The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-03-04
l.15s. $4,000 100

The condition Of the peasants prior
to the revolution, according to official
documents. appears to be as follows:
In the 12 central governments they
grow. on the average. sufficient rye for
bread for only 200 days in the year.
often for only 1sO and 100 days"
One-quarter of the people have re-
ceived allotments of only 30 acres per
male. one-half Of them less than 8.5
10 ia acres-the normal size Of the
allotment necessary to feed and main
tain family being estimated at %
to 42 acres. Therefore the peasants
were compelled to rent land from the
landlords at fabulous prices. The
aggregate value Of the redemption and
land taxes often reached 1856 to 25O
per cent Of the normal value of the
allotment. not to speak of the taxes
for recruiting, the churches. roads and
local administration. chiefly levied
from the peasants. The peasants have
sunk deeper into debt every year. The
scheme was Quicksand-the harder
they worked and struggled the deeper
Into debt they fell Increasing arrears
have driven one-ffth Of the inhabit-
ants from their houses. Every year
more than half the adult males (in
some districts three-quarters Of the
men and one-third OF the women) are
forced to quit their homes and wan
der throughout Russia in search Of
work. In the governments Of the
black earth region the state Of mat
ters is hardly better.
The phrase ''class distinction" was
more than rhetoric In Russia-it was
part Of the chains. It handcuffed des-
tiny. bolted the door OF opportunity.
The great mass of the people. S1.0
per cent peasants: 10 per cent made
up the. nobility; 8 per cent the
clergy; 9.3 per cent the burshers
and merchants; 8.1 per cent the mill
tary: thus 147.000.000 of the Russians
were peasants.
The slavery In Russia consecrated
by law In 1909 was partly abolished
in 1851. The Act only pretended to
liberate the serfs. Even under the
best landlords conditions continued to
be terrible. Household servants or DE-
pendents attached to the personal serv-
ice of their masters were re-
leased. They Joined the town pro-
Ietariat The peasants were given Al
lotments of arabic land. These al
lotments were not given to the indi-
viduals. they were given over to the
rural commune called the Mir. which
was made responsible as q whole for
the payment Of allotments. 1t was q
sort Of land communism. except that
the title did not pass even to the Mrs.
The enormous charge against the land
made them tenant serfs. The Mir
was mortsaged community. The re-
demption charge was not calculated
on the value Of the land. but was con-
sidered .as payment for the loss Of the
compulsory labor of the serfs. The
enslavement Of the peasant was rec
ognized in the Act which pretended
emancipation.
Peasants systematically Cheated.
Many proprietors Of land saw to 1t
that the allotments did not give the
peasants the needed pasture lands
around their homes. This craftily cal
culated scheme compelled the peasants
to rent pasture land from the land
lords at any price. The landlords
held them up.
1t was only as late az 1904 that the
landlord was forbidden by law to In
Hict corporal punishment on the peas
ant. Even this law was winked at
and the practice Of treating human
slaves as brutes treat tired domestic
animals, continued. The peasant was
a chattel and the cheapest farm fx-
ture. There were plenty Of peasants.
Notwithstanding the barbaric life in
Russia, the population continued to
grow.
The PEASANTS only participation in