[Russia by Donald Mackenzie Wallace]@TWC D-Link bookRussia CHAPTER VIII 15/41
But in Russia the possession of a share of Communal land is often not a privilege, but a burden.
In some Communes the land is so poor and abundant that it cannot be let at any price.
In others the soil will repay cultivation, but a fair rent will not suffice to pay the taxes and dues. To obviate these inconvenient results of the simpler system, many Communes have adopted the expedient of allotting the land, not according to the number of revision souls, but according to the working power of the families.
Thus, in the instance above supposed, the widow would receive perhaps two shares, and the large household, containing five workers, would receive perhaps seven or eight.
Since the breaking-up of the large families, such inequality as I have supposed is, of course, rare; but inequality of a less extreme kind does still occur, and justifies a departure from the system of allotment according to the revision-lists. Even if the allotment be fair and equitable at the time of the revision, it may soon become unfair and burdensome by the natural fluctuations of the population.
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