Page:Morgan Philips Price - Siberia (1912).djvu/171

 Rh "How do you give out the land to your brothers," I asked? "Each man," said the pizar, "is entitled to have fifteen desyatines [40 acres], and another eight desyatines for each adult son living at home with him. He can take more if he wishes, but for this he pays at a higher rate." For his fifteen desyatines he pays a rent to the commune and the commune pays the Krestyansky Nachalnick. Besides this, the peasant pays a small house tax, a barn tax and a tax on the head of his live stock. Thus the economic functions of the Mir, besides the collection of taxes assessed by the Government officials, lie in the allocation and control of the agricultural land.

"I have heard," I said, "that you sometimes redistribute your land, dividing it up so that each peasant changes his plot. Is this so?" Some years ago," the staresta answered, "we divided the land again, because some new peasants immigrated here and we decided that they must not have all new land, which was too good for them as new-comers. So we divided up the land again between the new-comers and the old inhabitants, so that each should have equal shares of new and old land."

"If a man works on his land and improves it, can he not keep it for himself and his sons?" I asked. "If the commune thinks that he must let some of his brothers have it, the commune has the right." "But does the commune do this often?" I asked. "Not for some years has it done so," was the reply. "Some of our brothers have kept their land for many years, and their sons hold it now and they do not wish to change. They can speak and have a voice in the commune, so perhaps it will not change. If they always live on their land the commune will