er. In both the authority of the ruler is limited: in the one case
by the adult members of the family, and in the other by the Heads of
Households. In both there is a certain amount of common property: in the
one case the house and nearly all that it contains, and in the other the
arable land and possibly a little pasturage. In both cases there is a
certain amount of common responsibility: in the one case for all the
debts, and in the other for all the taxes and Communal obligations.
And both are protected to a certain extent against the ordinary legal
consequences of insolvency, for the family cannot be deprived of its
house or necessary agricultural implements, and the Commune cannot be
deprived of its land, by importunate creditors.

On the other hand, there are many important points of contrast. The
Commune is, of course, much larger than the family, and the mutual
relations of its members are by no means so closely interwoven. The
members of a family all farm together, and those of them who earn money
from other sources are expected to put their savings into the common
purse; whilst the households composing a Commune farm independently, and
pay into the common treasury only a certain fixed sum.

From these brief remarks the reader will at once perceive that a Russian
village is something very different from a village in our sense of the
term, and that the villagers are bound together by ties quite unknown to
the English rural population. A family living in an English village has
little reason to take an interest in the affairs of its neighbours. The
isolation of the individual families is never quite perfect, for man,
being a social animal, takes necessarily a certain interest in the
affairs of those around him, and this social duty is sometimes fulfilled
by the weaker sex with more zeal than is absolutely indispensable for
the public welfare; but families may live for many years in the same
village without ever becoming conscious of common interests. So long as
the Jones family do not commit any culpable breach of public order, such
as putting obstructions on the highway or habitually setting their
house on fire, their neighbour Brown takes probably no interest in their
affairs, and has no ground for interfering with their perfect liberty of
action. Amongst the families composing a Russian village, such a state
of isolation is impossible. The Heads of Households must often meet
together and consult in the Village