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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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THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA<br />

577<br />

The peasants are induced <strong>to</strong> migrate by “motives <strong>of</strong> a<br />

higher order,” i.e., by the greater smartness and polish <strong>of</strong><br />

the Petersburger; they look for places where “things are<br />

better.” “Life and work in Petersburg are considered <strong>to</strong> be<br />

easier than in the country.”* “All country-folk are called<br />

raw, and the strange thing is that they are not in the least<br />

<strong>of</strong>fended at this, but refer <strong>to</strong> themselves as such and complain<br />

that their parents did not send them <strong>to</strong> St. Petersburg<br />

<strong>to</strong> study. It should be stated, however, that these raw country<br />

people are not nearly so raw as those in the purely<br />

agricultural districts; they unconsciously copy the outward<br />

appearance and the habits <strong>of</strong> the Petersburgers; the light<br />

<strong>of</strong> the metropolis falls indirectly on them.”** In Yaroslavl<br />

Gubernia (apart from examples <strong>of</strong> people growing rich)<br />

“there is still another cause which drives everyone from his<br />

home. That is—public opinion, which dubs a bumpkin <strong>to</strong><br />

the end <strong>of</strong> his days anybody who has not lived in Petersburg,<br />

or somewhere else, but engages in agriculture or some<br />

handicraft, and such a man finds it hard <strong>to</strong> get a wife”<br />

(Survey <strong>of</strong> Yaroslavl Gubernia, II, 118). Migration <strong>to</strong> the<br />

<strong>to</strong>wn elevates the peasant as a citizen, releasing him from<br />

the host <strong>of</strong> patriarchal and personal relationships <strong>of</strong> dependence<br />

and social-estate divisions so strongly entrenched in<br />

the rural districts. . . .*** “A prime fac<strong>to</strong>r that fosters migration<br />

is the growing sense <strong>of</strong> human dignity among the people.<br />

Liberation from serf dependence, and the long-standing<br />

association <strong>of</strong> the more active section <strong>of</strong> the rural population<br />

with <strong>to</strong>wn life, have long since roused the desire in the<br />

Yaroslavl peasant <strong>to</strong> uphold his ‘ego,’ <strong>to</strong> get away from the<br />

state <strong>of</strong> poverty and dependence <strong>to</strong> which rural life has<br />

doomed him, <strong>to</strong> a state <strong>of</strong> sufficiency, independence and<br />

respect. . . . The peasant who lives on outside earnings feels<br />

freer and more on a level <strong>of</strong> equality with people<br />

belonging <strong>to</strong> other social estates, which is why the rural<br />

* Women’s Country, 26-27, 15.<br />

** Ibid., p. 27.<br />

*** For example, the Kostroma peasants are prompted <strong>to</strong> become<br />

registered as burghers, among other things by possible “corporal<br />

punishment,” which is “even more awful <strong>to</strong> the flashy Petersburger<br />

than <strong>to</strong> the raw country dweller” (ibid., 58).

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