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16 PROBLEMS CONFRONTING RUSSIA
to convert the common ownership of the land into freehold
property, to be divided amongst the peasants of the village.
This left it entirely to the peasants themselves to decide
for or against private ownership. The advantages of private
ownership, for the purpose of improving land culture and
creating more energetic individual exertions from a sense
of personal pride, are so evident that common ownership of
the land in Russia is now gradually disappearing in favour
of the former system. The consequence of this momentous
reform will be to ensure to the peasant
community—comprising some 80 per cent, of the population of Russia—a secure
prosperity in the future. The Revolution has, of course,
temporarily interrupted the course of this economic progress.
Taking the Russian nation as a whole, it appears that the
principal feature of the evolution of its state and social
organisation lies in the broadmindedness and
progressive-ness of the nation, and in its insistent struggle in the past
to regain its ancient political freedom which was lost under
the Tartar rule. Having thus reviewed the chief
characteristics of the organisation of the Empire in the past,
we may consider the last stage of the evolution of Russia
brought about by the Revolution.
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