This rural surplus population, nominally counted as peasant proprietors, is in reality even now severing the bond that has hitherto linked it to its birthplace. Those who year after year spend the summers as farm-laborers in the South or in the East have already said farewell to farming.[89] The case of artisans who leave the village for the summer season is similar. A peasant who has given up his farming for the sake of working outside has very little to gain by returning for the winter, when the supply of labor in the village far exceeds the demand. After a time some of them move their families to the place in which they have found employment, and part with the old homestead forever.
Those who are employed in factories, in St. Petersburg and Moscow, in coal mines and in railroad service, may have started by spending only their winter leisure in town. But imagine the position of the peasant who manages to put aside, out of his four rubles a week, from 50 to 70 rubles a year to send home.[90] To such a man the attraction of a large capitalistic concern running winter and summer, is one that will hold him captive for years.
How far this estrangement of the peasant from his native village has gone, can be learned from the following figures:[91]
| Districts. | Outside workers. | Permanently absent. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Households with. | Male. | Households. | Male workers. | Households. | Male workers. | |
| Percentage within the total population. | Percentage within the class of outside workers. | |||||
| Youkhnoff | 57 | 52 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 11 |
| Dorogobouzh | 16 | 14 | 5 | 4 | 32 | 26 |
The ownership of a home holds the peasant fast to his village even after he has already abandoned farming.[92] The peasant however, who is year by year employed far away from home, has settled, through the sale of his house, his account with the old village.[93]
We have here consequently an indication of the recent growth of Russia’s town proletariat.