39.
[79] Marx and Engels speak of the "idiocy of rural life" from which
capitalism, through the concentration of agriculture and the abolition of
small holdings, would rescue the peasant proprietors (_Communist
Manifesto_). In _Capital_ Marx speaks of the manner in which modern
industry "annihilates the peasant, _the bulwark of the old society_" (Vol.
I, p. 513). Liebknecht says that in 1848 it was the _city_ which overthrew
the corrupt citizen king and the _country_ which overthrew the new
republic, chose Louis Bonaparte and prepared the way for the Empire. "The
French peasantry created an empire through their blind fear of proletarian
Socialism" (_Die Grund und Bodenfrage_). Kautsky wrote, "Peasants who feel
that they are not proletarians, but true peasants, are not only not to be
won over to our cause, _but belong to our most dangerous adversaries_"
(_Dat Erfurter Programm und die Land-agitation_). It would be easy to
compile a volume of such utterances.
[80] Walling, _Russia's Message_, p. 118. The italics are mine.
[81] "Cabinet lands" are the crown lands, property of the Czar and royal
family.
[82] Ross, _op. cit._, pp. 206-207.
[83] _Justice_, London, August 1, 1917.
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