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VOLUME ONE
ADVANCES IN
FOOD SECURITY AND
SUSTAINABILITY
This page intentionally left blank
VOLUME ONE
ADVANCES IN
FOOD SECURITY AND
SUSTAINABILITY
Edited by
DAVID BARLING
Centre for Agriculture,
Food and Environmental Management,
University of Hertfordshire,
United Kingdom
AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON

NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO
SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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First edition 2016
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No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
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Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions.
This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by
the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).
Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and
experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices,
or medical treatment may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in
evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described
herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and
the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors,
assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of
products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods,
products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.
ISBN: 978-0-12-809863-9
ISSN: 2452-2635
For information on all Academic Press publications

visit our website at https://www.elsevier.com/
Publisher: Zoe Kruze

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Typeset by SPi Global, India
CONTENTS
Contributors vii
Preface ix
1. Advances in Food Security and Sustainability in South Africa 1

S. Drimie and L. Pereira
1. Introduction 2
2. Advances in Policy Responses 3
3. Advances in Private Sector Responses 12
4. Civil Society Advances 17
5. Conclusions and Recommendations 25
References 27
2. Analyzing the Adoption of Technology, Yield Gaps, and

Profitability of Major Foodgrain Crops in West Bengal 33
D. Mondal and C. Maji
1. Introduction 34
2. Problem Statement and Methodology 39
3. Results and Discussion 43
4. Summary 60
Further Reading 65
3. Potential of Public Purchases as Markets for Family Farming:

An Analysis of Brazilian School Feeding Program Between 2011
and 2014 69
S. Schneider, V.F. Thies, C. Grisa, and W. Belik
1. Introduction 69
2. Challenges of Connecting School Feeding and Family Farming: Notes From
the International Debate and Brazilian Experience 74
3. Overview of Family Farming Participation in School Feeding in Brazil 77
4. The Participation of Family Farming in School Meals Supply:
A Regional Reading 82
5. Participation of Family Farming According to the Volume of Funds Transferred
by FNDE to Municipalities 86
6. Concluding Remarks 90
References 91
v
vi Contents
4. UK Horticulture Production and National Dietary Guidelines:

Meeting the Gap 97
V. Schoen and T. Lang
1. Introduction 97
2. The Public Health Evidence 99
3. Current Dietary Guidance 100
4. UK Purchases, Production, and Trade in Fruit and Vegetables 107
5. The Status of Horticulture Within the UK Agricultural Sector 118
6. Questions Arising and Policy Options 128
7. Conclusions: Implications for Academics and Civil Society 132
References 133
5. Governing in a Postpolitical Era: Civil Society Participation

for Improved Food Security Governance 137
J. Duncan
1. Introduction 137
2. Governing in a Postpolitical Era 139
3. Participation Is Political 143
4. The Case of the Reformed CFS 145
5. How Meaningful Participation Challenges the Postpolitical Condition 150
6. Conclusion 155
References 158
Index 163
CONTRIBUTORS
W. Belik
IE/UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil
S. Drimie
Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch,
South Africa
J. Duncan
Rural Sociology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
C. Grisa
PGDR/UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil
T. Lang
Centre for Food Policy, City, University of London, London, United Kingdom
C. Maji
Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Statistics, Palli Siksha Bhavana, Visva Bharati,
Sriniketan, West Bengal, India
D. Mondal
Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Statistics, Palli Siksha Bhavana, Visva Bharati,
Sriniketan, West Bengal, India
L. Pereira
Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch,
South Africa
S. Schneider
V. Schoen
Food Research Collaboration, Centre for Food Policy, City, University of London, London,
United Kingdom
V.F. Thies
vii
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PREFACE
Food security is high on the agendas of international policy makers as the

world’s population is projected to rise to an estimated 9 billion and more
by the mid-21st century, against a background of increasing urbanization
and finite productive lands. The food price rises in 2007–2008 signaled
the advent of both a new wave of concern about the volatility of food
and feed commodity markets and a new international and multilateral
awareness of the challenges of ensuring food security for the world’s
populations. Food and Agriculture feature very heavily within the United
Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Within this multilateral policy
response is a renewed awareness that the focus of food security must go
beyond nutritional needs at the household level, vital as these remain. Today
food security needs to address both the methods of food production and the
nature of consumption, as well as the management and governance of the
delivery of the world’s food supply. Food production relies upon a natural
resource base and ecosystems that are under great stress, and in some areas
serious depletion, due to patterns of human settlement, industrial activity,
natural resource extraction, and from modern farming and fishery practices.
The variability of food commodity prices is impacted by increasingly volatile
weather patterns that are linked to the complexities of global climate change
and the dislocation of seasonal harvest patterns across the globe. Food con-
sumption as a measurable output still sees our current 7 billion population
encompassing close to 1 billion people malnourished and hungry, with a
larger and rising number classified as obese and overweight with the atten-
dant noncommunicable diseases of ill health as well as mortality that such
conditions bring. Furthermore, food consumption is a key social activity
and has cultural dimensions and incorporates societal aspirations that go
beyond calculations of energy and nutrient intake.
The interdependencies of sustainability (in its environmental, economic,
and social forms) and food security present society with a wide range of
intellectual and practical challenges to address. International, national, and
philanthropic scientific research initiatives and programs are taking place
to address these challenges alongside the increase in policy activity. It is clear
that no single discipline or academic methodology will provide the answers
to the challenges. Multidisciplinary approaches are needed and inter-
disciplinary projects are becoming more common with methodological
ix
x Preface
innovation coming at the interfaces at the boundaries of existing disciplines.

This new book series from Academic Press aims to chart and present some of
these intellectual contributions and their application to providing practical
solutions under the title of Advances in Food Security and Sustainability. Within
this first volume the contributors examine the nature of the twin challenges
of food security and sustainability within the national context of South
Africa, and chart some of the new initiatives are taking place to tackle the
challenges. In the case of Brazil, the Federal Government’s policy aim to gain
access for small rural food producers to the feeding of school children is mea-
sured, notably in urban areas. In West Bengal, the role of extension services
as a factor in improving the output of farmers is also measured and the policy
lessons for improvement drawn. In the developed world, the mismatch
between production of fruit and vegetables in England and Wales against
the health needs of the population is revealed and policy improvements pro-
posed. Finally, the possibilities for the small and marginalized food producers
to have a voice at the international political level through their participation
in the reformed World Food Security Committee in the United Nations’
Food and Agriculture Organization are scrutinized, with the reminder that
a large part of the challenge to ensure for food security and sustainability
remains a political one.
PROFESSOR DAVID BARLING,
Centre for Agriculture, Food and Environmental Management,
University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
CHAPTER ONE
Advances in Food Security and

Sustainability in South Africa
S. Drimie1, L. Pereira
Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
1
Corresponding author: e-mail address: scottdrimie@mweb.co.za
Contents
1. Introduction 2
2. Advances in Policy Responses 3
2.1 Climate Change and Resource Scarcity 4
2.2 SmartAgri in the Western Cape 4
2.3 Health and Noncommunicable Diseases 6
2.4 Reducing Salt and Taxing Sugar 8
2.5 Competition in the Grocery Sector 9
2.6 City Governance and South African Cities Network Scenarios 10
3. Advances in Private Sector Responses 12
3.1 Conservation Agriculture 12
3.2 Retailer Initiative: “Farming for the Future” 14
3.3 Addressing Duality in the Agrarian Structure 14
3.4 The SPAR Rural Hub 16
4. Civil Society Advances 17
4.1 Slow Food Youth Network 17
4.2 Food Sovereignty Campaign 18
4.3 SAFL 17 Shaft 20
4.4 Addressing Food Waste 22
4.5 Supporting Small-Scale Fisheries 23
4.6 Supporting Fisheries Through Changing Consumer Behavior 24
5. Conclusions and Recommendations 25
5.1 Partnerships and Networks 25
5.2 Environmental Sustainability 26
5.3 Change in the Role of the Private Sector 26
References 27
Advances in Food Security and Sustainability, Volume 1 # 2016 Elsevier Inc. 1

ISSN 2452-2635 All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/bs.af2s.2016.09.002
2 S. Drimie and L. Pereira
1. INTRODUCTION
There is overwhelming evidence that the national food system in
South Africa is in crisis, without any clear or shared understanding of a path-
way toward a more sustainable configuration (Pereira and Drimie, 2016).
A number of examples illustrate this: as food insecurity becomes a more
serious problem, the increasing consolidation of the food value chain, both
vertically and horizontally, acts as a contradictory force to the equitable
distribution of power and profit within the food system (Greenberg,
2016). The spread of big retail food chains and fast food has also had an
impact, increasing the availability of processed, high-energy, nutrient-poor
foods, and making them more affordable than fresh, healthy food (Hawkes,
2015). The agrarian system remains highly dualistic with a commercial farm-
ing sector producing most of the food, juxtaposed against a large number
of smallholder and subsistence farmers that remain marginalized from the
dominant system (NPC, 2012). Other powerful forces such as climate
change, rapid urbanization, and resource scarcity compound the crisis.
Indeed, given the state of the South African food system and several
powerful trends that seems set to continue, there is a high level of urgency
required for change. A recent review by Pereira (2014) identified 10 key
trends that will determine the future of South Africa’s food system unless
specific interventions are made to halt or reverse these. A dualistic agricul-
ture system consisting of a few, largely white commercial farmers and many,
poor, black smallholder farmers will continue to set the production context.
Secondly, this productive capacity is undermined by resource scarcity, par-
ticularly arable land and water. Thirdly, the impacts of climate change on
weather and rainfall will create further uncertainty. Further up the agri-food
value chain, the concentration of power in the hands of a few corporates and
the impact of this on consumer choices is a fourth trend. Fifthly, increasing
urbanization will continue to shift the geographical concentration of the
population. This is accompanied by the sixth trend of the on-going nutrition
transition and related health impacts, compounded by the seventh of the
long-term impact of nutritional deficiencies on children. The depletion
of fishery stocks is an eighth trend that resonates with the depletion of other
resources. The ninth trend is the growing volumes of food waste and finally
the uncertainty in land and agricultural policy provides little direction in
setting a framework for the future.
Clearly South Africa is nearing a juncture where the current system will
no longer be tenable. Alternative pathways are required more than ever.
Advances and Innovation in Search of Sustainable Food Systems in South Africa 3
Placing a positive lens on discernible changes in the current system, this

chapter explores a number of important and interesting initiatives that span
the South African food system. In particular, these initiatives have been
identified and analyzed in terms of how they grapple with the trends iden-
tified earlier as they entwine and play out in reality. These initiatives are
unfolding across different sectors including that of the state through policies
and strategies, the private sector and a broad swathe of civil society organi-
zations. While the current system dominates statistics, indicators, and trends,
the potential emergence of an alternative system can be discovered through
the identification of “weak signals” (see Harrysson et al., 2014). In this chap-
ter, we outline some of these “weak signals,” mainly through the use of case
study examples from all three sectors. We begin by describing some public
policy interventions; SmartAgri is a Western Cape government initiative
aimed at dealing with climate change and natural resource scarcity. Recent
regulations to lower salt intake and to tax sugary beverages have been
promulgated in response to an imminent health crisis. The role of the
competition commission in interrogating anticompetitive behavior among
supermarket chains and the role of cities in effecting good food policy is also
explored. From the private sector perspective, a variety of case studies are
discussed, ranging from production-based interventions such as conserva-
tion agriculture (CA) through to retailer-led initiatives like “Farming for
the Future” and the SPAR Rural Hub. The potential shift away from a dual-
istic agrarian system dominated by large white-owned corporations is also
discussed with reference to the establishment of enterprises like the Maneli
Group. Finally, civil society activities are noted. The important role of net-
works and organizations like the Slow Food Youth Network (SFYN), Food
Sovereignty Campaign, and Southern Africa Food Lab (SAFL) is recognized
and technological solutions through the development of relevant apps are
also explored. The Food Bank model as a means of dealing with food waste
and food insecurity is discussed and a variety of innovative solutions to fish-
eries governance are reported. While in no way comprehensive, this chapter
aims to give a sense of some of the emerging initiatives that are signaling a
potential to shift some of the 10 trends mentioned earlier. It is argued that
these innovations, if appropriately scaled, could nudge South Africa’s food
system into being more sustainable as well as more equitable.
2. ADVANCES IN POLICY RESPONSES

In many aspects, the South African agrofood system is reaching eco-
logical limits related to climate change, soil damage and degradation, and
shortages of freshwater, and poses a threat to the long-term sustainability of

the food supply (Greenberg, 2015). Pressure on natural resources is exacer-
bated by climate change, posing a significant threat to agriculture in South
Africa, with the biggest impacts expected to come from changes in rainfall
intensity and distribution and an increase in extreme events (New et al.,
2006). As illustrated by the dire effects of the El Niño induced drought
in southern Africa in 2015 and 2016, the impacts of water scarcity in a semi-
arid region are disastrous for commercial and small-scale farmers alike. This
has provided a policy conundrum for South Africa: how does the state sup-
port a sector that has been identified as a key employment generator and
source of food security largely through conventional means while enabling
it to embrace new approaches that will be dynamic and adaptive? The mul-
tiple factors affecting an already struggling sector make focused policy inter-
ventions difficult.
2.1 Climate Change and Resource Scarcity

In a recent study led by the University of Cape Town’s African Climate
and Development Initiative, findings showed unequivocally that, if not
addressed, climate change will have negative impacts on the Western Cape
Province agricultural sector (ACDI, 2016a). Several impacts were identified
including higher minimum and maximum temperatures, particularly inland;
increases in annual temperatures of 1.5 degrees to 3 degrees; more hot days
and fewer cold and frost days; reduced annual rainfall by mid-century; and
the possibility of increased rainfall particularly along the south coast. Climate
change modeling showed annual temperatures were rising and droughts,
floods, and heat waves would become more regular in the province. These
trends highlighted the need for a coordinated response from government
and the private sector to mitigate the impact of climate change.
2.2 SmartAgri in the Western Cape

In response to these challenges, the Western Cape Government, specifically
the Departments of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs and Develop-
ment Planning, engaged the University of Cape Town and a wide range
of stakeholders in the private sector in 2 years of extensive collaboration
to develop a comprehensive climate change response plan. This response
strategy, known as SmartAgri, set out a roadmap to combat the impact of
extreme weather events on the province’s agriculture sector, while also
anticipating how climate shocks revealed the underlying vulnerability of

both commercial and smallholder agriculture.
The strategy categorized the different regions of the province’s agricul-
ture sector into 23 “agro-climactic zones,” stipulating the nature of each
specific region’s agri-enterprises and the climate challenges, which were
likely to be experienced. Using scenario planning, SmartAgri predicted
detailed outcomes for a series of possible situations, which included
droughts, heat waves, and cold spells. The plan explored two scenarios in
detail, namely the low road, where climate change mitigation plans were
not coordinated, and the high road where risks and opportunities were iden-
tified and action plans implemented.
The innovation in this plan lay not only in the analysis and strategic
direction, but also in the approach adopted in developing it. The cocreation
of SmartAgri unfolded with two government departments, a wide range of
farmers across different sectors and commodities, industry players, civil soci-
ety, and academia. This positioned it in a more promising situation than if it
was developed by the state and academia alone. Although not perfect, the
Strategic Plan lies in stark contrast to a national policy and implementation
plan for food and nutrition security developed by the National Department
of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), which is characterized by a
lack of stakeholder engagement and transparency (RSA, 2015).
The SmartAgri plan puts forward six priorities to be driven by govern-
ment and industry as solutions:
Priority #1: Conservation agriculture
This approach consists of three main principles—(1) minimal soil distur-
bance, (2) permanent soil cover, and (3) crop rotation (and crop diver-
sification)—both as individual methods as well as to be used in
combination with each other (FAO, 2010). Stakeholders in West Coast,
Overberg, and Eden have prioritized CA as a response to climate change.
Priority #2: Restoring degraded landscapes
Factors such as overgrazing of rangelands and the spread of alien plants
have led to degradation of indigenous fynbos, succulent Karoo, and grass-
land areas. The benefits of this action include improved soil conservation.
It is suggested to pilot the restoration plan in three regions, where stake-
holders have identified this as a priority, before a province-wide rollout.
Priority #3: Improved catchment management for water security and
job creation
One strategy here is the removal of invasive alien plants, which reduces
the flow of water and impacts water purification. It is recommended that
at least one of these projects be located in the eastern part of the Western
Cape where this problem is more accentuated.
Priority #4: Energy efficiency
This step was prioritized across the province and particularly for regions
with substantial irrigation farming and processing and cooling of fresh
produce. It is also relevant to export-orientated, fruit and wine indus-
tries, and intensive life-stock industries, such as dairy. Under this step,
clean forms of energy are promoted through the use of case studies as
success stories. These include wind, solar, and hydropower as well as bio-
mass, which have the ability to replenish and are carbon neutral. Renew-
able energy enables farms and agri-businesses to produce electricity for
self-consumption.
Priority #5: “Climate-proofing” the Western Cape’s agri-processing
sector
This priority project includes prioritizing climate-resilient crops and
livestock. This implies optimum balance between crops and livestock,
and management of this balance flexibly depending on the local climatic
conditions and capacity of the land. Livestock should be used strategically
for diversification of resource use and income, moving them onto mar-
ginal lands during drier years when conditions are not suited to sowing.
Priority #6: Integrated knowledge system for climate smart practices
Through this priority project, the group seeks to ensure that extension
officers become the first port of call for farmers requiring information on
smart agriculture practices. These practices include tried and tested tech-
nologies for adaptation and mitigation, improved methods of sustainable
farming, wider participation of all stakeholders in addressing climate
change risks and opportunities across the whole province, and opportu-
nities in niche crops and markets, the green economy, agri-processing
and agri-tourism, as means to build climate resilience through
diversification.
Looking holistically at SmartAgri, it is clear that a number of the current and
future trends identified upfront are being addressed, not least climate change,
resource constraints, and policy (un)certainty. It provides an important
example of how a societal response, facilitated by the state, can occur.
2.3 Health and Noncommunicable Diseases

Malnutrition, in all its forms, has repercussions on the capability of people to
live a full life, work, care for their children, be productive, generate a positive
cycle, and improve their living conditions. This public health concern is
largely concerned with the consumption patterns of people who often do
not have access to a healthy diet and is compounded by urbanization trends,
an increased reliance by poor households on buying cheap, highly processed
food, and market dynamics driving volatility in prices (Cecchini et al., 2010).
The high rate of stunting among South Africa children, at 15.4%, is an issue
of concern (Shisana et al., 2014). Although data from 2002 to 2007 show a
general decrease in the experiences of hunger by households (Aliber, 2009;
Labadarios et al., 2011), rates of stunting, micronutrient deficiencies, and
hunger and food insecurity continue to be unacceptably high (Iversen
et al., 2011; Kimani-Murage et al., 2010; Vorster, 2010).
Recent data indicate that South Africa is undergoing a “nutrition
transition,” which refers to the increased consumption of fats, refined sugars,
and animal products in the diet as these become more readily available and
more affordable, especially for low-income consumers (Hofman and
Tollman, 2013). Coupled with lifestyle changes resulting largely from
urbanization, these poor-quality diets are associated with rising rates of over-
weight, obesity, and diet-related chronic diseases, including heart disease,
diabetes, and some cancers, which are becoming more serious among the
poor (Steyn and Mchiza, 2014). Being overweight or obese is a significant
problem in the adult population in South Africa, with the overweight and
obesity prevalence, respectively, at 24.8% and 39.2% among women, and
20.1% and 10.6% among men (Shisana et al., 2014).
The increase in obesity has raised health concerns around a concurrent
increase in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Indeed, the World Health
Organization has projected that by 2030, NCDs will be the biggest cause of
death in sub-Saharan Africa (Alwan, 2011). A recent study shows that NCDs
are already among the top causes of death in South Africa: by 2010, they
accounted for 39% of total deaths in the country with more than a third
(36%) of these deaths occurred before the age of 60 years (Nojilana et al.,
2016). In some cases stunting, wasting, and undernutrition in young chil-
dren are occurring alongside increasing levels of obesity and overweight
in older children and adults. This is known as the “double burden” of mal-
nutrition, which is the coexistence of under- and overnutrition in the same
household, family, or community.
There are important policies that focus specifically on the detrimental
trends in health related to the food system and the increasing trend toward
obesity and the NCDs associated with it, notably interventions to reduce salt
and sugar in food and drink products and, in turn, in diets.
2.4 Reducing Salt and Taxing Sugar

Translating evidence about the failing food systems and its contribution to
NCDs into change has been challenging. The NCD plan formulated by the
South African National Department of Health balances population-based
strategies alongside individual-level strategies (NDoH, 2013), but falls short
of defining how a required multistakeholder national health commission
should engage other sectors, not least agriculture and education. New forms
of knowledge and its creation are required to underpin societal change and
see the NCD figures reversed.
Some progress is being made, however, on specific fronts, namely on salt
and sugar reduction in diets.
In response to alarming salt intake figures and related public health con-
cerns, the South African Summit on the Prevention and Control of NCDs in
2011 provided an opportunity for the public and private sector, academia,
and civil society to support the development of strategies and targets to
improve the situation regarding NCDs in South Africa (Claasen et al.,
2016). The outcome was a declaration to reduce the salt intake in the general
population from 8 to 10 g per day, which was the current level in 2011, to
less than 5 g per day in 2020. This was subsequently included in the strategic
plan to prevent and control NCDs in South Africa (SA Summit on
Prevention and Control of NCDs, 2011).
In March 2013, the Department of Health gazetted regulations related to
reducing sodium in certain foods (RSA, 2013). Sodium reduction will be
implemented in two phases in 2016 and 2019, to allow consumers to adapt
to the taste of lower-sodium foods (Hofman and Lee, 2013).
In response to expected opposition from segments of the food industry,
academics provided valuable information counteracting the industry’s fears.
To complement the salt legislation action, the Department of Health engaged
the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa (HSFSA) to coordinate a Salt
Watch working group and run a campaign to reduce population salt intake
through national awareness programs and behavior changes in order to
achieve a greater legislative impact on public health (Claasen et al., 2016).
Members of this working group included the HSFSA, several universities,
and the South African Medical Research Council. Interestingly, the food
industry—including Willowton Group, Unilever, Tiger Brands, Spur, and
Oceana Brands—are large funders of the HSFSA (Claasen et al., 2016).
The 2016 national budget identified the introduction of a 20% sugar tax
starting April 2017. While South Africa has seen an increasing prevalence of
obesity and related NCDs over the past decade, the sales and availability of
sugar-sweetened beverages have also increased and soft drink sales in South
Africa are projected to grow between 2012 and 2017 at an annual com-
pounded growth rate of 2.4% in the absence of preventive measures to curb
consumption (Tugendhaft et al., 2015). In the face of increased growth of
these beverages, South Africa is expected to face even greater challenges in
overcoming obesity and related NCDs and it is largely accepted that without
effective population-wide interventions, the country will not meet its target
of reducing the number of people who are obese and/or overweight by 10%
by 2020 (Tugendhaft et al., 2015).
Other countries such as Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland,
Mexico, Norway, and most recently in March 2016 the UK, have levied
taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages. A study on the impacts of the tax in
Mexico has shown that, at least in the short term (from 2012 to 2014), there
has been a decline in purchases of taxed beverages, most notably in low
socioeconomic households and that purchases of untaxed beverages (mainly
bottled plain water) was higher (Colchero et al., 2015). Although it is nec-
essary for a longer-term study to ascertain if there is any health benefits asso-
ciated with this decline, it is nevertheless indicative that a tax on sugar could
be beneficial for overall population health.
2.5 Competition in the Grocery Sector

Four large chains dominate the South African supermarket industry: Pick n
Pay, Shoprite, Spar, and Woolworths with annual turnovers of, respectively,
R49.8, R47, R26, and R10.3 billion for the 2008 financial year (Stroebel
and van Schalkwyk, 2012). Of these four chains, Shoprite and Pick n Pay
have expanded into the poorer neighborhoods, including former home-
lands, rural areas, and townships. Woolworths is the only supermarket par-
ticularly targeting higher income consumers.
The Competition Commission, South Africa’s competition watchdog, is
currently undertaking an investigation into the grocery market, which will
be completed by the end of May 2017 (Competition Commission, 2016).
Large retailers Shoprite, Pick n Pay, Spar, and Woolworths together make
up more than 90% of the $18 billion a year grocery market. They have been
accused of blocking rivals with exclusive shopping mall leases particularly
Massmart, a unit of the US-based company Wal-Mart. Massmart argued that
its expansion plans were being hampered by the leasing arrangements spe-
cifically as exclusive clauses in leasing agreements can restrict malls from
renting out space to rival food retailers for up to 20 years. It is possible that
these may be causing distortion in the grocery retail sector by entrenching
barriers to entry and expansion, as a single national grocery retailer operating

in a shopping center may be in a position to charge higher prices due to lack
of competition.
Although focused on a very specific issue, the Competition Commission
has been to date unable to interrogate anticompetitive behavior, which
partly underpins the concentration of power in the food retail sector in
South Africa. If the Commission is able to ascertain that there are, in fact,
anticompetitive features uncovered during the course of the inquiry, and
these are appropriately addressed in the commission’s findings, consumers
are likely to reap the benefits.
Within the same investigation, the Commission will also scrutinize com-
petition between small, informal foreign-owned grocery shop owners, and
local stores popularly known as “spazas” after antiimmigrant violence in
2015 was partly blamed on anger that foreigners were undercutting local
shops. The small spazas, or informal convenience shops, were set up in black
townships during apartheid to sell staples such as maize meal. The name
means hidden in isiZulu and reflects the fact the shops were often clandestine
operations during the time of apartheid (Bear et al., 2005). These foreign
shops are often owned by people originally from Somalia, Pakistan, or
Bangladesh and are often designated us such by the use of names like
“Indian store” (Pereira et al., 2014). Allegations have been made that foreign
operated retailers are not registered, do not pay taxes and receive unfair
privileges from wholesalers due to shared religious beliefs, among others.
Spazas have been impacted since big retailers began to operate in townships
and rural areas in the last 20 years, although many, especially in peri-urban
areas, rely on these retailers and wholesalers for their goods (Pereira et al.,
2014). As such, the investigation would look into the impact of their expan-
sion on jobs and competition. Upon completion, the regulator could
recommend policy changes to promote competition.
2.6 City Governance and South African Cities Network

Scenarios
With over 70% of South Africa’s population expected to live in urban areas
by 2030, the role of cities in the food system is critical. While in most cities in
Africa, there is sufficient food available to feed everyone; most poor house-
holds are unable to access this food due to a lack of regular and reliable
income (Crush and Frayne, 2010). The urbanization trend is therefore a
concern in achieving food security. In southern Africa, about four out of
every five poor urban households do not have enough food at any given time
(Frayne et al., 2010). In Cape Town, the prevalence of food insecurity was
80% among poor households rising to 89% in Khayelitsha (Battersby, 2011).
The figure is lower for poor households in Johannesburg, but still an average
of 56% of poor households is food insecure in the city (Rudolph et al., 2012).
It is therefore imperative that there is a critical emphasis placed on minimiz-
ing food and nutrition insecurity in South African cities.
The South African Cities Network has recently facilitated a set of scenar-
ios as part of a study on current and future realities for urban food security in
South Africa in order to assist cities in planning and policy development
(SACN, 2015). The scenarios were intended not as a prediction of future
developments in the food system at city level, but as a tool to empower urban
managers and planners to think about options, pathways, and possible out-
comes of governance decisions. The trajectories had been somewhat exag-
gerated to allow basic trends to emerge more clearly with pathways informed
by the scenarios developed by the SAFL.a
The premise of the scenarios was that local government plays a funda-
mental role in shaping the local food system, its interdependencies with
other systems and the food environment that city dwellers encounter, affect-
ing the key pillars of food security (SACN, 2015). This means that while it
may seem that local government is subject to macroscale forces affecting the
food system, local government can actively shape a localized food system by
understanding and influencing related trajectories into the future. Interna-
tional evidence has shown that when city governments actively engage in
the food system, they are able to shift the nature and function of it to be
responsive to the needs of the urban residents to whom local governments
are accountable (SACN, 2015).
The scenarios suggest that in the absence of an active food system focus,
where local government simply defers all responsibility to the national gov-
ernment for planning and design of the food system into the future, serious
challenges will continue to unfold. An adaptive city network places the
majority of food system planning and governance at the door of local gov-
ernments and the partners that these localities draw-in to support the food
system processes. The consequences of not responding to food system-
related faults would be experienced first and foremost at the local govern-
ment scale. The absence of direct interventions will mean that other actors
a
For more detail and a breakdown of the work of the Southern African Food Lab, a multimember net-
work working to resolve some of the food system-related challenges of the region, see http://www.
southernafricafoodlab.org. The following is a link to the scenarios produced: http://www.
thefutureoffood.co.za.
will capture the initiative and direct the food system in a manner that serves
their needs only.
The scenarios were used proactively through the Cities Network, draw-
ing in senior decision makers from across the large Metropolitan areas, to
consider the implications of the future and how best to respond. The
emphasis on establishing new governance arrangements that allowed multi-
stakeholder forums to consider options seemed to be the most powerful and
effective way for cities to embrace the future.
3. ADVANCES IN PRIVATE SECTOR RESPONSES

The private sector, often derided as the source of some of the most
intractable challenges within the South African food system, has obvious
variation and impact not only across different value chains but also in terms
of business practice and approach to social and ecological sustainability.
Section 3.1 draws out a few examples of positive practice with a private sec-
tor lead, such as in the areas of the promotion of CA, and the development
and support for small holder producers.
3.1 Conservation Agriculture

The interest that South African farmers are showing in moving toward CA
and away from high-input conventional agriculture can be seen as a positive
step for agriculture in South Africa. CA consists of three main principles—(1)
minimal soil disturbance, (2) permanent soil cover, and (3) crop rotation (and
crop diversification)—both as individual methods as well as to be used in
combination with each other (FAO, 2010). As indicated in the trends earlier,
resource scarcity and degradation of the productive capacity of South Africa
is compounded by a lack of highly arable land, which is only 3% of the coun-
try’s surface area (Carter and Gulati, 2014). The average soil loss under annual
grain crops in the country is 13-ton ha1 year1, which is much higher than
the natural soil formation rate and implies a loss of almost 3-ton ha1 year1
for every ton of maize produced every year (Blignaut et al., 2015).
Again with a focus on the Western Cape, important progress is being
made as farmers respond to a crisis of productivity, as natural resources
becomes constrained. It was estimated that between 75% and 80% of grain
farmers were undertaking CA practices in the province (ACDI, 2016b). CA
was introduced to the Western Cape by a group of forward thinking farmers
(led by the late Jack Human) and further advanced through the research
efforts of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture as well as strong
sectoral cooperation: it has become a true success story in the Western Cape
(ACDI, 2016b).
Critical to the high uptake of CA in the winter grain sector has been the
provision of empirical evidence. The strong research base, driven by the
Western Cape Department of Agriculture, has been instrumental in encour-
aging farmers to adopt the CA approach (ACDI, 2016b). The long-term
no-till crop rotation trials conducted by the Department have shown not
only lower inputs, but also higher and more stable production in, for
instance, wheat. Productivity has been primarily increased through the
improvement of soil health: increased soil moisture retention, decreased soil
temperature, increased microorganisms, and decreased compaction all con-
tribute to better soil health. Studies conducted by the Department and the
Agricultural Research Council (ARC) on a range of wheat farms have also
shown that it is significantly cheaper to produce wheat under CA than under
conventional farming techniques. Other benefits are reduced erosion and
environmental degradation as well as improved carbon content (organic
material) in the soil.
Despite this positive evidence of the benefits provided by CA, there are sev-
eral reasons why some farmers do not make the shift and why some will revert
back to conventional farming. CA is extremely knowledge intensive and
requires patience, as the benefits only start surfacing in the longer term. Another
reason for the reluctance to switch to CA is the high upfront investment for
purchasing CA equipment such as new planters. In addition, it is important
to note that CA needs to be complemented by other known good practices,
such as integrated pest, nutrient, and weed and water management. It is a phil-
osophical and practical shift that deeply challenges conventional approaches.
To address some of these issues, the Western Cape Conservation Agricul-
ture Association (CAWC) has been established as a forum where researchers
and farmers can share knowledge and discuss context-specific issues (ACDI,
2016b). The objective is to enable producers, industry, researchers, and gov-
ernment to work collaboratively to strengthen the adaptation and further
advancement of CA practices in the Western Cape. CAWC conducts green
tours (focusing on growing crops) and brown tours (focusing on stubble
retention and soil profiles) annually in different grain producing regions
(ACDI, 2016b). They produce regular bulletins on upcoming events and
highlight recent research outputs and success stories. Establishing forums
where collaboration and trust can be fostered is a significant improvement
in a sector that has been characterized by sectors operating in isolation and
increasing mistrust as policy confusion has become dominant.
It is also important to stress that CA is not necessarily relevant for all

farmers, especially smallholders, as it is still dependent on input support of
fertilizers, seeds, and most problematically herbicides (Andersson and
D’Souza, 2014; Giller et al., 2009). Although over the past decade, CA
has been promoted extensively, recently as part of the CGIAR and FAO’s
Climate Smart Agriculture movement, questions, and controversies have
arisen as to its ability to achieve the many benefits it proclaims, such as
increased yields, carbon sequestration, and improved water efficiency
(Andersson and D’Souza, 2014). Nevertheless, the interest that South
African farmers are showing in moving toward CA and away from high-
input conventional agriculture can be seen as a step in the right direction
for agriculture in South Africa.
3.2 Retailer Initiative: “Farming for the Future”

The trend away from conventional agriculture toward alternative farming
practices is being echoed by other private sector initiatives, such as
Woolworth’s “Farming for the Future.” Woolworths, one of South Africa’s
large retail companies, instigated this initiative as part of their 2020 Good
Business Journey vision. It seeks to shift farmers toward more environmen-
tally practices, such as enforcing effective wastewater management (Pereira,
2013). In South Africa, local manifestations of wider change processes, such
as droughts and job losses in the agriculture sector, have provided a context
in which the private sector is starting to see the need to address these emer-
gent problems in their business strategies, arguably to start thinking about
transitioning toward more sustainable practices.
“Farming for the Future” is one such reaction. There are knock-on effects
associated with sustainability initiatives instituted to lessen environmental
impacts while maintaining yields; the initiative reports increased recycling
by farmers, reduced use of fossil fuels, and the imperative of educating cus-
tomers who buy these products in-store about sustainability (Pereira,
2013). Improved farming practices are largely being driven by the private sec-
tor in South Africa, which indicates that there is recognition by larger busi-
nesses of the need to shift the status quo, at least from an environmental
perspective, and this can be taken as a very positive signal in the food system.
3.3 Addressing Duality in the Agrarian Structure

As well as advances in on-farm technologies and practices, there has been
innovation in improving market access for smallholder farmers. This is partly
about addressing the duality in the agrarian structure with larger-scale com-
mercial farming juxtaposed against a relatively marginal smallholder sector.
There are emerging signs that the concentration of power in the food
sector and, linked to this, a slow rate of inclusion of black farmers into
the commercial sector. However, there is a case to be made that this trend
could be shifting toward more inclusion. In a recent working paper,
Greenberg (2016) acknowledges that while there are pockets of concen-
trated power in the system as a whole, there is also some distribution of
power across nodes as well as between commodities and that vertical inte-
gration is less prevalent than it was in the past. This is definitely a hopeful
signal that something within the broader apparatus of the corporate food
value chain has recognized that consolidation is not the only strategy for
increased profit margins. Furthermore, there are many marginalized actors
in some parts of the system that could be leveraged as key intervention points
for boosting livelihoods in the periphery (Greenberg, 2016).
An example of this trend in practice is the establishment of the Maneli
Group, a 100% black-owned company that looks for opportunities to build
and expand businesses in the food and agricultural sectors. The vision of
Soweto born and bred young entrepreneur Nhlanhla Dlamini, Maneli
Group aims to be one of the largest food companies in Africa over the next
15 years. Their core goal is to dispel the notion that farming and food
processing in Africa is the preserve of the large multinational companies,
by demonstrating that young entrepreneurs can build successful and sustain-
able food businesses. Through Maneli Group, Dlamini hopes to create busi-
ness opportunities in South Africa’s agriculture sector through operating in
areas of the industry that big business tends to overlook. Maneli Group has
two subsidiaries: Maneli Pets and Maneli Commodities. Maneli Pets man-
ufactures pet treats using game and ostrich by-products that are then
exported to a wholesaler in the United States. Maneli Commodities is a grain
trading business, one of the first majority black-owned grain trading busi-
nesses in South Africa. It trades commodities like maize, sugar, wheat,
and soya to large food companies in South Africa. At the heart of Maneli
Commodities’ innovation is that it aggregates raw materials from small
farmers or cooperatives for big food companies that would prefer to deal
with a single, countrywide company that manages quality and delivers to
clients as per their production needs.
If more companies like Maneli Group can create a niche business model
that incorporates smallholder farmers and provides opportunity for adding
value to agricultural by-products, this could be a key mechanisms for
breaking the concentration of power in the agricultural sector while also

transforming the racial profile of farmers and business owners.
3.4 The SPAR Rural Hub

Due to the franchise nature of the Spar retail group, it is possible for stores to
act independently in their sourcing practices. Working in a pilot in the
Mopani District of Limpopo province with plans to extend these into
KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, the Spar Rural Hub project in conjunc-
tion with the Amsterdam Initiative against Malnutrition (AIM) intends to
transform local rural retail stores into community hubs with a supermarket
and fresh produce distribution center where local smallholders can sell their
produce and where local residents can get access to a variety of quality fresh
vegetables (AIM, 2014).
The impetus for the SPAR Rural Hubs concept comes from the SPAR
independent retail or franchise model and the growth of SPAR stores in
rural areas, which are often far from the main urban-based distribution cen-
ters (SPAR, 2016). Apart from increased local sourcing from emerging
smallholder farmers, SPAR argues that by linking rural supply to local con-
sumer demand and retail requirements, lower income consumers groups will
ultimately gain access to improved availability of diverse fresh, nutritious
produce. By complementing this with in-store and school-based campaigns
to be focused on improving awareness of the importance of nutrition, SPAR
aims to contribute to improved uptake of fresh food and increased dietary
diversity among young children and women of reproductive age.
The business structure recognizes the importance of fostering loyalty to
the Hub by offering the stakeholders equity in the arrangement. As such, the
structure of the Hub is that at the outset, certain capital expenditure will be
provided from SPAR, which will be recouped over time. The smallholder
farmers will provide equity participation so that they have a stake in the Hub
and accordingly have an incentive to remain connected to it. The SPAR
retailers who support the Hub will provide equity participation. This is to
ensure they have a stake and an incentive to continue supporting it.
In addition to the institutional arrangements, SPAR have also considered
the need for technical assistance and input funding. Most prominent among
the factors that affect the ability of smallholders from entering formal retail
markets is the lack of agricultural training, the lack of on-going support, the
lack of input or production credit, and the inability to access market infra-
structure. Furthermore, in order to be able to access formal retail markets,
smallholder farmers must also comply with issues of standards, quality, and
be able to guarantee the consistency of supply. To meet these support
requirements, each Hub will employ the services of a Technical Support
Provider through SPAR facilitation.
Another key reason for emerging smallholder farmers being unable to
successfully supply consistent high quality produce as required by formal
retailers is their inability to raise the capital required to fund the agricultural
inputs required. SPAR has envisaged setting up a dedicated loan fund, which
will operate within the Hub. Financing is secured from a financial service
provider with financing ring-fenced for the group of emerging smallholder
farmers supplying the Hub. Inputs purchased on behalf of farmers are paid
for from a dedicated account, and at a later stage, the income received from
the sale of farmer produce is paid into that account. Before paying the farmer
profits made on sales, the original cost of their inputs is subtracted from the
sales amount including any interest- or finance-related charges.
The Rural Hub model has the potential to create inclusive agriculture and
a value chain that is driven by smallholders as well as locally owned as commu-
nity businesses. While initiated by SPAR the retail chain sees its role as a cat-
alyst, not as a long-term owner of the process. More holistic initiative like
these, that deal with not only the question of agricultural productivity, but
also of market access for smallholder farmers as well as the access to nutritious
food for poor, rural households is critical in shifting the rural food system.
4. CIVIL SOCIETY ADVANCES

Civil society organizations, particularly those operating at the grass-
roots, often enable innovation because of a “felt” need to change and
improve processes, in a lot of instances, stumbling across a new idea or
way of working and adapting it to suit the local context. Bringing to the fore
practitioner’s own critical advantage of local knowledge, experience, and
intuition often reveal powerful opportunities for change, including in the
food system.
4.1 Slow Food Youth Network

It is well recognized that in South Africa, youth face many challenges, most
notably a lack of access to quality education and skills development (Office
of the Presidency, 2015) and a dearth of job opportunities with youth unem-
ployment sitting at over 50% at the beginning of 2016. However, as much as
young people face struggles, they are also the continent’s greatest source of
energy and inspiration for the coming years as the “youth bulge” becomes a
reality on the continent (UNEP, 2016). The food system is not exempt from
the issues facing the youth, but as well as being a source of the problem—
where a lack of good nutrition during development compromises cognitive
and other functions as an adult—it can also provide a space for entrepreneur-
ial innovation. The SFYN showcases how mobilizing the youth around
food can provide a platform for action to change the food system.
SFYN is the biggest youth network in the world and its main focus is to
connect young people through food, to change what they see as a broken
food system. In South Africa, the SFYN recognizes that the South African
food system is “a system of systems” that all need to change in order for a more
equitable, healthy, and sustainable food system to emerge (Zayaan Khan,
SFYN South Africa coordinator). While young people face many challenges
and struggles, SFYN find solutions and connections through food. In South
Africa the youth network operates as a space for inspiration, a hub where
young people get access to information about the food system, network
around employment or internship opportunities, and collaboration. It is a
space fostered by young people for everyone, enticing people to get involved
in the food system through fun events that include cooking, music, educa-
tion, and art. At present, the African network is expanding and there are
SFYN’s in nine African countries. Collectively, the African network is trying
to work together toward recognizing a sovereign food system in Africa by
engaging on a variety of issues: protecting local seed systems, reviving and
reinvigorating traditional recipes or innovating entirely new recipes, around
agroecology and permaculture, and around childhood nutrition.
According to coordinator Zayaan Khan, the creation of the SFYN in
South Africa has precipitated many positive changes in the food system
and the next step is to scale up to create a truly South African network whose
aim is to create a food-aware civil society where, through the network,
many people are able to collaborate and work together on issues as far-
ranging as procurement, urban food systems, education and childhood
nutrition, and many other needs pertaining to food. The network currently
receives no funding, but it is something that they are aiming toward so that
they can grow the number of youth that are conscientized to continue their
good work as capable adults.
4.2 Food Sovereignty Campaign

The South African Food Sovereignty Campaign emerged in 2015 to unite
organizations, social movements, smallholder farmers, farmworkers, and
Another random document with
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written to order by willing officials, can only be representative of a
small fraction of popular opinion—inciting the population against
the Duma, and begging the Emperor to dissolve it. When one reads
these telegrams one is convinced that they cannot represent a
widely-spread opinion, for they run somewhat after this fashion:
“Great, unlimited autocrat, listen to us true Russians, dissolve the
herd of rebels, who by means of Jewish money have usurped the
position of representatives of the people. Pay no attention to their
seditious cries, but listen rather to us, whose only wish is that thy
Heaven-given, anointed, unlimited, multitudinous, incarnadined
autocratitude should remain unlimited. Give us less bread and more
taxes. We are perfectly contented. We have everything our heart
desires, so long as thou remainest unlimited.”
If the British Cabinet were to circulate among the Army an
invitation to destroy the House of Commons, full of insulting
strictures on the members of the House, we should not consider this
action to be constitutional. But this is what the Russian Government
has been doing during the last month. The situation of a Parliament
which has to deal with such a Ministry is abnormal. What guarantee
is there that the Ministry will not dissolve it at any minute and
change the electoral law? Not, certainly, the fact that this would be
illegal and unconstitutional. Therefore, on these grounds, and in
these circumstances, it seems to me that the action of the members
of the Duma, in insisting on having their “say out” on the land
question before anything else happens, is not so needless and not
such a waste of time as it at first appears to be. The speeches of the
members are reported in full, published in the newspapers, and read
all over the country, and therefore if the Duma is dissolved suddenly
the country will be already acquainted with the opinions and
intentions of the Duma on the land question. This is why the fact that
the Duma has existed and spoken out during a month is in itself one
of paramount importance and likely to be big with far-reaching
results. When the Duma met the Russian people echoed the French
poet’s cry that “une grande espérance a traversé le monde,” but they
were doubtful as to its efficacy. Now that it has met during a whole
month, and that people within its walls have really been able to speak
their minds on burning topics without being arrested, and have in no
uncertain tones expressed their opinion of the present Government,
the effect has been enormous.
Last night I was driven home by a cabman who favoured me with
his political views. I attach far more importance to the views of any
cabman in St. Petersburg than to those of any of the Ministers,
because they are more intimately acquainted with popular opinion.
The cabman first expressed his appreciation of the fact that some
people in Russia had too much land and others too little. Count
Ignatieff’s estate, he said, was a hundred versts long, and he had
eight estates. The Duma, he continued, was demanding land and
liberty. I objected that the Duma might be dissolved. “They won’t
dare,” he replied. “But if they do dare?” I said. “Then we shall kill
them,” he answered. “Kill whom?” “Why, all the rich.” “But will the
soldiers be on your side?” I asked. “The soldiers are peasants, too,”
he said. “But before they shot at the people,” I said. “Before they did
not understand what it was all about. Now they know,” he said. “Go
into any tractir (public-house) you like,” he continued, “and you will
hear how the people are screaming.”
Some weeks ago a change in the spirit of the Army, owing to the
existence of the Duma, was not improbable. It appears to be now on
the way towards realisation. Some of the Guards regiments are said,
on the other hand, to be highly incensed against the Duma. One of
the peasant members told me that his brother, who is in a regiment
here, informed him that the strictest surveillance was being exercised
on the movements and on the correspondence of the soldiers. He
said some of the regiments in St. Petersburg would be for the Duma,
but only the minority. I think it must be difficult for people who have
never been here, either in the past or in the present, to realise that
although the old régime has not yet been destroyed there is an
enormous difference in the general state of things owing to the fact
that up to last year the expression of public opinion was impossible,
and that now it is not only re-echoed under the protection of the
Duma all over Russia but finds a vehicle in innumerable newspapers
and pamphlets, not one of which is without what the Germans call a
“Tendenz.” Every bit of fiction, verse, satire, history, anecdote that is
now published is definitely and purposely revolutionary. The non-
political part of every newspaper is therefore practically devoted to
politics. Every day, and twice a day, the same string is sounded.
Everything in Russia now is tinged with one colour, and that colour
is bright red.
June 14th.
In the following dialogue I have tried to formulate the views of

those who have no sympathy with the Liberal movement in Russia:—
“I would prefer to hold my tongue,” said the cosmopolitan
philosopher who had just arrived at St. Petersburg, when he was
asked for his opinion on the political situation. “I do not want to have
chairs thrown at my head.”
“We never throw chairs,” said the ex-official. “Either bombs or
nothing. But before you say it I know what you are going to say.
There are two classes of people in the world: Liberals and
Conservatives, if you like, and there is also a third class. The third
class consists of what I call recalcitrant Liberals; they become
Conservative not because they are Conservative by nature but
because they dislike Liberals and enjoy disagreeing with them; but
say what you think and confirm the truth of my diagnosis.” “I will,”
said the philosopher, “only don’t throw chairs at my head. All that is
going on in Europe at present seems to me to be contained in the
formula: Liberty is the tyranny of the rabble. The equation may work
itself out more or less quickly, but it is bound to triumph. And as
intelligent people favour liberty I have gone over to the side of the
idiots. They produced an opéra-bouffe in 1870, I think, called ‘Le
trône d’Écosse, ou la difficulté de s’asseoir dessus.’ The title was
pleasing, but the figure of the King of Scotland was more delightful
still. He was, I will not say troubled, for it did not inconvenience him
in the least, but let us say characterised, by softening of the brain in
an advanced stage, and whatever might be going on he quietly slept
through it, only waking up now and then to exclaim emphatically
‘Pas de concessions!’ I entirely sympathise with him. I feel exactly
like the King of Scotland, and I don’t care a straw whether I am right
or wrong. Right or wrong concerns our judging faculty, which is a
poor affair at its best, if it concerns anything at all. Siding in practice
with one party or another concerns our passions, our habits, our
tastes, and our private interests. If we have privileges we are there to
defend them and not to bother, like clergymen and professors,
whether they are right or wrong. We may be beaten; at least let us be
beaten fighting. Vive la réaction!” “That is a point of view I can
understand,” said the man who belonged to no Party, “but let us ask
our friend (he pointed to the ex-official) who, although often accused
by his friends of having regicide principles, has never been insulted
by being called a Liberal, whether he feels like that with regard to
Russia now.” “Yes,” answered the philosopher, “please tell me if you
think my formula applies to the present situation, and whether you
agree?” “Let me start by saying that I entirely agree with your
formula,” said the ex-official; “at least I did until a fortnight ago,
when I realised (I was staying at the Savoy Hotel in London) that I
had become (like Kips at the Grand Hotel) a Socialist. My
conversion, however, is so recent and I have spent so many years in
deriding Socialism that I can, without any difficulty, speak from my
ancient standpoint. Well, I think your formula, with which I so
deeply sympathise, is not applicable to Russia at present. At least it is
applicable, if you choose to apply it, but it is as far removed from
what I feel as the diametrically opposed view of the English Liberal
Press. I do not regard the existing struggle as being one between
aristocratic and democratic principles. It is the struggle between one
half of the middle class, the Mandarins, with the Government and
the higher Mandarins at their head, and the other half, the
professors, the doctors, the lawyers. Above this struggle the
aristocracy floats as a nebulous mist, like the gods when they
returned to the Twilight of Valhalla, and beneath it the proletariate
and the peasantry have been roused from their slumbers by the noise
of the fight. My point of view is very simple. I believe, as a statesman
once said, that the Russian Government is an autocracy tempered by
assassination. I hope that the professors will, with the help of the
peasantry and the proletariate, create a big enough disturbance to
destroy the existing Government and prepare the way for a real
autocracy. Then, and not until then, I shall cry ‘Vive la réaction!’
According to you I ought to die fighting for my higher Mandarins;
but you admit it is only a question of one’s passions; well, my
passions are turned against them. I hate them. Of course I would
have fought for Louis XVIII. or Charles II.; but I should have drawn
the line at Charles X., and I should have been rewarded by the result
of the subsequent revolution.” “I don’t think you either of you
realise,” said the man who belonged to no Party, “that just as the
battle of Valmy (which didn’t seem very important to contemporaries
except to Goethe, who realised what had happened in a flash) was
the beginning of a new age, so was the universal strike here in
October last the beginning of another. I think all your talk about
autocrats, &c., is amusing, but so very old-fashioned. I don’t think
there will ever be such things—again.”
“But there are such things,” said the ex-official. “Mr. Balfour ruled
England far more despotically than the most unlimited autocrat.”
“Yes, but that is the kind of thing which I believe is on the eve of
disappearance,” said the man who belonged to no Party. “I believe,
and of course the wish is not only father to the thought—but I wish
hard in order that the thought may come true—I believe that we are
on the eve of a social revolution, and that besides this Russia will
split up into separate parts. I hope this will happen. Had I been an
Englishman, I should have been a little Englander with a vengeance.
I should like to go back to the Heptarchy. I admire the England of
Shakespeare and Drake, which was little, more than the England of
Kipling and Rhodes, which is big. I admire the Germany of Goethe
and Beethoven more than the Germany of William II.—and whom?
There is no one else to mention. The same with Russia. All that we
have derived from ideals of expansion has ended in disaster. If we
split up, who knows what the Duchy of Transbaikalia and the
Kingdom of Kalouga, for instance, and the Republic of Morshansk
may not produce?” “But,” said the philosopher, “what will happen if
the power falls into the hands of angry demagogues of the Extreme
Left? What if they behave as the Convention behaved, and, more
reasonably, what if you have all the tyranny of a Convention and
none of the terror? All the inconvenience and none of the
excitement? In Russia you boast of the liberté de mœurs you enjoy;
don’t you think you run a risk of losing it?” “It is true, of course,” said
the man who belonged to no Party, “that we run a risk of losing it,
but I have a great faith in the invincible plasticity of the Russian
character. And liberty of manners seems to me to depend on national
characteristics and not on national institutions. You can prove, of
course, that liberty of manners and liberty of thought flourish
abundantly under autocratic régimes such as those of Nero and
Nicholas II., but does it necessarily follow that it cannot exist under
lawful and disciplined administration? Ancient Greece and Modern
England are two cases in point where personal liberty such as that
which we enjoy in Russia is nonexistent. ‘Il ne faut pas l’oublier,’ says
Renan, ‘Athènes avait bel et bien l’inquisition.’ As to Anglo-Saxon
countries there is no more amusing spectacle in the world than that
which is offered to us when a member of the Slav race seeks refuge in
Anglo-Saxon countries burning with enthusiasm for the mothers of
freedom. Witness Maxim Gorky’s arrival in America. He soon finds
out that he is enclosed in a brick wall of prohibitions, and perhaps he
thinks with regret of his native country, where, although he was not
allowed to insult his Monarch at a public meeting, he could do
exactly what he liked. The rigidity of conventions in England seems
to me to arise from the English character, which is rigid and likes
convention; but the Russian character is not rigid; it is pliant and
draws no line anywhere. That is at once all its strength and all its
weakness. Whatever gets the upper hand in Russia, be it a
convention, a board of Socialists, or a committee of peasants, I am
convinced of one thing, that the members of this Government will
never dress for dinner when they feel disinclined or go to bed before
they wish to do so.” “But,” said the philosopher, “if you possess
personal liberty why bother about the rest? After all, free political
institutions presuppose a certain amount of order and discipline. If
you are without this order and discipline, and if you do not wish for
the drawbacks of order and discipline, why do you make a fuss to get
what can only exist by order and discipline?”
“If we had been properly governed,” said the ex-official, “nobody
would have thought about it.”
“The two things are not incompatible,” said the man who belonged
to no Party. “You can have free political institutions sufficiently
ordered and disciplined, and you can also have personal liberty. If
these two things have never been combined before, we will be the
first people to combine them.”
St. Petersburg, June 19th.
On Sunday last I went by train to a place called Terrioki, in

Finland, where a meeting was to be held by the Labour Party of the
Duma. The train was crowded with people who looked more like
holiday-makers than political supporters of the Extreme Left—so
crowded that one had to stand up on the platform outside the
carriage throughout the journey. It is of no consequence in Russia
how many people there are in a train or what they do. In England
there is an impressive warning in the railway carriages about being
fined a sum not exceeding forty shillings. In Russia there is also a
quantity of printed rules. The difference is this—in England, if you
infringed the rules, something would be sure to happen. In Russia
nobody pays the slightest attention to any rule and nothing happens.
You are not fined a sum not exceeding forty shillings; on the other
hand, a young man not long ago, owing to the habit he had acquired
—a habit universally practised by passengers on the line—of jumping
out of the train long before it had reached the station, slipped on the
step, and was nearly killed. This is a small instance of what people
mean when they allude to the personal liberty prevalent in Russia. It
is also an explanation of the existence of the quantity of printed
regulations you see in Russia. The authorities print a hundred rules
in the hope that one of them may meet with attention. None of them
commands attention. I will give another small instance. If a stranger
to Europe came to Europe and to England and tried to get into the
House of Commons without a ticket and without being acquainted
with a member, he would find it, I think, impossible to obtain
admittance. If he went to Russia he could, if he said nothing at all,
walk into the Duma without the slightest difficulty. The whole secret
of avoiding bothers in Russia is not to bother people who do not wish
to be bothered. If you do what you wish to do quietly nobody
interferes with you. If you ask you will probably be told it is
impossible—it is in theory, but not in practice.
But to go back to the political meeting in Finland. After a journey
of an hour and a quarter we arrived at Terrioki. The crowd leapt from
the train and immediately unfurled red flags and sang the
“Marseillaise.” The crowd occupied the second line, and a policeman
observed that, as another train was coming in and would occupy that
line, it would be advisable if they were to move on. “What, police
even here in free Finland?” somebody cried. “The police are elected
here by the people,” was the pacifying reply, and the crowd moved
on, formed into a procession six abreast, and started marching to the
gardens where the meeting was to be held, singing the “Marseillaise”
and other songs all the way. The dust was so abundant that, after
marching with the procession for some time, I took a cab and told
the driver to take me to the meeting. We drove off at a brisk speed
past innumerable wooden houses, villas, shops (where Finnish
knives and English tobacco are sold) into a wood. After we had
driven for twenty minutes I asked the driver if we still had far to go.
He turned round and, smiling, said in pidgin-Russian (he was a
Finn), “Me not know where you want go.” Then we turned back, and,
after a long search and much questioning of passers-by, found the
garden, into which one was admitted by ticket. (Here, again, any one
could get in.) In a large grassy and green garden, shady with many
trees, a kind of wooden semicircular proscenium had been erected,
and in one part of it was a low and exiguous platform not more
spacious than a table. On the proscenium the red flags were hung. In
front of the table there were a few benches, but the greater part of the
public stood and formed a large crowd. The inhabitants of the villas
were here in large numbers; there were not many workmen, but a
number of students and various other members of the
“Intelligenzia”; young men with undisciplined hair and young ladies
in large art nouveau hats and Reformkleider. (I wonder whether this
last mentioned garment has penetrated to London.) M. Jilkin, the
leader of the Labour Party in the Duma, took the chair.
The meeting was opened by a man who laid stress on the necessity
of a Constituent Assembly. The speeches succeeded one another.
Students climbed up into the pine-trees and on the roof of the
proscenium. Others lay on the grass behind the crowd. “Land and
Liberty” was the burden of the speeches. There was nothing new or
striking said. The hackneyed commonplaces were rolled out one after
another. Indignation, threats, menaces, blood and thunder. And all
the time the sun shone hotter and “all Nature looked smiling and
gay.” The audience applauded, but no fierceness of invective, no
torrent of rhetoric managed to make the meeting a serious one.
Nature is stronger than speeches, and sunshine more potent than
rant. It is true the audience were enjoying themselves; but they were
enjoying the outing, and the speeches were an agreeable incidental
accompaniment; they enjoyed the attacks on the powers that be, as
the Bank-holiday maker enjoys Aunt Sally at the seaside. Some Finns
spoke in Russian and Finnish, and then M. Aladin, the prominent
member of the Duma, made a real speech. As he rose he met with an
ovation. M. Aladin is of peasant extraction. He passed through the
University in Russia, emigrated to London, was a dock labourer, a
printer’s devil, a journalist, an electrical engineer, a teacher of
Russian; he speaks French and German perfectly, and English so
well that he speaks Russian with a London accent. M. Aladin has, as I
have said, a great contempt for the methods of the Russian
revolutionaries, and he expressed something of it on this occasion.
He said that only people without any stuff in them would demand a
Constituent Assembly. “You don’t demand a Constituent Assembly,
you constitute it,” he said. “It was humiliating,” he continued, “that
citizens of a big country like Russia should be obliged to come to
Finland in order to speak their minds freely. It was time to cease
being a people of slaves, and time to be a revolutionary people. The
Russian people would never be free until they showed by their acts
that they meant to be free.” M. Aladin speaks without any
gesticulation. He is a dark, shortish man, with a small moustache
and grey serious eyes, short hair, and a great command of incisive
mordant language. His oratory is, as I have said before, English in
style. On this occasion it was particularly nervous and pithy. He did
not, however, succeed in turning that audience of holiday-makers
into a revolutionary meeting. The inhabitants of the villas clapped.
The young ladies in large hats chortled with delight. It was a glorious
picnic; an ecstatic game of Aunt Sally. And when the interval came
the public rushed to the restaurants. There was one on the sea-shore,
with a military band playing. There was a beach and a pier and boats
and bathers. Here was the true inwardness of the meeting. Many
people remained on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. The
Social Democrats who had been present were displeased with M.
Aladin’s speech. Groups formed in the garden. People lay down on
the grass, and political discussions were held by recumbent speakers.
When they reached a certain pitch of excitement they knelt.
Two men attracted my attention by the heated argument in which
they were engaged, kneeling opposite each other in a circle of
recumbent listeners. Presently a bell rang and the meeting was
resumed. I said to one of the arguers: “Why do you all quarrel so
much? You are disunited, and there is only one Government.” He
took me aside and explained his views. He was a tall, bearded,
intelligent-looking man, a native of the Urals; he had been a soldier
and an engineer, and had had to leave the country for his opinions.
He had educated himself in France, Germany, and Belgium, and had
attended a Labour Congress in London. He was a Social Democrat.
He said this meeting was absurd. “You see the real workmen can’t
come to a meeting like this; it’s too expensive. I was disappointed in
Aladin’s speech. I think he is unfair in blaming us for being feeble
compared with the French revolutionaries. The circumstances are
different. We have the proletariate here, and that important fact
makes a great difference.” I asked him if he thought there would be a
social revolution in Russia. He said he thought Socialism must be
adopted by all countries at the same moment. He thought that the
Russian people were less capable of introducing it than any people.
“When these people talk the poverty of their thought appals me,” he
said. “And then the monotony of the tragic note—never a gleam of
humour; never a touch of irony. Count Heyden is the only man in the
Duma who shows any signs of it. Look at our Government, they lay
themselves open to ridicule. By ridicule one can pulverise them;
nobody thinks of doing it, and the strain of this long-drawn-out
tragic emphasis is intolerable. Yes, I was disappointed in Aladin. But
the first time I saw him I was convinced that he would play a part in
the Russian Revolution. It is a good thing that such men should be.
Gapon, however much we may blame him, played a great part.” I
found he thoroughly disbelieved in the Cadets and believed only in
the proletariate. Later on other speeches were made denouncing the
Cadets and the foreign loan, and a resolution was passed repudiating
it. The meeting went on till past seven o’clock, and then the mass of
people returned to St. Petersburg, having thoroughly enjoyed their
picnic.
I went to the Duma yesterday afternoon and heard some of the
speeches of the much-abused Cadets. It was like listening to Mr.
Asquith and Mr. Haldane after a dose of Hyde Park oratory. But
because people appear to one to talk nonsense that is no proof that
they will not get the upper hand. “Vous êtes des verbiageurs,” said
the Duc de Biron to the revolutionary tribunal. They guillotined him
nevertheless. And Danton said that Robespierre was not capable “de
faire cuire un œuf.” Yet Robespierre played a part in the Revolution.
CHAPTER XXII
PRINCE URUSSOFF’S SPEECH
St. Petersburg, June 22nd.
The speech made by Prince Urussoff last Friday in reply to the

Minister of the Interior is generally considered here to be the most
important utterance which has as yet been made within the walls of
the Duma. Prince Urussoff occupied for a short period a post in the
Ministry of the Interior during the late Ministry. His speech is not
only important from the fact of its being authoritative, and because it
throws a startlingly interesting light on some of the causes of the
Jewish massacres, but also because it reveals the evil which is
practically at the root of all the trouble in Russia.
“Representatives of the People,—I rise to submit to your
consideration a few observations regarding the question put to the
Ministry by the Duma and the answer to that question which we have
just heard. I presume that we are considering the information
respecting a printing-press concealed in the recesses of the Police
Department, by which proclamations to the people are printed
inciting them to civil war, not so much in the light of a fact which
belongs to the past and interests us only so far as the responsibility of
certain individuals is concerned, but rather in the light of an
alarming question as to a possibility of the further participation of
Government officials in the preparation of those sanguinary
tragedies for which we have been notorious during a dismal epoch,
and which, as the events of the last few days have shown, continue to
occur, to the indignation of all those to whom human life and the fair
fame of the Russian Empire are precious. Let me state at the outset
that I do not for a moment doubt of the sincerity of the declaration
made by the Minister of the Interior, and that the words which I wish
to say to you are not directed against the Ministry.
“On the contrary, the whole significance, the whole interest, the
whole importance of the question at issue lie precisely in the fact that
massacres and civil strife, owing to the circumstances now obtaining,
continue and will continue, quite independently of the action taken
with regard to them by one Minister of the Interior or another, or by
one Ministry or another. With regard to this point the declaration of
the Minister of the Interior does not seem to me convincing, and I
will now try to explain why, with this end in view, I must deal with
the question of the massacres, and try to unravel and explain the part
played in them by the printing-press which was the subject of our
question.
“By a careful investigation of the massacres the enquirer is brought
face to face with certain definite and isolated phenomena. First, the
massacre is always preceded by reports of its preparation,
accompanied by the issue of inflammatory proclamations, which are
uniform both as regards subject-matter and style. Secondly, when
the massacre occurs, the facts which are officially stated to be its
cause invariably prove to be false. Thirdly, the action of those who
take part in the massacre reveals a certain organisation, which
deprives it of all accidental and elemental characteristics. Those who
take part in the massacre act in the consciousness of some right, in
the consciousness of impunity, and they only continue acting till this
consciousness is shaken; when that moment arrives the massacre
ceases swiftly and easily. Further, in the action of the police there is
never any uniformity, and while certain police districts are
devastated by the massacres under the eyes of a considerable
constabulary force, others remain almost untouched owing to the
protection of the police, who perform their duties conscientiously
and energetically. Finally, when the massacre is over, arrests are
made, and the authorities who examine the culprits cannot help
having the impression that those who have been brought before
them are less like criminals than ignorant people who have been
deceived by some definite thing. Thus we feel that some kind of
uniform and widely-planned organisation exists. Those who affirm
that it is simply the doing of the Government, and think that the
question is thereby settled, are mistaken, but they are not wholly
mistaken; and the events of the past winter, which form the subject
of our question, will help us to throw some light on these dark
proceedings. In January, 1905, a great quantity of well-printed
proclamations, which had been widely circulated in the chief centres
of Southern and Western Russia, together with alarming complaints
regarding the preparation of massacres in Vilna, Bielostok, Kieff, &c.,
came into the hands of some one who occupied a subordinate
position in the Ministry of the Interior, and who was well known as
an enemy of massacres (I am not speaking of myself).
“The massacre at Homel in January confirmed the fears which had
been expressed, and spurred the above-mentioned individual to
spare no efforts to prevent further massacres, which he succeeded in
doing owing to the steps taken by the Prime Minister (Count Witte),
who gradually succeeded in discovering the working of the hidden
organisation. It was then that the following facts concerning the
action of the massacre-mongers came to light. A group of persons,
forming the active militia of our own ‘patriotic’ societies, working
together with people closely related to a certain newspaper (The
Moscow Gazette) started an active anti-revolutionary movement.
Being ‘patriots’ in the sense recently defined by the member for Tver
and ‘full Russians,’ they discovered the cause of the revolution to lie
in the non-Russian races, in the inhabitants of the outlying districts,
and among the Jews. They called on the Russian people, and
especially the Russian soldiers, to grapple with the rebels, in ten
thousands of proclamations of the most repulsive character. These
proclamations were transmitted by members of the society to the
place of action, and handed over there to their local allies, who in
their turn distributed them with careful interpretations. The
consequences, judged from the point of view of those who were
trying to maintain central authority intact, were curious. The
assistant of the Chief of Police (I take an ordinary example)
distributes the proclamation without informing his chief. Or, for
instance, the head of the first police station would be confided in, but
not the head of the second. Special sums of money came into the
possession of some of the subordinates of the Gendarmerie; certain
obscure persons began to visit them; rumours circulated in the town
of certain preparations; frightened people sought the Governor. The
Governor reassured them, feeling, however, that the situation was far
from reassuring. From the Ministry came telegrams about measures
to be taken, and measures were often taken, but measures taken in
this sense were far from inspiring universal confidence.
“It happened that members of the police supposed in all good faith
that such measures were taken for show, for decency’s sake; but that
they knew the real object of the Government, they read between the
lines, and above the orders of the Governor they heard a voice from
afar in which they placed greater faith. In a word the result was
incredible confusion, utter disorganisation, and the complete
demoralisation of authority. In the meantime in St. Petersburg, so far
back as the autumn of 1905 (and it appears up to the time when the
October Ministry took office), in No. 16, Fontanka, in an out-of-the-
way room of the Department of Police, a printing-press was at work,
bought at the expense of the Department. An officer of the
gendarmerie in mufti, Komissaroff, worked the press, and with the
help of a few assistants prepared the proclamation. The secret of the
existence of this printing-press was so well kept, and the doings of its
manager were so cleverly concealed, that not only in the Ministry but
even in the Department of the Police, there were few people who
knew of its existence. In the meantime the work of the organisation,
of which the press was the instrument, was evidently successful;
since Komissaroff, in answer to some one who stumbled on it by
chance and asked him a question about the work, said: ‘We can
arrange any massacre you like; a massacre of ten or a massacre of ten
thousand.’ Sir, this phrase is historical (Sensation.) I can add that in
Kiev a massacre of ten thousand had been arranged to take place on
February 3rd, but it was successfully averted. (Great sensation.)
“The Prime Minister (Count Witte) had, it is said, a serious fit of
nervous asthma when these facts were communicated to him. He
sent for Komissaroff, who reported as to his actions and the
authority which had been given him, and in a few hours neither
printing-press nor proclamations were to be found in the
Department, and that is why nobody, not even the Minister of the
Interior, will be able to satisfy the wish of the Duma to learn the
names of the men who created the organisation, assured its members
of immunity, acted like magic on the police and other officials, and
even managed to obtain promotion and reward for the most active
among them. I will now proceed to my conclusions. My first is this:
That the declaration of the Minister of the Interior affords us no
serious guarantee with regard to the cessation of organisations which
take part in the preparation of huge massacres and draw
Government officials into their sphere of action. It is clear that the
chief organisers and inspirers are outside the sphere of the
Government, and as far as their business is concerned it is equally
indifferent to them whether the Minister of the Interior will observe
a benevolent neutrality towards them or take a line of opposition.
Further, I affirm that no Ministry, even if it were chosen from the
Duma, could restore order in the country so long as certain unknown
persons who stand outside, behind an impassable barrier, continue
to lay their brutal fingers on certain parts of the machine of State,
disturbing its political balance with experiments on living
organisations, and performing a kind of political vivisection. My
second conclusion is still more melancholy—it concerns the Duma.
“Sirs, from all parts of Russia we have come hither not only with
complaints and indignation, but with a keen thirst for action, for self-
sacrifice and truth, with true patriotism. There are many among us
here whose income depends on their property, and have we heard
from them one word against compulsory expropriation of the land in
the interests of the working man? And is it not this very
‘revolutionary Duma’ which from the first day of its activity up to the
last few days has attempted to raise the authority of the Crown, to
place it above party strife and above our errors, and to preserve it
from the responsibility for those errors? What sort of a Duma is
necessary now that the hour of inevitable reform has struck, if not
such a one in which party interests and the class-division have given
way to the triumph of the union of the welfare of the people and the
welfare of the State? Nevertheless, we feel that those dark forces are
arming against us, and dividing us from the Crown, and are
preventing the Crown from having confidence in us. They will not
allow us to accomplish that union with the Crown which, according
to the law granting us a new order of things, is the indispensable
condition and the only pledge of the peaceful development of the life
of our country. Herein lies a great danger, and this danger will not
disappear so long as in the direction of affairs and in the fortunes of
our country we continue to feel the influence of men who have the
education of policemen and sergeants, and are massacre-mongers on
principle.”
CHAPTER XXIII
NAZARENKO AND OTHER PEASANT
MEMBERS
St. Petersburg, July 6th.
After a week’s absence in England I returned to St. Petersburg to find

the situation much as I had left it, except that the tension has
perhaps imperceptibly grown greater. The main factors of the
situation are unchanged.
Rumours are current that a change of Ministry is probable, but it is
generally considered that the appointment of a Ministry chosen from
the Ministry itself is out of the question. One fact should be borne in
mind in considering the rumours with regard to the latest phase of
Court opinion and Government policy, namely, that there is probably
no fixed policy in those spheres; up to the present no such policy has
been perceptible, and what has been done one day has been
countermanded and contradicted the next. Therefore, as far as the
Government and the Court are concerned, all things are possible.
One might apply to them a phrase used by a French historian with
regard to Louis XVI.: “Il n’eut que des velléités, des répugnances. Il
céda tour à tour, sans plan, sans dessein quelconque, aux influences
qui l’entouraient, à l’influence de la reine, du Comte d’Artois, de
Necker ... il vécut au jour le jour, disant oui, disant non, selon que le
conseiller du moment était plus importun et plus pressant.” This is
an exact definition of the policy manifested by the Russian
Government and Court combined during the last two years.
As far as the Duma is concerned, there is the same deadlock which
has existed ever since it met; the Duma insisting on the creation of
responsible Ministers, the Ministers admitting the existence of the
Duma in theory and denying it in practice. The tension of feeling in
the Duma itself is greater than when I left, although the debates of
the last three days have been fairly quiet. But it is a significant if not
an ominous fact that the Constitutional Democrats are now attacked
by men who have hitherto supported them on account of the
mildness of their tactics.
A week spent in England enabled me to realise to a certain extent
what is the English opinion with regard to Russian affairs. After one
has been in Russia for some time certain things become so familiar
that one takes for granted that they are too well known to mention. If
one then visits England one realizes that there is a great gulf of
ignorance between England and the elementary facts of the situation
in Russia. I think the principal thing which struck me in what I heard
Englishmen say about the Duma was that no sort of distinction was
made among the elements of which it is composed. It is generally
supposed to be a body exclusively consisting of violent Socialists.
This is not the case; although, owing to the abnormal situation
created by the Duma being face to face with a Ministry which does
not seriously admit its existence, it will at any moment be ready to
show a unanimous front of opposition towards the Government. The
second thing which struck me was that people in England judge
affairs in Russia according to an English standard. They forget that
the conditions are different. The Russian Government, in some of its
unofficial utterances in the English Press, reminds us of this fact
when it wishes to lay stress on the opinion that the Duma is not a
Parliament, and must not be considered as such. Their argument
cuts both ways, and it might be applied to the Russian Government,
comparing it with the Governments of other countries, but I would
rather apply this reasoning to the demands of the Duma. The
Government says these demands are impossible, and public opinion
in England is apt to re-echo this sentiment, feeling that this
standpoint is a safe and sound one. I am not going into the question
in detail; only I wish to point out a few facts which perhaps make
these demands seem less extravagant than they appear to be at first
sight.
Let us take first the abolition of capital punishment. People say:
“They are asking for the abolition of capital punishment in Russia,
whereas in an enlightened country like ours we hang women. It is
absurd.” Now, capital punishment, except for regicides, was
abolished in Russia by the Empress Elizabeth in 1753; and it has only
been applied lately in virtue of martial law. If you committed an
ordinary murder in Russia you were put in prison for a certain
number of years, often not for a very long period. Ordinary murders
did not increase in consequence, and the Russians were satisfied
with this detail of their legislation. Now, since the revolutionary
movement began last year, and more especially since the prevalence
of martial law in many districts, what has happened is this: that
whereas capital punishment was still in abeyance in respect to
ordinary criminals, it obtained as far as political offenders were
concerned. It is objected, of course, that people who throw bombs
must expect to be killed and that the murder of innocent policemen
is wholly unjustifiable. But the other side rejoins as follows: “What is
terrorism but the inevitable result of the continued lawlessness of the
local authorities representing the Government?” While admitting to
the full that it is deplorable, how can one expect it to diminish as
long as the Government continues to condone guilty officials, or only
punishes them in a ludicrously inadequate manner? It is here that
the Government’s case breaks down. A man who kills a policeman is,
if he is caught, at least certain of punishment, but if a police officer
walks into a house and kills, as Ermolov did in Moscow, an utterly
inoffensive doctor, he is certain to be let off (Ermolov was sentenced
to deprivation of military rank and a short term of imprisonment).
That is what the Liberals complain of, pointing at the same time to
utterly indiscriminate executions carried out under martial law by
generals in Moscow, in the Baltic provinces, and in Siberia. I cannot
say that I think their position is wildly unreasonable. The
Government’s argument is exceedingly specious, and it is the easiest
thing in the world to convince any Englishman of its soundness, only
it omits half the truth and the whole cause of the agitation.
The same thing can be said about the demand for amnesty. People
in England think that the Duma is clamouring exclusively for the
release of murderers. The fact is that, as I have said before, the
proportion of murderers in prison is small. The bomb-throwers
nearly always escape or are killed, whereas the prisons are packed
with people who are there by chance and against whom there is not
even any accusation.
Again, take the land question: the demands on the Duma seem far
less exaggerated to a Russian Conservative than they do to an
English Whig. The Russian Conservative may, and probably does,
disagree with them, but he does not consider them childishly
outrageous. The Duma contains some highly-respected and
important landlords, who have all voted in favour of the principle of
compulsory expropriation, and I think they know more about the
land question in Russia even than the most sensible Englishman.
July 6th (Later).
To-day in the Duma there was a barefooted man in rags, who said
he had arrived in St. Petersburg chiefly owing to the kindness of the
railway guards. His house had been burnt, owing to some squabble
with the police authorities. Another correspondent and I had some
talk with him. He thought we were deputies. He said: “Stand up for
our rights and I will go back and tell them you are doing so.”
July 6th.
The question of the Inter-Parliamentary Congress to be held in

London is arousing interest here. It is not yet decided what delegates
are to go. Professor Kovolievski introduced me to one of the peasant
members of the Duma—Nazarenko, the deputy for Kharhov—who
wished to speak to me about it. Nazarenko is far the most remarkable
of the peasant deputies. He is a tall, striking figure, with black hair, a
pale face with prominent clearly-cut features, such as Velasquez
would have taken to paint a militant apostle. He went through the
course of primary education, and by subsequently educating himself
he has attained to an unwonted degree of culture. Besides this he is a
born speaker and a most original character. “I want to go to London,”
he said, “so that the English may see a real peasant and not a sham
one, and so that I can tell the English what we, the real people, think
and feel about them.” I said I was glad he was going. “I shan’t go
unless I am chosen by the others,” he answered. “I have written my
name down and asked, but I shan’t ask twice. I never ask twice for
anything. When I say my prayers I only ask God once for a thing, and
if it is not granted I never ask again. So it’s not likely I would ask my
fellow-men twice for anything. I am like that; I leave out that passage
in the prayers about being a miserable slave. I am not a miserable
slave, neither of man nor of heaven.” “That is what the Church calls
spiritual pride,” I answered. “I don’t believe in all that,” he answered.
“My religion is the same as that of Tolstoi.” He then pointed to the
ikon which is in the lobby of the Duma. “I pay no attention to that,”
he said, “It is a board covered with gilt, but a lot of people think that
the ikon is God.”
I asked him if he liked Tolstoi’s books. “Yes,” he answered. “His
books are great, but his philosophy is weak. It may be all right for
mankind thousands of years hence, but it is no use now. I have no
friends,” he continued. “Books are my friends. But lately my house
was burnt, and all my books with it. I have read a lot, but I never had
anybody to tell me what to read, so I read without any system. I did
not go to school till I was thirteen.”
“Do you like Dostoievski’s books?” “Yes; he knows all about the
human soul. When I see a man going down hill I know exactly how it
will happen and what he is going through, and I could stop him
because I have read Dostoievski.” “Have you read translations of any
foreign books?” “Very few; some of Zola’s books, but I don’t like
them because he does not really know the life he is describing. Some
of Guy de Maupassant’s stories I have read, but I do not like them
either, because I don’t want to know more about that sort of people
than I know already.” “Have you read Shakespeare?” “Yes. There is
nobody like him. When you read a conversation of Shakespeare’s,
when one person is speaking you think he is right, and when the next
person answers him you think he is right. He understands
everybody. But I want to read Spencer—Herbert Spencer. I have
never been able to get his works.” I promised to procure him Herbert
Spencer’s works.
I hope he will go to London, for he is a strangely picturesque figure
and an original character, this dark-eyed Velasquez-like Nazarenko,
proud as Lucifer and full of ideals, a kind of mixture of Shelley and
Cato.
July 7th.
This afternoon I went to have tea with two of the peasant deputies.
They had asked me because it was the Name-day of one of them.

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1. Advances in Food Security and Sustainability in South Africa 1

2. Analyzing the Adoption of Technology, Yield Gaps, and

3. Potential of Public Purchases as Markets for Family Farming:

4. UK Horticulture Production and National Dietary Guidelines:

5. Governing in a Postpolitical Era: Civil Society Participation

Food security is high on the agendas of international policy makers as the

innovation coming at the interfaces at the boundaries of existing disciplines.

Advances in Food Security and

Advances in Food Security and Sustainability, Volume 1 # 2016 Elsevier Inc. 1

Placing a positive lens on discernible changes in the current system, this

2. ADVANCES IN POLICY RESPONSES

shortages of freshwater, and poses a threat to the long-term sustainability of

2.1 Climate Change and Resource Scarcity

2.2 SmartAgri in the Western Cape

anticipating how climate shocks revealed the underlying vulnerability of

2.3 Health and Noncommunicable Diseases

2.4 Reducing Salt and Taxing Sugar

2.5 Competition in the Grocery Sector

barriers to entry and expansion, as a single national grocery retailer operating

2.6 City Governance and South African Cities Network

3. ADVANCES IN PRIVATE SECTOR RESPONSES

3.1 Conservation Agriculture

It is also important to stress that CA is not necessarily relevant for all

3.2 Retailer Initiative: “Farming for the Future”

3.3 Addressing Duality in the Agrarian Structure

breaking the concentration of power in the agricultural sector while also

3.4 The SPAR Rural Hub

4. CIVIL SOCIETY ADVANCES

4.1 Slow Food Youth Network

4.2 Food Sovereignty Campaign

In the following dialogue I have tried to formulate the views of

St. Petersburg, June 19th.

On Sunday last I went by train to a place called Terrioki, in

St. Petersburg, June 22nd.

The speech made by Prince Urussoff last Friday in reply to the

St. Petersburg, July 6th.

After a week’s absence in England I returned to St. Petersburg to find

July 6th (Later).

The question of the Inter-Parliamentary Congress to be held in

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