GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE NEW RUSSIAN LAND REFORMS I4I 



These figures show that a general readjustment of the land of entire 

 villages has been carried out in the course of the above five years over an 

 area of 4,608,883 deciatines. or 50.000 square kms.; to this must be added 

 the partial readjustment of other \dllages, by the rounding off of indi- 

 vidual peasants' farms over an area of 1,787, 618 deciatines or 20,000 square 

 kms. As aU this work has necessarily to be preceded by the " inside 

 survey of the nadiel " (the most compHcated form of survey), this is reaUy a 

 record case of surveying and readjusting. In fact, the highest figures yet 

 known (Sweden 1851-1860 : 36,046 households possessing 33,220 sq. kms. 

 of land) would correspond, in a period of five years, to 18,000 households 

 and 16,600 sq. kms. ; and yet these Swedish figures, when compared with 

 those for Denmark (about 30,000 sq. kms. in the coiurse of at least one gener- 

 ation) and Germany (seven provinces of Old Prussia in 1821-1870, 162,240 

 sq. kms. for farm readjustment of every kind, or, in proportion, 16,000 sq. 

 kms. in the course of five years) must in their turn be considered as evidence 

 of a very considerable work. 



The success of the Russian land reform, judging by its external 

 aspect, is in fact sturprising, so that if we had not more accurate knowledge 

 of the local conditions we have described, which have largely contributed to 

 simpHfythewholeprocess, we might doubt whether it had been scientifically 

 conducted. In order to enable the reader to appreciate still better this 

 work in its concrete results, we shall devote the whole of the next section to 

 a study of the practical success obtained and of what the peasants them- 

 selves think of it. 



In order clearly to show the kind of surveys, valuations, readjustments 

 and divisions effected, as well as the changes made in the situation of the 

 dwelling houses, we shall give the plan of a village after readjustment, from 

 Russian official sources. As this is a plan of the same village of which the 

 original plan, that is to say, before readjustment, was reproduced in the 

 number of this Bulletin for November, 1913, a comparison of the 

 two will give an exact idea of the usefulness of this farm readjustment, the 

 difficulties that had to be overcome in carrying it out and the results 

 obtained, better than any verbal description could. 



In order to ensure the execution of all this work of farm readjustment 

 which, since the end of the first three years, has been carried out over an 

 area of 4,851,259 deciatines (50,000 sq.kms.) which, according to the estimate, 

 required more than 200.000 days for their survejdng, the local 

 land commissions employed from the beginning of 1909 a staff of 1,911 pro- 

 fessional surveyors and 1,360 assistant surveyors. In addition, the com- 

 missions had altogether 395 business managers, and 411 other members 

 who assisted in the practical work, without counting 122 special officers 

 of the General Management of Agriculture at St. Petersburg and 178 other 

 persons (Crown I,ands officers and soldiers); thus in 1909 there were 4,584 

 miscellaneous employees directly assisting in the work of this most extens- 

 ive land readjustment the world has seen, and in 1910 the number had 

 increased to 5,120. 



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