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

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

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506<br />

V. I. LENIN<br />

We have no doubt that our Cadet and quasi-Cadet economists<br />

and politicians will raise their voices in indignation<br />

against this “over-simplified” concept <strong>of</strong> the economy<br />

<strong>of</strong> Russia. After all, it is so convenient, so advantageous<br />

<strong>to</strong> gloss over the pr<strong>of</strong>undity <strong>of</strong> economic contradictions<br />

in a detailed analysis and at the same time <strong>to</strong><br />

complain <strong>of</strong> the “crudity” <strong>of</strong> socialist views on these<br />

contradictions as a whole. Such criticism <strong>of</strong> the conclusion<br />

we have reached is, <strong>of</strong> course, without scientific<br />

value.<br />

Differences <strong>of</strong> opinion are, <strong>of</strong> course, possible about the<br />

degree <strong>of</strong> approximation <strong>of</strong> various figures. It is <strong>of</strong> interest<br />

<strong>to</strong> note, from this point <strong>of</strong> view, the work <strong>of</strong> Mr. Lositsky,<br />

Studies <strong>of</strong> the Population <strong>of</strong> Russia Based on the Census<br />

<strong>of</strong> 1897 (Mir Bozhy,* 1905, No. 8). The author <strong>to</strong>ok the bare<br />

census figures <strong>of</strong> the number <strong>of</strong> workers and servants, and from<br />

these estimated the proletarian population in Russia at 22<br />

million; the peasant and land-owning population at 80 million,<br />

employers and clerks in commerce and industry at<br />

about 12 million, and the population not engaged in industry<br />

at about 12 million.<br />

The number <strong>of</strong> proletarians according <strong>to</strong> these figures<br />

comes quite close <strong>to</strong> the figure we have arrived at.** To deny<br />

the existence <strong>of</strong> a vast mass <strong>of</strong> semi-proletarians among<br />

the poor peasants who are dependent upon “employments,”<br />

among the handicraftsmen, etc., would be <strong>to</strong> sc<strong>of</strong>f at all<br />

the data on the Russian economy. One need but recall the<br />

34 million horseless households in European Russia alone,<br />

the 3.4 million one-horse households, the sum-<strong>to</strong>tal <strong>of</strong><br />

Zemstvo statistics on rented land, “employments,” budgets,<br />

etc., <strong>to</strong> abandon all doubt about the huge size <strong>of</strong> the<br />

semi-proletarian population. To agree that the proletarian<br />

and semi-proletarian population taken <strong>to</strong>gether comprises<br />

one-half <strong>of</strong> the peasantry is probably no understatement<br />

and no exaggeration <strong>of</strong> its numbers. And outside<br />

* Wide World.—Ed.<br />

** This is not the place <strong>to</strong> go in<strong>to</strong> details concerning the statistics<br />

on workers and servants used by Mr. Lositsky. These statistics<br />

evidently err in very considerably understating the number <strong>of</strong><br />

workers.

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