Page:Lenin - The Land Revolution in Russia - ed. Philip Snowden (1919).pdf/13

 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.

And so, taking account of these circumstances, taking account of the fact that in the village we have to deal with infinitely more complicated problems, we formulate the main problem in the way in which it is formulated in the law on the Socialisation of the land. You know that in that law the system of private property in land is abolished, and equitable distribution is instituted. You know that in this way the application of the law has begun, and that we have brought it into operation in most rural districts; that at the same time, by a general and unanimous agreement between the Communists and those who as yet did not share their views, a provision was inserted in the law which I have just read out to you, and which lays down that our common task, our common goal is a transition to Socialist economy, to collective ownership and communal tillage. 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. The significance of this kind of husbandry is indicated in the law on the Socialisation of the land, in the section dealing with the question as to who may enjoy it. You