It would be absurd to think, says Kautsky in conclusion, that one part of society develops in one direction and another in the opposite direction. In actual fact "social development in agriculture is taking the same direction as in industry.
"The protection of the peasantry does not mean protection of the person of the peasant (no one, of course would object to such protection) but protection of the peasant's property. Incidentally, it is precisely the peasant's property that is the main cause of his impoverishment and his degradation. Hired agricultural labourers are now quite frequently in a better position than the small peasants. The protection of the peasantry is not protection from poverty but the protection of the fetters that chain the peasant to his poverty.
THE RADICAL TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURE BY CAPITALISM IS A PROCESS THAT IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING, BUT IT IS ONE THAT IS ADVANCING RAPIDLY, BRINGING ABOUT THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE PEASANT INTO A HIRED LABOURER AND INCREASING THE FLIGHT OF THE POPULATION FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE. ATTEMPTS TO CHECK THIS PROCESS WOULD BE REACTIONARY AND HARMFUL: NO MATTER HOW BURDENSOME THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS PROCESS MAY BE IN PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY, THE CONSEQUENCES OF CHECKING THE PROCESS WOULD BE STILL WORSE AND WOULD PLACE THE WORKING POPULATION IN A STILL MORE HELPLESS AND HOPELESS POSITION.
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