[129] This is the rate of these avowed proletarians within the total peasant population:
| Districts. | Per cent. |
|---|---|
| Zadonsk | 8 |
| Korotoyak | 5 |
| Nizhnedevitzk | 3 |
| Ranenburg (landless included) | 15 |
| Dankoff ” ” | 15 |
Of these, a greater percentage find employment in industry, as compared with the proletarians who cultivate their plots by means of hired labor:
| Districts and classes. | Industrial laborers. Per cent. | Farm laborers. Per cent. |
|---|---|---|
| Korotoyak: | ||
| “Husbandless” | 51 | 39 |
| Farming proletarians | 34 | 53 |
| Nizhnedevitzk: | ||
| “Husbandless” | 48 | 44 |
| Farming proletarians | 37 | 53 |
Industrial proletarians are steadily carried away by the growing movement out of the rural districts. Thus it may be reasonably assumed that only one-half of the pure-blooded proletarians remain in the village. This constitutes from 2 to 8 per cent. of the population. Relative rates, however, are sometimes misleading without reference to the absolute numbers. 2 per cent. of a 100-million population convey the illusion of a two million strong rural proletariat with pronounced class interests. Still we know that they are dissipated in villages with an average inhabitancy of 62 households (cf. above page: 50,429 communes with 3,309,020 households). Now the maximum 8 per cent. of 62 households means only 5 proletarian families, and the minimum 2 per cent., only 1 proletarian of the European type to a village. It seems to show that there can be no proletarian class spirit (“proletarisches Klassen-bewusstsein”) in the Russian village of to-day.
| Classes in the district of Korotoyak. | Households. (Per cent.) | Horses to 1 household upon an average. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horseless. | With 1 horse. | With 2 horses. | With 3 horses. | With 4 horses or more. | ||
| Trading farmers | 12 | 25 | 27 | 36 | 3.2 | |
| Farmers merely | 45 | 38 | 17 | 2.8 | ||
| Farmers—laborers | 40 | 37 | 15 | 6 | 1.8 | |
| Proletarian laborers | 90 | 9 | 1 | 0.1 | ||
| Households. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D. of Korotoyak. | With net profit. Per cent. | With deficit. Per cent. | ||
| Male workers to 1 household— | ||||
| None | .. | 3 | } 73 | |
| One | 29 | 70 | ||
| Two | 41 | } 71 | 23 | } 27 |
| Three or more | 30 | 4 | ||