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175 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1896
鈥淲hat do you think about yourself?鈥� my father went on. 鈥淏y the time they are your age, young men have a secure social position, while look at you: you are a proletarian, a beggar, a burden on your father!鈥�
The poplars, covered with dew, filled the air with soft fragrance. I was sad, and did not want to go away from the town. I was fond of my native town. It seemed to be so beautiful and so snug! I loved the fresh greenery, the still, sunny morning, the chiming of our bells; but the people with whom I lived in this town were boring, alien to me, sometimes even repulsive. I did not like them nor understand them.
We talked, and when we got upon manual labour I expressed this idea: that what is wanted is that the strong should not enslave the weak, that the minority should not be a parasite on the majority, nor a vampire for ever sucking its vital sap; that is, all, without exception, strong and weak, rich and poor, should take part equally in the struggle for existence, each one on his own account, and that there was no better means for equalizing things in that way than manual labour, in the form of universal service, compulsory for all.
They took the new wheels off our carts and replaced them with old ones, stole our ploughing harness and actually sold them to us, and so on. But what was most mortifying of all was what happened at the building; the peasant women stole by night boards, bricks, tiles, pieces of iron. The village elder with witnesses made a search in their huts; the village meeting fined them two rubles each, and afterwards this money was spent on drink by the whole commune.
Lice eats grass, rust eats iron, and lying the soul.
"Era robusto, corpulento, y ten铆a un apetito de lobo; pero rara vez
pod铆a satisfacerlo, y casi siempre estaba hambriento. Quiz谩 debido a eso
no ha extra帽ado nunca que la gente del pueblo hable de comer casi
constantemente y s贸lo piense en el pan cotidiano. El hambre es el motor
principal de la actividad humana." (III)
"Macha, Stepan y los dem谩s ten铆an, naturalmente, raz贸n: los campesinos
viv铆an como cerdos, se emborrachaban, eran a menudo est煤pidos, enga帽aban
al pr贸jimo..., y, sin embargo, yo advert铆a que en la vida campestre hab铆a
una base s贸lida, real, una base de que carec铆a la vida ciudadana. Viendo
al campesino trabajar la tierra olvidaba uno su estupidez, sus
borracheras, y descubr铆a en 茅l una gravedad, una importancia que no
exist铆a en Macha ni en el doctor Blagovo; aquel campesino sucio, bestia y
borracho aspiraba a la justicia, ten铆a la convicci贸n profunda de que sin
justicia la vida es imposible." (XIII)