Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 2.pdf/333

Rh The later narodniki modified the doctrine which had been first advocated by the slavophils and Herzen. To a large extent they accepted Marx's theory of value and agreed with his history and criticism of capitalism, but they modified his statement of historic evolution. Marx had declared that the historical evolution of mankind was a necessary development from primitive communism through the intermediate stage of capitalism into the higher and definitive form of communism. The narodniki considered that the Russian mir and artel represented primitive communism, but they believed that Russia could attain the higher and definitive form of socialism and communism without passing through the stage of capitalism. Capitalism had indeed developed in Europe, but would not be able to establish itself in Russia. The narodniki admitted that the mužik had not sufficiently developed the mir and the artel, had not turned them adequately to account; it was necessary therefore to educate the peasant, and this was the mission of the intelligentsia.

The narodniki did not overlook the fact that in Russia, too, certain capitalistic developments had taken place; they perceived that foreign capital had found its way from Europe into Russia. But they considered this capitalism an artificial product; they looked upon it as a continuation of the exploitation which European capitalism had undertaken in the case of all the less civilized peoples to the detriment of these. To the narodniki, Russian capitalism seemed purely destructive; it was not favouring political development, as European capitalism had done; it could not possibly undergo a vigorous evolution, for the foreign markets were already occupied, and the demand in the home market was weak. Russia, therefore, now that the liberation of 1861 had stimulated more intensive economic, social, and political activities among the peasants, would make its way forward with the aid of agriculture and home industry; it would never be capitalised, and therefore would never be proletarianised. In like manner, the narodniki believed that there would never develop in Russia a system of large-scale landed proprietorship working on capitalist lines. Russian agriculture in conjunction with Russian industry, both passing to a higher stage of development, would constitute a natural, organic, socialistic whole.

The later narodniki, adopting methods contrasting with those of the earlier members of their school, endeavoured to