Pravda No. 38, May 5 (April 22), 1917.

The Petrograd Gazeta-Kopeika in its issue of April 14 published the following report:

PRIVATELY-OWNED LANDS TO BE REQUISITIONED

Kishlnev, April 13. In view of the fact that there are great tracts of uncultivated land in the uyezd that are not leased on account of the high rent, the Akkerman Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies has recommended all village and volost committees to requisition all unused privately owned lands for crop cultivation through the Commissar in cases where voluntary agreements are impossible.

If this report is true, it is extremely important. Obviously, the Akkerman Soviet is guided by practical considerations, and is no doubt closely and intimately acquainted with local conditions. It considers correctly that the crops must be increased at all costs to the fullest possible extent. But how can this be done when the landowners have raised the rents scandalously?

By voluntary agreements with the landowners?

This is what Minister Shingaryov emphatically advises from Petrograd; he threatens the peasants, and protests vehemently against arbitrary action. It is all very well for Shingaryov to argue from Petrograd. It is all very well for him to defend the landowners in the name of the government of the capitalists.

But how about the situation of the peasants locally? Does not the Akkerman Soviet appraise the situation more correctly when it speaks of “voluntary agreements” being “impossible”?

Source: Marxist Internet Archive