seemed to him true; for him it was novel and unanswerable. The proprietor evidently expressed his honest thought, — a thought which arose, not from any desire to show an idle wit, but from the conditions of his life, which had been spent in the country, where he could see the question practically from every side.
"The fact is, please to acknowledge," continued the old proprietor, who evidently wished to show that he was not an enemy of civilization, "all progress is accomplished by force alone. Take the reforms of Peter, of Catherine, of Alexander; take European history itself; still more so for progress in agriculture. The potato, for instance, — to introduce potatoes into Russia required force. We have not always plowed with iron plows; perhaps they have been introduced into our domains, but it required force. Now, until recently, when we had control over our serfs, we proprietors could conduct our affairs with all sorts of improvements: drying-rooms and winnowing-machines and dung-carts — all sorts of tools — we could introduce, because we had the power; and the muzhiks at first would oppose, and then would imitate us. But now, by the abrogation of serfage, they have taken away our authority; and so our estates,[1] now that everything is reduced to the same level, must necessarily sink back to the condition of primitive barbarism. This is my view of it."
"Yes, but why? If that were rational, then you could keep on with your improvements by aid of hired labor," said Sviazhsky.
"We have no power. How could I? allow me to ask."
"This — this is the working-force, the chief element in the problem before us," thought Levin.
"With hired men."
"Hired men will not work well, or work with good tools. Our laborers know how to do only one thing, — to drink like pigs, and, when they are drunk, to ruin everything you intrust them with. They water your horses to death, destroy your best harnesses, take the
- ↑ Khozyaïstvo
