the poorest producers' societies, and last, but not least, our planning and regulating State organs come to the assistance of peasant holdings by helping them to place peasant produce on the market and by supplying the peasants with the necessary articles produced by our industry.
A few years ago there were middlemen between our industry and the peasant farms, private traders who supplied the peasantry with the necessary manufactured goods and sold the peasants produce. It goes without saying that these middlemen did not work for nothing, but got tens of millions out of the peasantry, and also out of the urban population. This was the period when there was no proper union between town and countryside, between Socialist industry and individual peasant holdings. At that time co-operatives and State distributive organs played a comparatively insignificant réle. A radical change has taken place since then. At present the rôle of co-operatives and State trade organs not only predominate in, but dominates, if it does not monopolise, trade between town and countryside, the exchange of goods between industry and the peasant economy. Co-operatives and State organs supply over 70 per cent. of the textile goods absorbed by the countryside. In regard to agricultural machinery, co-operative and State organs are responsible almost for 100 per cent, of the total supply. The share of co-operatives and State organs in the buying up of the peasant grain is over 80 per cent., and in regard to the buying up of raw material for industry, such as cotton, sugar beet, etc., the share of co-operatives and State organs is almost 100 per cent.
What does this mean?
It means, firstly, that capitalists are being frozen out of trade transactions, industry is in direct contact with the peasant economy, the high profits of speculating middlemen remain in the industry and agriculture, the peasants can buy manufactured goods cheaper, and urban workers are on their part enabled to buy agricultural produce cheaper.
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