The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-09
TIE PEASANTS LAND ELL.

entitled "A Compendium Of Basic Land
Laws for the Nation.' 1t consists Of twenty
paragraphs. and 10 II are appended already
the signatures Of q third Of the members Of
Russie's lower house.
The "LAborer' bloc formally defines
II 10 DO the duty Of Russia's legislatures TO
establish the fact that all land, IS also oil
mineral or fluid weslth, superficial Or
buried In the bowels OF the earth, belongs
OF right To the nation a. Q whole, to tho
people 40 0 corporate commune and not
TO i~ndividuals. The preamble Insists on
the imperative necessity Of keeping this
cardinal point In view In all prospective
legislation for agricultural reform.
IL 10 further the duty Of the legislature,
proceeds the MEASURE put out by the peasant
bloc, TO ordain that oil land necessary for
the purposes Of agricultural industry be
appropriated C'handed over') for usufruct
only to those Of the country's nationals
who are prepared themselves TO work 1t.
To tho use OF the land for the purpose Of
agricultural exploitation by their own
labor all citizens must possess equal rights
before the law. This Ia how the 'Laborer'
stalwarts declare their astounding scheme
Of 'land naturalization must be carried
out u II 10 10 satisfy Ruasia's men OF the
land-hes mujfk armies. In the FIRST place
all Crown, imperial appanage, Cabinet.
monastery and Church cststsa must DO
hgislatlvely appropriated and merged In
q national land fund.- II shouid be
explained here that 90 intense 10 the hatred
generally entertained toward tho present
Government regime that the national
Me- x...At,allx, Ia tn AnttpQtv would
have little computation In appsnding It's
signature 10 this demand OF the forward
Peasant party. II Is rather the subsequent
designs Of the sLaborers' and c~ognizanoe
Of the appalling physical a~voirdupois
Of tho muiik millions behind them which
causes level headed Russians to recoil In
genuine alarm before the latest demands Of
the Representatives Of tho peasantry.
'Into this common land fund continues
the projected aGranan measure. must
oompulsorily DO appropriated all land In the
empire. irrespective Of It's present owner
ship, whether II be owned by professional
land owner or private individual. provided
the present holdings quantitatively exceed
the normal dessiatipage 10 be legislatively
Axed for the particular area within which
the act Of appropriation h carried out
In the event Of this extraordinary measure
becoming law, assuming that the State
normal workable dessiatinage will be fixed
at q matter Of Eve desaiatines. the present
owner Of q hundred dessiatine estate will be
oompulsorily persuaded to hand over to the
national land FUND ninety-flve OF his Russian
acres. Should he have the misfortune to
own, as many Russian land owners do, a
thousand or ten thousand dessiatines, the
solatium left him after the projected land
remain the five dessiatine' plot.
With regard TO Ands already granted
under statutes OF the Gar Liberator Alex
ander II, and his SUCCESSORS. the projected
land naturalization bill ordains that all
such lands must remain In the hands Of
their peasant possessors. The qualiica-
ton Ia added. however, that NO single peas
ant may hold q yard more than the quantity
fixed as the normal for individual retention
In his particular locality and not q square
foot OF land at all unless he himself takes
Oh his coat and works II. No land plota
oyer and absve the normal fxed by
statute for . particular area may be be-
queathed or acquired save In the manner
prescribed in the land naturalization bill,
For no such plot may there be q market,
Merge 1t must, and Immediately, In the
general national land fund.
what, 1t may be asked, of oompensa-
tion3 The promoters OF the new bill de-
turned over TO the national fund or compul-
sorily sequestrated, must be paid for. The
buyer must be the sequestrator. The
amount and terms Of the compensation for
all holdings voluntarily or compulsorily
turned over to the fund must be decided
by law, the State to act as receiver OF the
holdings and dispenser Of the compensatory
rubles out Of the Of the national
exoheaueF. What the extent OF this COM
psnsation, what the terms OF the oompensa-
ton, and precisely when land may be Sc
questrated for the fund g~ratis-these are
questions which may not be defined by the
legislature until the people at large In
every town, village aud settlement shall
nave deliberated upon them and the agrarian
problem a. a whole.
All sale outright, m~ortgaging, requests OF
land or besto walls shall forthwith become
illegal. This clause is explained by leaders OF
the Advanced Peasant party to be designed
with the special view Of preventing the
thousands Of land owners throughout Russia
from disposing Of their property before the
deluge. Panic among the big land owners
In Russia has already had the effect OF bring
ing many hundreds of thousands Of dessia-
tines into the market for prompt cash Or
% much cash down as Is obtainable.
A further paragraph Of the bill provides
that, while every square sagene Of hill and
dale In the empire shall be given equally
In usufruot to all nationals willing to take
their coats of and work it, preference shall
be accorded to local agriculturists over
immigrant workers from other districts
and to agrioulturists over unfortunate
.urbana' Every worker. however, Is to
have the right to own a delimited land plot
II the locality In which he at present resides
or the right to a free plot from the fund In .
locality which ooptains untitled acreage.
Tho socialistio land bill further proposes
TO draw unstintingly from the much abused
miloh COW Of State resources for the betrayal
OF such items Of expenditure as those in
CURED / n transporting landless mujiks q
few hundreds or thousands Of versts to
national territories where there is plenty OF
elbow room. Whore. after due satisfaction