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

78
Groups of households
V. I. LENIN
Dnieper Uyezd
Percentages
of householders
of leased
leasing their
allotment
allotment
land
land
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
Cultivating no land . . .
” up to 5 dess.
” 5 to 10 ” .
” 10 to 25 ” .
” 25 to 50 ” .
” over 50 ” .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
80
30
23
16
7
7
97.1
38.4
17.2
8.1
2.9
13.8
For uyezd . . . . . . . . . . 25.7 14.9
In the three uyezds of Taurida Gubernia, the land leased
(in 1884-86) amounted to 25% of the total peasant arable;
this does not include land leased, not to peasants, but to
middle-class intellectuals. In all, nearly 3 of the population
in these three uyezds lease land; the allotments of the
rural proletariat are rented mainly by the peasant bourgeoisie.
Here are data in this regard:
In three uyezds
of Taurida Gubernia
allotment land
rented from
neighbors
(dessiatines) as %
by peasants cultivating up to 10 dess. per household 16,594 6
” ” ” ” ” 10 to 25 dess. ” 89,526 35
” ” ” ” ” 25 and more ” 150,596 59
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256,716 100
Allotment land is now an object of extensive speculation
among the South-Russian peasants. Land is used as security
for loans on promissory notes. . . . Land is leased, or sold,
for one or two years and for longer periods—8, 9 or 11 years”
(p. 139, op. cit.). Thus, the peasant bourgeoisie is also a
representative of merchant’s and usurer’s capital.* Here
we have a striking refutation of the Narodnik prejudice
* And itself resorts to the “very numerous” village banks and
loan-and-savings societies, which render “substantial assistance”
to “prosperous peasants.” “The economically weak peasants cannot
find guarantors and do not get loans” (p. 368, op. cit.).