Anna Karenina - Part 3

Left alone in the room assigned him, lying on a spring mattress

that yielded unexpectedly at every movement of his arm or his

leg, Levin did not fall asleep for a long while. Not one

conversation with Sviazhsky, though he had said a great deal that

was clever, had interested Levin; but the conclusions of the

irascible landowner required consideration. Levin could not help

recalling every word he had said, and in imagination amending his

own replies.

"Yes, I ought to have said to him: You say that our husbandry

does not answer because the peasant hates improvements, and that

they must be forced on him by authority. If no system of

husbandry answered at all without these improvements, you would

be quite right. But the only system that does answer is where

laborer is working in accordance with his habits, just as on the

old peasant's land half-way here. Your and our general

dissatisfaction with the system shows that either we are to blame

or the laborers. We have gone our way--the European way--a

long while, without asking ourselves about the qualities of our

labor force. Let us try to look upon the labor force not as an

abstract force, but as the _Russian peasant_ with his instincts,

and we shall arrange our system of culture in accordance with

that. Imagine, I ought to have said to him, that you have the

same system as the old peasant has, that you have found means of

making your laborers take an interest in the success of the work,

and have found the happy mean in the way of improvements which

they will admit, and you will, without exhausting the soil, get

twice or three times the yield you got before. Divide it in

halves, give half as the share of labor, the surplus left you

will be greater, and the share of labor will be greater too. And

to do this one must lower the standard of husbandry and interest

the laborers in its success. How to do this?--that's a matter

of detail; but undoubtedly it can be done."

This idea threw Levin into a great excitement. He did not sleep

half the night, thinking over in detail the putting of his idea

into practice. He had not intended to go away next day, but he

now determined to go home early in the morning. Besides, the

sister-in-law with her low-necked bodice aroused in him a feeling

akin to shame and remorse for some utterly base action. Most

important of all--he must get back without delay: he would have

to make haste to put his new project to the peasants before the

sowing of the winter wheat, so that the sowing might be

undertaken on a new basis. He had made up his mind to

revolutionize his whole system.