Land Ownership and Economic Injustice

Where it surfaces

• III

  Nekhlúdoff's internal conflict over inheriting large estates while believing in the injustice of private landholding, as argued by Henry George and Herbert Spencer.

• XII

  Nekhlúdoff's reading of Spencer leads him to recognize the injustice of private land ownership and to resolve to give up his inherited land.

• Book II

  Nekhlúdoff grapples with the injustice of land ownership and decides to implement Henry George's theories by giving land to the peasants, highlighting the economic inequality between landowners and peasants.

• I

  Nekhlúdoff confronts the exploitative rental system on his estate, where peasants pay high labor rents, and decides to let the land at a low rent.

• II

  Nekhlúdoff offers land at a low rent, yet the peasants remain dissatisfied, highlighting the deep economic inequalities and distrust between landowners and peasants.

• III

  Nekhlúdoff's intention to arrange land reform with the peasants highlights the ongoing struggle over land ownership and economic inequality.

• IV

  The old peasant explains that he has only enough land for three people, forcing him to hire out as a laborer and borrow money, illustrating the systemic economic injustice faced by peasants.

• V

  The imprisonment of Martha's husband for cutting birch trees on Nekhlúdoff's land illustrates the systemic economic injustice faced by peasants.

• VI

  Nekhlúdoff identifies the seizure of land by landlords as the primary cause of the peasants' starvation and poverty, and resolves to give up his own land.

• VII

  Nekhlúdoff's attempt to give land to the peasants highlights the entrenched economic inequality and the peasants' historical experience of exploitation, making them unable to trust any offer from a landowner.

• VIII

  Nekhlúdoff reflects on the peasant imprisoned for cutting trees on his land, highlighting economic injustice.

• The Land Conference

  Nekhlúdoff argues that land cannot be bought or sold, and proposes a tax system to prevent the rich from monopolizing it, directly addressing peasant poverty.

• Nekhlúdoff's Return to Town

  Schönbock boasts of managing 54,000 desiatins of land, while peasants are driven from the land into urban poverty.

• XII

  The cab driver describes how land has been bought up by businessmen like the French wig-maker Dufour, leaving peasants with no land and forcing them to seek work in cities.

• XXXII

  Nekhlúdoff and Rogózhinsky clash over private land ownership, with Nekhlúdoff advocating for common ownership and Rogózhinsky defending property rights.

• XLII

  The workmen's meager wages and harsh labor conditions illustrate the systemic economic injustice faced by the peasant class.