The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-09
BY NIKoLAI RUKHARIN,
Editor, Rravada, (The TRUTH at Mos
COW, Official Organ of the Rus

ties, believe that the peasant Ques-
ton is something of secondary i'm
portance. Altho it is now the fashion
amongst us to declare oneself a Lenin-
list and of course to combat Trotsky'
ism most energetically, nevertheless
there are in reality many parties
which pay insufficient attention to the
peasant question.
Amongst many comrades and many
parties the opinion even prevails that
the peasant question is important only
for a backward country like Russia,
and that this question could be as
signed minor place in the more adj
vanced countries. Such a train of
thought is entirely false and (by the
way) rather Trotskyist.
1t is just Trotsky who developed the
following ideas in his theory of the
permanent revolution: In Russia the
proletariat can only retain power after
its victory with the aid of the state
organs of the western proletariat, be-
cause the population of our country is
overwhelmingly agricultural.
THIS statement is false; 1t is not
L only false, but the matter has not
been thought to its conclusion. The
victory of the international proletariat
would then signify its world victory,
the seizure of power all over the
world-and then we should have tc
ask ourselves: What is the compost
ton of the entire population of the
earth?"
When we put the question in this
manner we Immediately see that the
proletariat is relatively and absolutely
the minority of the total population
of the earth as against the overwhelm-
ing peasant majority.
Can this question then be eliminat-
ed? Can it be said that the world
revolution and the world victory of
the proletariat will solve the problem?
BY no means.
On the contrary, with the victory of
the world proletariat this problem
win be reproduced on the widest pos
sible scale. Only few figures to IL
lustrate my idea: We know that the
entire population of the earth is 1,700,-
100000. More than half of this num-
Der live in Asia approximately 900
millions). China alone has 436 mill
ions.
THAT means that quarter of the
Il earth's population live in China:
and of these 436 millions-the stats
tics are, it is true, extremely poor
approximately 400 millions are peas
ants. In India this ratio of the peas
antry to the entire population is 22O
out of 800 millions; in the Union Of
Soviet Republics it is Ill out of 100
millions. The overwhelming majority
of the colonial population consists of
peasants.
ME all know that the colonial ques-
w tion will play great role in the
process Of the world revolution. We
know that from certain standpoint
the antagonism between capital in the
highly developed metropolis and the
backward colonies is one of the chief
contradictions of capitalism, that
these contradictions are nothing else
but-fguratively speaking-the con-
tradiction between the world city, the
centers Of present industry and world
economy, and the world village, that
is the colonial periphery of the CEN
ters.
Almost all Of the principal questions
of our policy are connected in one way
or another with the colonial problem
Even the question of the unity of the
trade unions In connection with the
left course Of the British proletariat Is
closely related to the problem OF the
colonies. And the problem Of the col
onies Is a specific form Of the agrar-
ian and peasant question.
THERE is. therefore, no doubt that
l. this problem Is not q minor. sec
ondary, subordinate problem, but that