登陆注册
5382300000052

第52章 CHAPTER VIII(1)

THE MIR, OR VILLAGE COMMUNITY

Social and Political Importance of the Mir--The Mir and the Family Compared--Theory of the Communal System--Practical Deviations from the Theory--The Mir a Good Specimen of Constitutional Government of the Extreme Democratic Type--The Village Assembly--Female Members--

The Elections--Distribution of the Communal Land.

When I had gained a clear notion of the family-life and occupations of the peasantry, I turned my attention to the constitution of the village. This was a subject which specially interested me, because I was aware that the Mir is the most peculiar of Russian institutions. Long before visiting Russia I had looked into Haxthausen's celebrated work, by which the peculiarities of the Russian village system were first made known to Western Europe, and during my stay in St. Petersburg I had often been informed by intelligent, educated Russians that the rural Commune presented a practical solution of many difficult social problems with which the philosophers and statesmen of the West had long been vainly struggling. "The nations of the West"--such was the substance of innumerable discourses which I had heard--"are at present on the high-road to political and social anarchy, and England has the unenviable distinction of being foremost in the race. The natural increase of population, together with the expropriation of the small landholders by the great landed proprietors, has created a dangerous and ever-increasing Proletariat--a great disorganised mass of human beings, without homes, without permanent domicile, without property of any kind, without any stake in the existing institutions. Part of these gain a miserable pittance as agricultural labourers, and live in a condition infinitely worse than serfage. The others have been forever uprooted from the soil, and have collected in the large towns, where they earn a precarious living in the factories and workshops, or swell the ranks of the criminal classes. In England you have no longer a peasantry in the proper sense of the term, and unless some radical measures be very soon adopted, you will never be able to create such a class, for men who have been long exposed to the unwholesome influences of town life are physically and morally incapable of becoming agriculturists.

"Hitherto," the disquisition proceeded, "England has enjoyed, in consequence of her geographical position, her political freedom, and her vast natural deposits of coal and iron, a wholly exceptional position in the industrial world. Fearing no competition, she has proclaimed the principles of Free Trade, and has inundated the world with her manufactures--using unscrupulously her powerful navy and all the other forces at her command for breaking down every barrier tending to check the flood sent forth from Manchester and Birmingham. In that way her hungry Proletariat has been fed. But the industrial supremacy of England is drawing to a close. The nations have discovered the perfidious fallacy of Free-Trade principles, and are now learning to manufacture for their own wants, instead of paying England enormous sums to manufacture for them. Very soon English goods will no longer find foreign markets, and how will the hungry Proletariat then be fed?

Already the grain production of England is far from sufficient for the wants of the population, so that, even when the harvest is exceptionally abundant, enormous quantities of wheat are imported from all quarters of the globe. Hitherto this grain has been paid for by the manufactured goods annually exported, but how will it be procured when these goods are no longer wanted by foreign consumers? And what then will the hungry Proletariat do?"*

This passage was written, precisely as it stands, long before the fiscal question was raised by Mr. Chamberlain. It will be found in the first edition of this work, published in 1877. (Vol. I., pp.

179-81.)

This sombre picture of England's future had often been presented to me, and on nearly every occasion I had been assured that Russia had been saved from these terrible evils by the rural Commune--an institution which, in spite of its simplicity and incalculable utility, West Europeans seemed utterly incapable of understanding and appreciating.

The reader will now easily conceive with what interest I took to studying this wonderful institution, and with what energy I

prosecuted my researches. An institution which professes to solve satisfactorily the most difficult social problems of the future is not to be met with every day, even in Russia, which is specially rich in material for the student of social science.

On my arrival at Ivanofka my knowledge of the institution was of that vague, superficial kind which is commonly derived from men who are fonder of sweeping generalisations and rhetorical declamation than of serious, patient study of phenomena. I knew that the chief personage in a Russian village is the Selski Starosta, or Village Elder, and that all important Communal affairs are regulated by the Selski Skhod, or Village Assembly. Further, I was aware that the land in the vicinity of the village belongs to the Commune, and is distributed periodically among the members in such a way that every able-bodied peasant possesses a share sufficient, or nearly sufficient, for his maintenance. Beyond this elementary information I knew little or nothing.

My first attempt at extending my knowledge was not very successful.

Hoping that my friend Ivan might be able to assist me, and knowing that the popular name for the Commune is Mir, which means also "the world," I put to him the direct, simple question, "What is the Mir?"

同类推荐
  • 长安书事

    长安书事

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 施设论卷

    施设论卷

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 六十种曲明珠记

    六十种曲明珠记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 郡阁雅言

    郡阁雅言

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 丛桂草堂医案

    丛桂草堂医案

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 极品大帝系统

    极品大帝系统

    既然朕的人生已经开了挂,还需要什么简介。……
  • 无限时空物语

    无限时空物语

    终日无所事事的神,和疲于应付俗世的少年在混乱的神域相互结缘。无聊的神向少年委任,令其在森罗万象,亦混乱不堪的各处世界穿梭奔波,这个中的故事便是供其打发时间的最佳娱乐。当然——哪怕少年在途中死了,神也不会难过。途中可能面对的恶龙、血鬼、魔王、勇者还是魔女什么的……你或许也可以期待他们是和颜悦色或是温文尔雅的?才不会一声不吭就把你XX呢……嗯。对此,少年音只有一句话要说:“呵呵~”友情提示:本书前两章自述为第一人称,之后会通用第三人称视角
  • 娘娘很拽

    娘娘很拽

    睁开眼,她发现自己居然还活着,太好了,太好了,哈哈!可是为什么她穿的不是自己的衣服,为什么她突然这么壮了,为什么……她成了一个男人……还是那个被她发现了篡位野心要杀她灭口的王爷!然后,转过头,她看见不远处的“自己”正极其气愤地看着她。两人一起掉下悬崖,幸运地没死,却无比不幸运地互换了身体!“从今天起,你要注意你的一言一行,耽误了本王的登基大业,本王要你全家陪葬!”于是,她做起了王爷,他带着她的身体进了王府。
  • 恶作剧之劫2

    恶作剧之劫2

    因朋友恶作剧,慕棠嫣惊慌之下把校草宇涧寒推进喷水池里,作为校园坏学生的头,宇涧寒绝对的有仇必报。于是,慕棠嫣悲惨的日子拉开了序幕,被宇涧寒的恶作剧整得天天像上战场。来而不往非礼也,恶作剧,谁怕谁?一直处于被欺负中的慕棠嫣奋起回击了。本以为是火星撞地球,没想到恶作剧对抗恶作剧,居然撞出了火花。
  • 漫威里的农药系统

    漫威里的农药系统

    苏韩望着眼前刚抽到的吕布牌末日机甲和孙尚香牌末日机甲,心中开始纠结今天打紫薯精应该穿哪一套比较上档次一点。托尼.史塔克:“嗨苏韩,我用这个反浩克装甲和你换一套末日机甲行不行?小老弟?”苏韩望着刚刚空投下来,陷在地里的反浩克装甲和身旁闪闪发光的两套末日机甲,心中愈加纠结起来......开了本新书...咳咳咳,《我在天堂有求必应》,不好看直播自切然后女庄,求一波支持~
  • 华严经问答

    华严经问答

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 宋人集

    宋人集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 通灵小姐事件簿

    通灵小姐事件簿

    在剑与魔法、龙与科技并存的世界里,葛瑞斯·沙利文却只是个平凡的普通人。这是发生在她身边的,和她听说过的,各种悬疑、奇幻、探险、灵异故事,涉及通灵、驱魔、鬼怪以及秘术。
  • 一枚钉子前进

    一枚钉子前进

    汉语诗两大精髓是意象化与音乐性,这从“神韵”两字中就可以体会到。意象化有共同的语言学、超语言学、逻辑语言哲学基础,音乐性的资源更是储藏在丰富的汉语自身,汉语新诗完全可以传承古典诗歌既要吸收异质又不能丢掉自我,既要有非凡的智慧,还要有更多“板凳甘坐十年冷,文章不作一句空”的人共同努力。我相信这样的努力不会白费。
  • 改变你的性格弱点

    改变你的性格弱点

    性格决定一个人的成败得失、前途命运。不论顺境与逆境,优良性格都能使人坦然地面对困难,从而不懈努力,取得成功;不良性格会让人处处碰壁,受尽挫折,甚至在关键时刻成为成功的巨大阻力,造成悲剧性的结局。要想改变命运,一定要先改变性格。张易山编著的《改变你的性格弱点》以此为基点,用对比的方式阐述了宽容、谦逊、机敏、果断、沉稳、谨慎、坚韧、自信、大胆等性格对改变个人命运的益处。当阅读完本书后,相信您能够对自身的性格了解得更加清晰透彻,从而有目的地弥补性格缺陷,进而掌控自己的命运。