Lenin’s Theory About Agrarian Question

Lenin’s discussion on the land question during the ideological struggle against Russian “Legal Marxists” and Western European revisionists.

Various political parties and political forces in 1905 mentioned the sharp political problems of various political parties and areas. In order to reveal the reactionary essence of the land program of the landlord class and bourgeoisie class, Lenin wrote “The Workers’ Party and the Peasantry (1901)”, “The Agrarian Question and the ‘Critics of Marx’ (1901)”, “The Agrarian Program of the Russian Social Democracy (1902)”, “To the Rural Poor (1903)”, “Marxist View on the Agrarian Question in Europe and Russia (1903)”, “Revision of the Agrarian Programme of the Workers’ Party (1906)”, “The Agrarian Programme of Social-Democracy in the First Russian Revolution, (1905-1907)”, “The Agrarian Question in Russia Towards the Close of the Nineteenth Century (1908)”, “The Essence of ‘The Agrarian Problem in Russia’” and a series of other works, which theoretically clarified the Marxist Bolshevik land programme, articulated two different paths for the development of agrarian capitalism (the American and Prussian paths), developed the Marxist theory on the laws of the development of agrarian capitalism, defended and developed the Marxist theory of land rent and the theory on the general law of capitalist accumulation.

On the theory of land rent, Lenin restored and developed Marx’s thought of two kinds of monopoly in agriculture, and clearly put forward that the monopoly of land ownership and the monopoly of land management should be distinguished. He pointed out that in capitalist society, the monopoly caused by limited land is the monopoly of land management, not the monopoly of land ownership. The monopoly of land management is the condition for the formation of differential rent on land (excess profits formed by the productivity achieved by different investments) and the owner of the land claims land rent from the agricultural capitalists by virtue of his land ownership, that is, absolute rent. Lenin argued that the monopoly of land management and the resulting differential rent were inevitable phenomena in capitalist society, but the existence of private land rights and absolute rent were the tumor of capitalist development.

Two forms of the evolution of capitalist agriculture. Lenin summarized the experience and lessons of the first Russian Revolution according to the evolution trend of land relations in Russia from the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century and put forward two theories on the evolution of capitalist agriculture. Lenin argued that the transition from feudal land ownership to capitalist land system can take two ways or two paths, namely Prussian path and American path. The Prussian path was the reformist road, which gradually replaces feudalism with capitalist management from top to bottom. Capitalism developed along this road preserved the remnants of the feudal serfdom to the greatest extent, which was beneficial to the landlords. However, the vast number of peasants suffered from the double oppression of capitalism and feudalism, and agriculture was in a serious backward state for a long time. Through the bottom-up peasant revolutionary movement, the feudal land ownership system was completely broken, the land was distributed to the farmers, and the small-scale peasant economy was polarized, so that agriculture gradually embarked on the road of capitalist development. The American path was a revolutionary path because it completely gets rid of the shackles of feudalism, liberated the productive forces completely and developed agricultural production rapidly. After a comprehensive study and comparison of the above-mentioned land systems, Lenin pointed out that the socio-economic situation of Russia in the early 20th century was similar to that of Germany and the United States at that time, Russia was faced with the choice of two capitalist evolution forms in agriculture, for Lenin Russia should strive for the realization of the American path and avoid the Prussian path.

On the program of land nationalization. Lenin criticized the program of partial land nationalization proposed by the Mensheviks and demonstrated the program of land nationalization proposed by the Bolsheviks. Land problem is the fundamental problem of bourgeois democratic revolution. In history, some radical bourgeois thinkers once put forward the slogan of “land state ownership” as a theoretical weapon against feudalism. In the bourgeois democratic revolution led by the proletarian revolutionary party, land nationalization, as the most important economic program, plays an important role and significance in striving for the victory of the revolution. The purpose of land nationalization is to eliminate the private ownership of land. To this end, Lenin argued that the Social-Democratic Party of Russia should call on the broad masses of peasants to use revolutionary means to eliminate all feudal serfdom land relations and political rule, and to nationalize all the land. The state organs of political power (the organs of democratic dictatorship of workers and peasants) shall stipulate the general principles of land possession and land use throughout the country. Therefore, the program of land nationalization reflects the requirements of the broad masses of farmers, removes obstacles for the development of capitalism, promotes the development of agricultural production, facilitates the development of rural class struggle, and creates conditions for the transition to socialism.