nearly brought about the destruction of the mir by the innovation of November 9, 1906. Again, though the defects of this measure are numerous, it cannot justly be said to have been injurious on the whole. Finally, it is certain to-day that agriculture and stock-raising are making notable and rapid progress, partly owing to the introduction of cooperative farming, and partly owing to the technical training in agriculture furthered by the government.
The historically conditioned peculiarities of Russian agricultural life will persist, just as Russian literature and art, Russian science and philosophy, Russian religious and social conditions, remain peculiar, notwithstanding the influence of the west, and notwithstanding the identical tendencies of evolution.
The narodniki could not shake their minds free from the mythical conception of the soil as "mother earth," or "little mother earth."[1] Doubtless the narodniki had studied economics, most of them, indeed, were Marxists, or rather, to be precise, most of them expressed their ideas in Marxist terminology. They analysed the special problem of land rent, but continually diverged into the mythical conception and, estimate of the soil. The narodniki were the successors of the old physiocrats, who regarded agriculture as the primitive and natural economy, opposing thereto manufacture, commerce, and the other occupations of the "classe stérile" as unnatural. According to this view, agriculture and manufacturing industry, country and town, peasant and manufacturer, soil and capital, are irreconcilable opposites; the history of human development is a capitalist aberration which at the last moment Russia may be able to avoid.
In the light of these doctrines, strictly applied, fruit—fresh fruit—would be the only "natural" product of the soil, the only "natural" nutriment. Indeed we may go further,
and say that only certain varieties of fruit could serve our turn, for fruit trees, just like cereals, have for the most part been improved by selection, while as for bread, this is an extremely complicated artifact. Indeed, it was the soil which first provided the stone from which the most primitive tools were made, and all that chemistry and chemical manufacturing industry can do is to elaborate the gifts of the soil.
- ↑ The Russian term "zemlja" denotes the world, land, and soil; in the doctrine of the slavophils and the narodniki, these three significations merge.
