Ten Days That Shook the World · Chapter
Land Decree—Peasants’ Nakaz explained
This chapter presents the full text of the Peasants' Nakaz, which forms the basis of the Land Decree.
What happens
This chapter presents the full text of the Peasants' Nakaz, which forms the basis of the Land Decree. It abolishes private ownership of land, confiscates all estates without compensation, and places land under the control of those who work it. The decree outlines a system of equalized land use, prohibits hired labor, and establishes a national Land Fund for periodic redistribution. It also addresses the management of forests, waters, and mineral resources, and provides for state-organized emigration of surplus populations.
Themes in this chapter
Peasant Question and Land Reform
The entire chapter is devoted to the Peasants' Nakaz, which abolishes private land ownership and mandates equalized distribution to working peasants, directly addressing the central agrarian issue.
Workers' Control and Economic Transformation
The decree nationalizes land, forests, waters, and mineral resources, placing them under state or community control, and prohibits hired labor, reflecting a radical transformation of economic relations.
Key passages
“The right of private ownership of land is abolished forever; land cannot be sold, nor leased, nor mortgaged, nor alienated in any way.”
Private land ownership is permanently ended; land may not be sold, leased, mortgaged, or transferred.
This is the foundational principle of the Land Decree, eliminating all private property in land.
“All dominical lands, lands attached to titles, lands belonging to the Emperor’s cabinet, to monasteries, churches, possession lands, entailed lands, private estates, communal lands, peasant freeholds, and others, are confiscated without compensation, and become national property, and are placed at the disposition of the workers who cultivate them.”
All categories of land—from royal and church lands to private estates and peasant holdings—are taken without payment and become national property, to be used by the peasants who farm them.
This comprehensive confiscation covers every type of land ownership, transferring control to the cultivating workers.
“The use of the land should be equalised—that is to say, the land shall be divided among the workers according to local conditions, the unit of labour and the needs of the individual.”
Land must be distributed equally among workers, based on local circumstances, labor capacity, and personal need.
The principle of equalization is central to the peasant vision of justice in land reform.
“No hired labour is permitted.”
Employing others to work the land for wages is forbidden.
This clause reflects the anti-capitalist ethos of the decree, aiming to prevent exploitation.