The DEVELOPMENT of CAPITALISM in RUSSIA

Chapter VI. Capitalist Manufacture and Capitalist Domestic Industry

VIII. What Is “Handicraft” Industry?

In the two preceding chapters we dealt mainly with what in Russia is
usually called “handicraft” industry; we may now try to answer
the question put in the heading.

Let us begin with some statistics, so as to judge which of the forms of
industry analysed above figure in publications among the general mass of
“handicraft industries.”

The Moscow statisticians, in concluding their investigation of the peasant
“industries,” summarised all and sundry non-agricultural
occupations. They listed altogether 141,329 persons (Vol. VII, Pt. III)
engaged in local industries (in the making of commodities), but among
these were included artisans (a section of the shoe-makers, glaziers and
many others), wood sawyers, etc., etc. Not fewer than 87,000 (according to
our calculations of the different industries) were domestic workers
employed by capitalists. [1]

The number of wage-workers in the 54 industries for which we have been able to
combine the data is 17,566, out of 29,446, i.e., 59.65%. For Vladimir
Gubernia we have obtained the following results (from five issues of
Industries of Vladimir Gubernia ): altogether, 18,286 engaged in
31 industries; of these 15,447 were engaged in industries in which capitalist domestic industry predominates (including
5,504 wage-workers, i.e., hirelings of the second degree, so to
speak). Further, there are 150 rural artisans (of whom 45 are hired) and
2,689 small commodity producers (of whom 511 are hired). The total number
of capitalistically engaged workers is (15,447 + 45 + 511 =) 16,003, i.e., 87.5%. [2]

In Kostroma
Gubernia (on the basis of Mr. Tillo’s tables in the Transactions of the Handicraft Commission ), there are 83,633 local
industrialists, of whom 19,701 are lumber-workers (fine
“handicraftsmen”!), while 29,564 work in their homes for
capitalists; some 19,954 are engaged in industries in which small
commodity-producers predominate, and some 14,414 are village artisans. [3]

In 9 uyezds of Vyatka Gubernia there are (according to the same
Transactions ) 60,019 local industrialists; of these, 9,672 are
millers and oil-pressers; 2,032 are pure artisans (engaged in
fabric-dyeing); 14,928 are partly artisans and partly commodity-producers,
the overwhelming majority working independently; 14,424 engage in
industries partly subordinated to capital; 14,875 engage in industries
entirely subordinated to capital; 4,088 engage in industries in which wage-labour completely predominates.

On the basis of the data in the Transactions regarding the other
gubernias we have compiled a table of those industries on the organisation of which more or less detailed information is
available. We get 97 industries employing 107,957 persons, with an output
totalling 21,151,000 rubles. Of these, industries in which wage-labour and
capitalist domestic industry predominate employ 70,204 persons (18,621,000
rubles); industries in which wage-workers and workers occupied at home for
capitalists constitute only a minority employ 26,935 persons (1,706,000
rubles); and, finally, industries in which independent labour almost
completely predominates employ 10,818 persons (824,000 rubles). According
to Zemstvo statistical materials regarding 7 industries of Gorbatov and
Semyonov uyezds of Nizhni-Novgorod Gubernia, there are 16,303
handicraftsmen, of whom 4,614 work for the local market; 8,520 work
“for a master,” and 3,169 as wage-workers; in other words,
11,689 are capitalistically employed workers. According to the returns of
the 1894-95 Perm handicraft census, of 26,000 handicraftsmen, 6,500 (25%)
are wage-workers, and 5,200 (20%) work for buyers-up, in other words, 45%
are capitalistically employed workers. [4]

Fragmentary as the data are (no others were available), they nevertheless
clearly show that, taken as a whole, a mass of capitalistically employed
workers are classified among the “handicraftsmen.” For instance, those working at home for capitalists number (according to the
above-quoted data) over 200,000. And this is for some 50 or 60 uyezds, by
no means all of which have been investigated thoroughly. For the whole of
Russia the number of workers of this type must be something like two million. [5]

If to these are added the wage-workers employed by “handicraftsmen” – and, as may
be seen from the above-quoted figures, their number is by no means as
small as is sometimes thought here in Russia – we shall have to concede
that the figure of 2 million industrial workers capitalistically employed
outside the so-called “factories and works” is, if anything, a
minimum

figure. [6]

To the question – “What is handicraft industry?” – the data
quoted in the last two chapters compel us to give the answer that the term
used is absolutely unsuitable for purposes of scientific investigation,
and is one usually employed to cover all and sundry forms of industry,
from domestic industries and handicrafts to wage-labour in very large manufactories. [7]

This lumping together of the most diverse types of economic organisation,
which prevails in a host of descriptions of “handicraft industries,” [8] was taken over quite uncritically and quite senselessly by the Narodnik
economists, who made a tremendous step backward by comparison, for
example, with a writer like Korsak, and availed themselves of the
prevailing confusion of terms to evolve the most curious
theories. “Handicraft industry” was regarded as something
economically homogeneous, something sufficient unto itself, and was
“ counterposed ” ( sic !) to “capitalism,” which without further ado was taken to mean
“factory” industry. Let us take Mr. N.-on, for instance. On
p. 79 of his Sketches we find the heading “Capitalisation
(?) of

Industries,” [9] and then, without any reservation or explanation, “Data on Factories.”. . . The simplicity is
positively touching: “capitalism” = “factory industry,” and factory industry = what is classified under this
heading in official publications. And on the basis of such a
profound “analysis” the masses of capitalistically employed
workers included among the “handicraftsmen” are wiped off
capitalism’s account. On the basis of this sort of “analysis” the question of the different forms of industry in
Russia is completely evaded. On the basis of this sort of
“analysis” one of the most absurd and pernicious prejudices is
built up concerning the distinction between our “handicraft”
industry and our “factory” industry, the divorcement of the
latter from the former, the “artificial character” of “factory” industry, etc. It is a prejudice because no one has
ever so much as attempted to examine the data, which in all branches of industry show a very close and inseparable connection between
“handicraft” industry and “factory” industry.

The object of this chapter has been to show in what precisely this
connection consists and precisely which specific technical, economic and
cultural features are represented by the form of industry that in Russia
stands between small-scale industry and large-scale machine industry.

---
Notes:
[1]
Let us recall that Mr. Kharizomenov (article quoted above) calculated that
of 102,245 persons engaged in 42 industries of Moscow Gubernia, 66% were
engaged in industries where there was an absolute predominance of the
domestic system of large-scale production.— Lenin

[2]
Unfortunately, we are unable to acquaint ourselves with the latest work on
handicraft industry in Yaroslavl Gubernia ( Handicraft Industries . Published by Statistical Bureau of Yaroslavl Gubernia
Zemstvo. Yaroslavl, 1904). Judging from the detailed review in
Russkiye Vedomosti (1904, No. 248), it is an extremely valuable
piece of research. The number of handicraftsmen in the gubernia is
estimated as 18,000 (the number of factory workers in 1903 was placed at
33,898). Industries are on the decline. One-fifth of the enterprises
employ wage-workers. One quarter of the total number of handicraftsmen are
wage-workers. Of the total number of handicraftsmen 15% are engaged in
establishments with 5 and more workers. Exactly one half of all the
handicraftsmen work for masters, with materials supplied by the
latter. Agriculture is on the decline; one-sixth of the handicraftsmen
have neither horses nor cows, one-third cultivate by hiring a neighbour;
one-fifth have no land under crops. The earnings of a handicraftsman are 1
1/2, rubles a week! ( Note to 2nd edition .)— Lenin

[3]
All these figures are approximate, for the source does not give precise
figures. Among the village artisans are included millers, blacksmiths,
etc., etc.— Lenin

[4]
See Studies , pp. 181-182. The figures for “handicraftsmen” here include artisans (25%). If we exclude
the artisans, we get 29.3% wage-workers and 29.5% working for buyers-up
(p. 122), i.e., 58.8% are capitalistically employed workers. (See present
edition, Vol. 2, The Handicraft Census of 1894-95 in Perm Gubernia . – Ed .)— Lenin

[5]
For example, capitalist work in the home is particularly developed in the
ready-made clothing industry, which is growing rapidly. “The demand
for such an article of prime necessity as ready made clothing is
increasing from year to year” ( Vestnik Finansov , 1897
No. 52, Survey of Nizhni-Novgorod Fair). The enormous development of this
industry has taken place only since the 80s. At the present time, in
Moscow alone ready-made clothing is produced to a total value of not less
than 16 million rubles, with some 20,000 workers employed. It is estimated
that for the whole of Russia the output reaches the sum of 100 million
rubles ( Successes of Russian Industry According to Surveys of Expert Commissions , St. Petersburg 1897, pp. l36-137). In St. Petersburg,
the 1890 census gave the number employed in ready-made clothing (Group XI,
Classes 116-118) as 39,912, counting members of industrialists families,
including 19,000 workers, and 13,000 one-man producers with their families
( St. Petersburg According to the Census of December 15 , 1890 ). The 1897 census shows that the total number of persons employed in
the clothing industry in Russia was 1,158,865, the members of their
families numbering 1,621,511; total 2,780,376. ( Note to 2nd edition .)— Lenin

[6]
Let us recall that the number of “handicraftsmen” in Russia is
estimated at no less than 4 million (Mr. Kharizomenov’s figure
Mr. Andreyev gave the figure of 7 1/2 million, but his methods are too sweeping) [10] ; consequently, the total figures given in the text cover about one-tenth of
the total number of “handicraftsmen.”— Lenin

[7]
Cf. Studies , p. 179 and foll. (See present edition, Vol, 2,
The Handicraft Census of 1894-95 in Perm Gubernia . – Ed .)— Lenin

[8]
The desire to retain the term “handicraftsmanship” for the
purpose of scientifically defining forms of industry has led in our
publications to purely scholastic arguments about, and definitions of,
this “handicraftsmanship.” One economist “understood” handicraftsmen to mean only commodity-producers,
while another included artisans in this term; one considered connection
with the land as an essential feature, while another allowed for
exceptions; one excluded wage-labour, while another allowed for it where,
for example, there were up to 16 workers, etc., etc. It goes without
saying that arguments of this sort (instead of investigation of the
different forms of industry) could lead nowhere. Let us observe that the
tenacity of the special term “handicraftsmanship” is to be
explained most of all by the social-estate divisions in Russian society; a
“handicraftsman” is an industrialist belonging to the lower
estates, a person who may be patronised and in relation to whom schemes
may be concocted without compunction; the form of industry is left out of
account. The merchant, however and the member of the nobility (even though
they be small industrialists) are rarely classified as “handicraftsmen.” By “handicraft” industries are
usually meant all sorts of peasant, and only peasant, industries.— Lenin

[9]
This term “capitalisation,” of which Messrs. V. V. and N.-on
are so fond, is permissible in a newspaper article, for the sake of
brevity, but it is totally out of place in an economic investigation of
which the whole purpose is to analyse the various forms and stages of
capitalism, their significance, their connection, and their consecutive
development. “Capitalisation” may be taken to mean anything in
the world: the hiring of a single “labourer,” buying-up, and a
steam-driven factory. How can one make head or tail of it, with all these
things jumbled together!— Lenin

[10]
Lenin refers to Y. N. Andreyev’s Handicraft Industry in Russia According to the Investigations of the “Commission of Inquiry into Handicraft Industry in Russia” and Other Sources ,
St. Petersburg, 1885 (the estimate of the number of persons engaged in
“subsidiary trades” as 7 1/2 millions is given on p. 69 of the
book). Lenin also refers to the pamphlet by the same author entitled
Handicraft Industry in Russia , St. Petersburg, 1882, p. 12.
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