It seems to me that this objection is incorrect because (1) it presupposes an already highly developed bourgeois society, in which a rare peasant gets along without hiring workers; (2) the “rich” can then receive land only if large-scale agriculture is technically and economically “in order,” and this cannot be done all at once, so that the sudden transition that frightens Velika Dmitrievna cannot occur; (3) the displacement of workers by machinery is, of course, an inevitable result of large-scale production, but we place our hopes not on retarding the development of capitalist contradictions, but on their full development; improved cultivation of the land, moreover, presupposes a gigantic growth of industry and an intensified diversion of population from the land; (4) the measure proposed not only does not assist any “malefactors,” but, on the contrary, is the only conceivable measure in bourgeois society against “malefaction,” for it directly limits both the exploitation of the worker, and the plunder of the land, and the deterioration of livestock. It is precisely the small producer in bourgeois society who especially dissipates the forces of people, land, and livestock.

If you also come out in favour of deleting pages 79–82, please advise how to alter the note on p. 92*.

What is your opinion as to whether it is at all possible to print the agrarian part of the programme (and the commentary to it) separately from the whole programme, prior to the publication of the entire programme?

Yesterday I received the proofs of V. I.’s article and sent them to Dietz. Yesterday I also dispatched to your address the continuation of the proofs of her article. (To speed things up, she could send the corrected proofs directly to Dietz.)

There is neither sight nor sound of poor Tsvetov for three weeks now. He must have perished. This will be a tremendous loss for us!

I shake your hand firmly. Yours, Frey

April 5. P.S. Have just received your letter. Conveyed to the public. Will reply in a few days.

* See Collected Works, 5th ed., Vol. 6, p. 343. — Editor.