Excerpt from The Forum
The peasantry were then busy getting into possession of the land that was left to them by the bourgeoisie, and as long as the Bolsheviki allowed them to do so, the peasantry remained quiet. They were passive as regards all political and social questions. The prices of their farm products were increasing, a tremendous volume of paper money was flowing into their hands, and for a certain time the peasantry seemed to have no reason to complain.
But such a state lasted only a few months. Soon the peasant found out that his money had completely lost its purchasing power. The Bolsheviki began to invade his home, depriving him of his crops. A new administration that was inconsistent with his mode of life was imposed on him, and he found himself oppressed by the new rulers as he had never been before. At the same time soldiers were drafted, and he was told that Russia was now fighting for the sake of her liberty against foreign invaders who wished to restore to Russia the former government of the Czar, and who would take away from him his land and all the liberties that he now enjoyed. When this same peasant tried to buy a scythe or an axe, or a pound of salt or sugar, he was told that such things could not be gotten as Russia was blockaded by the Allies. He was made to believe that the Soviet government was doing everything in its power, but was helpless because of foreign wars. The peasant then returned to his village and remained secluded. He learned to accommodate his life to the new state of affairs, returning to the primitive condition of his ancestors. He produced his own cloth, linen and leather, his wooden plow and axe. When they were compelled to elect a soviet, the peasants appointed people to perform this duty by turns, just as they would appoint their nightwatchman or shepherd, and when they were invaded by a raid of commissaires from outside, who came for the confiscation of their crops, they hid their wheat in the ground and fought for it.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Forum (Classic Reprint) (Lorettus Sutton Metcalf)