Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

“ Only the November Revolution, only the victory of the working class in the towns, only the authority of the Soviets, made it possible really to free the whole of Russia, from end to end, from the mischievous heritage of our former serfdom—from the economic exploitation of the peasantry by the landowning bourgeoisie, whose yoke pressed impartially on all peasants without distinction. ”

“ The ruin we have inherited from the war simply does not allow us to restore the old small peasant system. Not only have the peasant masses been awakened by the war; not only has the war shown them the technical marvels that exist nowadays, and their application to the destruction of mankind; but it has prompted in them the idea that these marvels ought to be devoted, first and foremost, to the reconstruction of the most universal as well as the most backward of all industries—agriculture. Not only has there been an awakening of consciousness as to this ”

“ United with the workers of the towns, united with the Socialist proletariat of the whole world, the Russian labouring peasantry may now be assured that it will overcome all difficulties, all the attacks of the Imperialists, and will successfully solve the problem without which the emancipation of the workers cannot be achieved—the problem of communal tilling of the soil, the problem of the gradual but unswerving transition from small private farming to communal agriculture. ”

“ In the case of the "middle" peasantry our policy has always been one of alliance. They are in no way the enemies of Soviet institutions, of the proletariat, and of Socialism. They will, of course, hesitate, and will consent to come into the Socialist camp only when they see sound and unmistakeable proofs that such a course is absolutely necessary. We cannot, of course, convince this "middle" peasantry by theoretical arguments or by speeches, and we are not relying on such methods. ”

“ The further the period of construction proceeds, the more clearly both the peasants who have already settled on the land, and the prisoners of war who are now, in their hundreds of thousands and millions, returning from captivity, exhausted and suffering, perceive the gigantic extent of what has to be done in order to rebuild our agriculture and to bring the peasants once and for all out of their former misery of neglect, oppression and ignorance. ”

“ More and more clearly do they see that the only way out, the only way which will bring the peasants nearer to a civilised existence, which will really put them in a position of equality with other citizens, is through communal tillage of land. And it is towards communal tillage that, by gradual stages, the Soviet State is at present systematically moving. In the name of that communal tillage, communes and Soviet farms are being created. ”

“ You know that our main hope, our chief security, is the proletariat of the Western European and other advanced countries. It is the great buttress of the world-revolution. We firmly believe in it, and the progress of the German revolution shows us that we are justified. ”

“ Our bounden duty is to direct them to the end that the most backward industry, agriculture, should be put on a new track, should be rebuilt and transformed from an occupation carried on on lines of routine and tradition, as it has been for centuries, into an industry based upon the results of experimental and applied science. The war has awakened this consciousness immeasurably more than any of us can estimate. ”

“ For this purpose we must introduce the very best agricultural methods, draw upon the best agronomic experts of Russia, in order to profit to the full by the most scientifically regulated farms, which hitherto have served solely as a source of wealth for private individuals, as nurseries for a new Capitalism, new bondage, new enslavement of hired workers; but now under the law on Socialisation and the complete abolition of private property in land, must become the source of agricultural knowledge and of increased productivity of labour for millions of workers. ”

“ But after the desperate and prolonged war all over the world, we plainly see the beginning of a Socialist revolution all over the world. This necessity has been created even in the most backward countries, independently of theoretical considerations and Socialist doctrines—a necessity which tells us all, in a voice of authority, that we cannot go on living in the old way. ”

“ Those who think that after this war we can attain to a restoration of pre-war conditions, that we can restore the systems and methods of farming which prevailed hitherto, are mistaken, and every day shows them their mistake more and more clearly. The war has created such appalling ruin that small private farms have now neither working cattle, stock, nor implements. We cannot go on any longer with this criminal dissipation of labour. ”

“ Persistently and patiently, awakening by a series of gradual transitions, the class consciousness of the labouring section of the peasantry, and advancing only in proportion as that awakening progressed and the peasantry was organising by its own efforts, the working class was moving along the path to the new Socialist organisation.
We know well that such immense changes in the life of scores of millions of people, affecting the very foundations of life, as the transition from small peasant proprietorship to communal agriculture, can be effected only by prolonged effort ”

“ There, against a thousand workmen, stood only the solitary Capitalist, and it did not require much labour to sweep him away. But the struggle in the villages was much more complex. At first there was a general attack of the peasants on the landowners, ending in a complete and final destruction of their power; and then a struggle within the peasantry itself, where, in the persons of the "kulaks," the exploiters, the speculators, using their surplus grain to make profits out of the hungry non-agricultural Russia, new Capitalists were arising. ”

“ When land is intended not for agriculture, but for cultural and educational or industrial purposes as well as for buildings for personal needs, or for the pursuit of cattle-breeding, horticulture, and other farming pursuits, the quantity of land to be allotted must be determined by the local Soviets in accordance with the needs of the persons or bodies applying for the use of the land, and with the social utility of the purpose for which the land has been applied. ”

“ The peasants—all sections of them—could not but rise—and actually did rise—in this war against the landowners. The struggle allied the poorest peasant class, which does not live by the exploitation of hired labour, with the more prosperous and even with the richest section of the peasantry, which cannot exist without hired labour. ”

“ All lands, whether belonging to the State, the former Imperial family, the ex-Tsar, the monasteries, or the Church, whether copyhold, entailed, private, public or peasant, shall be taken over without compensation, turned into the property of the entire people, and placed at the disposal of all who till them for use. Those who have suffered by this revolution in the property relations shall only be entitled to public support for such time as may be needed for their adaptation to the new conditions of life. ”

“ The right to use the land shall be given to all citizens, regardless of sex, of the Russian State, who desire to work it by their own hands, that is, by the labour of their respective families or on co-operative principles, for such periods only as they are able to do so. Hired labour is not permissible. Should a member of a village community become disabled for a period not exceeding two years, the said village community shall, pending his recovery, assist him by arranging for the tillage of his land by means of public labour. ”

“ Personal labour constitutes the general and fundamental basis of the right to use land of agricultural value. In addition, the organs of Soviet authority have the right, with a view to the improvement of agriculture by the organisation of model farms or experimental and index stations, to borrow limited plots from the reserve stock (former monastic, State, Imperial family, Tsar's personal and private owners' lands) and to work them by State-paid labour, such labour to be subject to workers' control according to general rule. ”

“ The distribution of land among the labouring population shall be carried out on the principle of equalised labour in such a wise that the combined normal unit of food and labour, adapted to the historical system of land-tenure prevalent in each locality, does not exceed the labour capacity of each farming household and yet enables each family to live in adequate sufficiency. ”

“ We cannot live as we lived before the war; and such a waste of human power and labour, as is involved in small peasant economy, cannot go on any longer. The productivity of labour and the economy of effort would be doubled and trebled in agriculture if from the present disjointed individual system we could pass to one of collective tillage. ”

“ What will convince them will be the example and solidarity of the peasant labourers, the union of the peasant labourers with the town proletariat; and here we are counting on a protracted and gradual process of persuasion, on a series of transitional measures drawn up on the basis of an agreement between the proletarian Socialist section of the population, the Communists, carrying on a decisive struggle against Capitalism in all its forms, with the "middle" peasantry. ”

“ This struggle, which finally, definitely freed the Revolution from the propertied and exploiting classes, it was which shunted our Revolution, in all its entirety, on to the Socialist track on which the workers of the towns had firmly and resolutely intended to set it in November, but in which they would have never been able victoriously to guide it if they had not found conscious and united support in the villages. ”

“ All lands, on their confiscation, form the land stock of the entire people, its distribution among the labouring classes being effected by the local and central organs of self-government, from the democratically organised non-class village and urban communities up to the central regional institutions. The land stock shall be periodically re-divided in accordance with the changes in the population and the growth of productivity and the improvement of agriculture, provided that the original allotment-nucleus remains intact. ”

“ In that community, which had fought as one man against the landlords, two camps were now formed: the camp of the labouring, the poorest peasants, who, together with the town workers, continued resolutely on the path towards the realisation of Socialism, and were passing from the war against landlords to the war against Capitalism, against the power of money, against exploitation for selfish ends of the great agrarian transformation ”

“ All non-able-bodied persons who are deprived of all their means of livelihood by the present law alienating their estates, forests, stocks and other properties on the said estates, may, pending the issue of a general law of insurance of non-able-bodied citizens, and on a certificate from the local courts and the Land Departments of the Soviets, draw a pension, equivalent to that received by soldiers, for the remaining period of their lives, or until the attainment of majority, as the case may be. ”

“ The District Soviets of Peasants' Delegates shall take the necessary measures for carrying out the confiscation of the landowners' estates in a strictly orderly manner, for determining the maximum size and the kind of land plots which are to be confiscated, for drawing up an exact inventory of the entire property to be confiscated, and for the establishment of the strictest revolutionary control over all the property now passing into the hands of the people, including the buildings, implements and machinery, cattle, stores, etc. ”

“ There can be no doubt that, in a peasant country like Russia, Socialist reconstruction is a very difficult problem. Beyond doubt it was comparatively easy to overthrow enemies like the Tsardom or the power of the landowners. ”

“ The entire farm property to be confiscated, i.e., the live and dead stocks, shall be placed under the charge of the State or commune as the case may be, according to their size and importance, for their exclusive use, without any compensation. Peasants possessing insufficient amounts of land are not affected by the above provision regarding confiscating of farm properties. ”

“ In calculating the entire quantity of land held de facto by the working peasants before the Revolution of 1917, it is necessary to compute it in respect of each kind of land separately, such as arable, meadow, pasture, alluvial, etc. ”

“ In determining the average, now prevailing, type of peasant land tenure, only those lands must, in the first instance, be taken into consideration which were de facto held by the working peasants before 1917, that is, those which had been bought by village communities, peasant co-operative societies and individual persons ”