Assembly, and their daily occupation
must be influenced by the Communal decrees. They cannot begin to mow the
hay or plough the fallow field until the Village Assembly has passed
a resolution on the subject. If a peasant becomes a drunkard, or takes
some equally efficient means to become insolvent, every family in the
village has a right to complain, not merely in the interests of public
morality, but from selfish motives, because all the families are
collectively responsible for his taxes.* For the same reason no peasant
can permanently leave the village without the consent of the Commune,
and this consent will not be granted until the applicant gives
satisfactory security for the fulfilment of his actual and future
liabilities. If a peasant wishes to go away for a short time, in order
to work elsewhere, he must obtain a written permission, which serves him
as a passport during his absence; and he may be recalled at any moment
by a Communal decree. In reality he is rarely recalled so long as he
sends home regularly the full amount of his taxes--including the dues
which he has to pay for the temporary passport--but sometimes the
Commune uses the power of recall for purposes of extortion. If it
becomes known, for instance, that an absent member is receiving a good
salary or otherwise making money, he may one day receive a formal order
to return at once to his native village, but he is probably informed at
the same time, unofficially, that his presence will be dispensed with if
he will send to the Commune a certain specified sum. The money thus sent
is generally used by the Commune for convivial purposes. **

* This common responsibility for the taxes was abolished in
1903 by the Emperor, on the advice of M. Witte, and the
other Communal fetters are being gradually relaxed. A
peasant may now, if he wishes, cease to be a member of the
Commune altogether, as soon as he has defrayed all his
outstanding obligations.

** With the recent relaxing of the Communal fetters,
referred to in the foregoing note, this abuse should
disappear.

In all countries the theory of government and administration differs
considerably from the actual practice. Nowhere is this difference
greater than in Russia, and in no Russian institution is it greater than
in the Village Commune. It is necessary, therefore, to know both theory
and practice; and it is well to begin with the former, because it is th