, the number
of factories increased, although the factory statistics show
a decrease. As for the small leather establishments, their
number is still very large today: for instance, The Factory
Industry and Trade of Russia, published by the Ministry
of Finance (St. Petersburg, 1893), gives a total of nearly
9,500 handicraft works, with 21,000 workers and an output
of 12 million rubles. These “handicraft” establishments
are much larger than those which in the 60s were included
among “factories and works.” Since small establishments
* Here, too, the number of factories in the 60s and 70s included
a host of small establishments.
** In 1875, Prof. Kittary, in his Map of Leather Production in
Russia, gave an aggregate of 12,939 establishments, with output
totalling 472 million rubles, whereas the factory statistics gave
2,764 establishments, with output totalling 262 million rubles
(Historico-Statistical Survey). In the fur trade, another in this section,
a similar lumping is observed of small establishments together with
factories: Cf. Directory for 1879 and for 1890.
*** The Military Statistical Abstract gave an aggregate of even
3,890!!