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

582
V. I. LENIN
that the bottom group of the peasantry is nothing else than
a rural proletariat; and we stated (p. 177, footnote) that the
forms in which this proletariat sells its labour-power would
be examined later. Let us now combine the categories of
wage-workers previously enumerated: 1) agricultural wageworkers.
These number about 32 million (in European
Russia). 2) Factory, mining and railway workers—about
12 million. Total, five million professional wage-workers.
Further: 3) building workers—about 1 million. 4) Lumber
workers (tree-fellers, log trimmers, rafters, etc.), navvies,
railway builders, goods loaders and unloaders, and in general
all kinds of “unskilled” labourers in industrial centres.
These number about 2 million.* 5) Workers occupied at
home for capitalists, and also those working for wages in
the manufacturing industries not included in “factory
industry.” These number about 2 million.
Total—about ten million wage-workers. If we deduct
the women and children, say one-fourth,** we get 72
million adult male wage-workers, i.e., about half the total
adult male population that is engaged in the production
of material values*** in the country. Part of this vast mass
of wage-workers have completely broken with the land, and
live entirely by the sale of their labour-power. They include
the great majority of factory (undoubtedly also of mining
and railway) workers, then a section of the building and
shipbuilding workers, and unskilled labourers; finally, a
fairly large section of the workers employed in capitalist
* Above we saw that lumber workers alone are estimated at
about 2 million. The number of workers employed in the last two
groups of occupations we have indicated should be larger than the
total number of non-agricultural migratory workers, for part of the
building workers, unskilled labourers, particularly lumber workers
are local and not migratory workers. And we have seen that the number
of non-agricultural migratory workers is not less than 3 million.
** In factory industry, as we have seen, women and children
constitute a little over 4 of the total number of workers. In the
mining, building and lumber industries, etc., few women and children
are employed. In capitalist domestic industry, on the other hand,
they are probably more numerous than men.
*** To avoid misunderstanding, let us make the reservation that
we do not claim these figures to be statistically exact. We merely
wish to show approximately the diversity of the forms of wage-labour
and the numbers of those engaged in it.