ows logically
that the Communal institutions, in so far as they form a barrier to the
activity of such persons, ought to be carefully preserved. This idea
underlies nearly all the arguments in favour of the Commune, and
explains why they are so popular. Russians of all classes have, in fact,
a leaning towards socialistic notions, and very little sympathy with our
belief in individual initiative and unrestricted competition.

Even if it be admitted that the Commune may effectually prevent the
formation of an agricultural Proletariat, the question is thereby
only half answered. Russia aspires to become a great industrial and
commercial country, and accordingly her town population is rapidly
augmenting. We have still to consider, then, how the Commune affects
the Proletariat of the towns. In Western Europe the great centres of
industry have uprooted from the soil and collected in the towns a great
part of the rural population. Those who yielded to this attractive
influence severed all connection with their native villages, became
unfit for field labour, and were transformed into artisans or
factory-workers. In Russia this transformation could not easily take
place. The peasant might work during the greater part of his life in
the towns, but he did not thereby sever his connection with his native
village. He remained, whether he desired it or not, a member of the
Commune, possessing a share of the Communal land, and liable for a share
of the Communal burdens. During his residence in the town his wife
and family remained at home, and thither he himself sooner or
later returned. In this way a class of hybrids--half-peasants,
half-artisans--has been created, and the formation of a town Proletariat
has been greatly retarded.

The existence of this hybrid class is commonly cited as a beneficent
result of the Communal institutions. The artisans and factory labourers,
it is said, have thus always a home to which they can retire when thrown
out of work or overtaken by old age, and their children are brought
up in the country, instead of being reared among the debilitating
influences of overcrowded cities. Every common labourer has, in
short, by this ingenious contrivance, some small capital and a country
residence.

In the present transitional state of Russian society this peculiar
arrangement is at once natural and convenient, but amidst its advantages
it has many serious defects. The unnatural separation of the artisan
from h