CHAPTER VI
A PEASANT FAMILY OF THE OLD TYPE
Ivan Petroff—His Past Life—Co-operative Associations—Constitution of
a Peasant's Household—Predominance of Economic Conceptions over those
of Blood-relationship—Peasant Marriages—Advantages of Living in Large
Families—Its Defects—Family Disruptions and their Consequences.
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
THE PEASANTRY OF THE NORTH
Communal Land—System of Agriculture—Parish Fetes—Fasting—Winter
Occupations—Yearly Migrations—Domestic Industries—Influence
of Capital and Wholesale Enterprise—The State
Peasants—Serf-dues—Buckle's "History of Civilisation"—A precocious
Yamstchik—"People Who Play Pranks"—A Midnight Alarm—The Far North.
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
THE MIR, OR VILLAGE COMMUNITY
Social and Political Importance of the Mir—The Mir and the Family
Compared—Theory of the Communal System—Practical Deviations from the
Theory—The Mir a Good Specimen of Constitutional Government of the
Extreme Democratic Type—The Village Assembly—Female Members—The
Elections—Distribution of the Communal Land.
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
HOW THE COMMUNE HAS BEEN PRESERVED, AND WHAT IT IS TO EFFECT IN THE
FUTURE
Sweeping Reforms after the Crimean War—Protest Against the Laissez
Faire Principle—Fear of the Proletariat—English and Russian Methods of
Legislation Contrasted—Sanguine Expectations—Evil Consequences of
the Communal System—The Commune of the Future—Proletariat of the
Towns—The Present State of Things Merely Temporary.
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
FINNISH AND TARTAR VILLAGES
A Finnish Tribe—Finnish Villages—Various Stages of
Russification—Finnish Women—Finnish Religions—Method of "Laying"
Ghosts—Curious Mixture of Christianity and Paganism—Conversion of
the Finns—A Tartar Village—A Russian Peasant's Conception of
Mahometanism—A Mahometan's View of Christianity—Propaganda—The
Russian Colonist—Migrations of Peoples During the Dark Ages.
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
LORD NOVGOROD THE GREAT
Departure from Ivanofka and Arrival at Novgorod—The Eastern Half of
the Town—The Kremlin—An Old Legend—The Armed Men of Rus—The
Northmen—Popular Liberty in Novgorod—The Prince and the Popular
Assembly—Civil Dissensions and Faction-fights—The Commercial Republic
Conquered by the Muscovite Tsars—Ivan the Terrible—Present Condition
of the Town—Provincial Society—Card-playing—Periodicals—"Eternal
Stillness."
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
THE TOWNS AND THE MERCANTILE CLASSES
General Character of Russian Towns—Scarcity of Towns in Russia—Why
the Urban Element in the Population is so Small—History of