William Walling on the situation of the Russian peasantry in the early 20th century

The article is devoted to the socio-economic survey conducted by American sociologist and journalist William Walling in Russia in 1905–1907. Walling studied the available literature on peasant life, visited more than fifty villages, interviewed several hundred peasant respondents, and then critically discussed their answers with local teachers, doctors, and statisticians. In essence, this was the first survey of the Russian peasants life using modern sociological methods. In addition, analyzing the political processes in Russia, the American journalist interviewed dozens of prominent politicians, including S. Yu. Witte and V. I. Lenin. William Walling’s work in many respects was ahead of the social history in the 20th century. Numerous observations allowed Walling to conclude that the short stature of Russian peasants was connected with insufficient consumption. The American sociologist concluded that one of the reasons for insufficient consumption was agrarian overpopulation, which arose as a result of the fact that the population growth rate exceeded the growth of agricultural production. Another reason was the preservation of large landed estates; grain produced on landed estates was exported from Russia in huge quantities. As a result, Walling concluded that the peasants’ struggle for the division of landed estates was the main driving force of the Russian Revolution – a revolution that was essentially a peasant war. Many of Walling’s conclusions were confirmed by specialists only a hundred years later.