red and corrected by ingenious
compromises suggested by long experience, are not nearly so great as the
mere theorist might naturally suppose; but they are, I believe, quite
great enough to prevent the permanent maintenance of the institution,
and already there are ominous indications of the coming change, as I
shall explain more fully when I come to deal with the consequences of
serf-emancipation. On the other hand there is no danger of a sudden,
general abolition of the old system. Though the law now permits the
transition from Communal to personal hereditary tenure, even the
progressive enterprising peasants are slow to avail themselves of the
permission; and the reason I once heard given for this conservative
tendency is worth recording. A well-to-do peasant who had been in the
habit of manuring his land better than his neighbours, and who was,
consequently, a loser by the existing system, said to me: "Of course I
want to keep the allotment I have got. But if the land is never again
to be divided my grandchildren may be beggars. We must not sin against
those who are to come after us." This unexpected reply gave me food
for reflection. Surely those muzhiks who are so often accused of being
brutally indifferent to moral obligations must have peculiar deep-rooted
moral conceptions of their own which exercise a great influence on their
daily life. A man who hesitates to sin against his grandchildren still
unborn, though his conceptions of the meum and the tuum in the present
may be occasionally a little confused, must possess somewhere deep down
in his nature a secret fund of moral feeling of a very respectable kind.
Even among the educated classes in Russia the way of looking at these
matters is very different from ours. We should naturally feel inclined
to applaud, encourage, and assist the peasants who show energy and
initiative, and who try to rise above their fellows. To the Russian
this seems at once inexpedient and immoral. The success of the few, he
explains, is always obtained at the expense of the many, and generally
by means which the severe moralist cannot approve of. The rich peasants,
for example, have gained their fortune and influence by demoralising
and exploiting their weaker brethren, by committing all manner of
illegalities, and by bribing the local authorities. Hence they are
styled Miroyedy (Commune-devourers) or Kulaki (fists), or something
equally uncomplimentary. Once this view is adopted, it foll