(Letter to the Editor)¹
[similar in content to the published "Questionnaire" (see Complete Collected Works, vol. 6, p. 152).
The Central Party Archive holds a document analogous to this one. It begins with the question: "1) Year, month, date." This question is absent in the source held in TsGAO RF.
This may explain the omission of point 26 in the published questionnaire.]

ON THE QUESTION OF GRAIN PRICES
(Letter to the Editor)¹
[Late February — Early March 1897]

M. G., Mr. Editor!

Please do not refuse to grant space in your newspaper to the following lines.

In no. 54 of the "Samarskii Vestnik" there appeared an article: "Meeting of the Imperial Free Economic Society," containing an account of the debates conducted in this society concerning the book: "The Influence of Harvests and Grain Prices." Strictly speaking, preceding this account, the editorial board of the "Samarskii Vestnik" prefaces several remarks concerning the most substantial deficiencies of the said work.

While fully agreeing with the editorial board in its fundamental point of view, I cannot fail to point out one passage that may give rise to misunderstanding. "From the class point of view, the interests of the wage-earner are opposed to the interests of the employer, even in such a question as grain prices. It is undeniable that for the seller of labor, the peasant, whose principal income is derived from the sale of his labor-power, cheap goods are more advantageous than dear ones. For the employer hiring a worker, it is more advantageous if the product produced by him sells at a higher price."

What does this mean? That low grain prices are more advantageous for the peasant?

Not at all: the peasant, insofar as he is a small landowner, a producer of grain, compelled under present economic conditions to bring the products of his economy to market, is obviously interested in higher grain prices — a position requiring no further clarification.

If, however, what is meant here is workers, that is, that class which lives by the sale of its labor, then, in affirming that a decline in grain prices is advantageous for the worker, the editorial board again commits, in my opinion, a major error, the cause of which lies in an incorrect formulation of the question.

Indeed, a decline in the prices of items of prime necessity, and therefore also in the price of grain, may appear advantageous for the consumer — in this case, for the worker. What could be better, after all? With the same ruble that previously gave me the opportunity to purchase a pud of wheat, I now buy two puds — hence, as a consumer, I am interested in a further decline in wheat prices; however, it turns out that this decline entails a small unpleasantness for me. The thing is that, before appearing as a consumer, a buyer of grain on the market, I must first engage in the alienation of something on that very same market; in this case, I, as a worker, alienate my labor-power. And so, in this sale of workers' hands, the buyer of the commodity I am alienating always checks its value — in other words, the value of items of prime necessity, and above all grain — and on the basis of these data evaluates my labor-power. With a decline in grain prices, the price of my labor-power likewise declines. It has even been observed that a decline in grain prices is not equivalent to a decline in the price of workers' hands; the latter always fall in price more sharply in this case than does grain.

Thus, a decline in grain prices is at least a matter of indifference to the worker. But a well-known German economist, whose authority I permit myself to cite here, even asserts that a fall in grain prices is directly disadvantageous for workers. He proves this proposition as follows*: "So long as the price of grain, and with it wages, are still high, quite insignificant savings on grain consumption suffice to satisfy other needs. But as soon as the price of grain, and with it wages, stands low, the worker will scarcely be able to save anything on grain to purchase other items of consumption."

Thus, the interests of the wage-earner are indeed opposed to the interests of the employer even in such a question as grain prices. For the seller of labor, higher grain prices are more advantageous; for the employer hiring a worker, it is more advantageous if grain prices are low.

In conclusion, I permit myself to express the hope that the editorial board will not refuse to clarify the true meaning of the passage I have cited above from its article.

S. T. A.

Published March 13, 1897 in the newspaper "Samarskii Vestnik" no. 58
Printed according to the text of the newspaper

* K. Marx. "Rede liber die Frage des Freihandels"²

¹ The letter to the editor of the "Samarskii Vestnik" "On the Question of Grain Prices" was published in vol. II of the second and third editions of V. I. Lenin's Works. However, later, in 1928, Lenin's authorship of this letter was called into question (see "Notes of the Lenin Institute," issue III, M., 1928, pp. 87—92). As a result, it was not included in subsequent editions.

Further investigation of this question at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the CC CPSU, careful comprehensive study of all materials, including those discovered in recent years, made it possible to arrive at a substantiated conclusion that the letter "On the Question of Grain Prices" was written by V. I. Lenin.

The "Samarskii Vestnik" — a newspaper; published in Samara (now Kuibyshev) from 1883 to 1904. From late 1896 to March 1897, the newspaper was in the hands of "legal Marxists" (P. P. Maslov, R. Gvozdev [R. E. Zimmerman], A. A. Sanin, V. V. Portugalov, and others). In the 1890s, individual articles by Russian revolutionary Marxists were published in it. In no. 254 of November 25, 1895, the newspaper published, signed "K. T-in," the first part of V. I. Lenin's article "Gymnasium Economies and Correctional Gymnasiums ('Russkoe Bogatstvo')" (see Complete Collected Works, vol. 2, pp. 61—69).

² K. Marx. "Speech on Free Trade" (see K. Marx and F. Engels. Works, 2d ed., vol. 4, pp. 409—410).

[The remaining portion consists of bibliographic lists of works consulted for Lenin's articles "The Persecutors of the Zemstvo and Hannibals of Liberalism" and "The Agrarian Question and the 'Critics of Marx,'" dated before June 13, 1901 and before July 1, 1901. This comprises extensive reading lists in Russian, German, French, and English covering works on Russian political history, agrarian questions, political economy, and related subjects. The formatting and scholarly apparatus have been preserved as in the original.]