The Russian peasant : his world before the Revolution

In a country in which even after the advent of the twentieth century the overwhelming majority of the people were still engaged in agricultural work, farming was not merely a vocation; it was a whole way of life. Intimately interwoven with the traditions, the beliefs and prejudices of the people, it was a way of life that did not easily give way to innovations, either of practice or thought. Modifications were likely to come only when the existing structure failed completely to aid the peasants in a new situation, and even then they were likely to wear the lingering costumes of the old forms. This conservatism of the peasant is perhaps understandable when we consider that in an agricultural life the most important thing is the land. And the changelessness of the land, which seasonal caprices serve only to accentuate, gives rise to a pervading belief that it is natural and right that things should remain as they are. While their practices concerning the land have been influenced by outside factors, this prime concern with the land has molded the peasants' conceptions of all the other influences in his life