Is a small family farm a means of production?

Suppose that Lenin and Stalin had lived in the 1600s, but that they had nevertheless adhered to the political and economic ideologies that history shows they adhered to. Suppose also that they lived in the area that used to be called "Acadia" (now better known as Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island). Then would they have said that, in building dikes to reclaim the fertile marshland that tides flooded twice daily, and letting snow and rain wash salt from the tidal marches for two years before planting crops, the Acadians weren't doing anything economically constructive, but were imperialistically appropriating in piecemeal, small-scale, cooperative, petit-bourgeois fashion what rightfully belongs to a few big collective farms under the control of bureaucrats who adhere to the philosophy of Marxist-Leninism, with assistance from political police agents?

in the purist sense.

I was under the impression that Marxist-Leninists claim that there is an identifiable "capitalist" mode of production that replaced feudalism.

Is the following an authentic quote, a mistranslation, or a hoax?


Unless I am mistaken, small-scale agricultural production existed before the early stages of industrialization. For example, there was small-scale agricultural production before anybody had discovered or invented any practical way to use steam engines in factory production.

and in fact the Separation of State and Agriculture is considered the first step towards modern human governments.

I guess I wasn't speaking about 'Mode of Production' in a Marxist sense, but in a strictly literal sense. Literally speaking, anything that can do work is a potential 'mode' of production.

Private ownership of means of production.

So to answer your OP yes small family owned farms would be capitalistic.

Based on this quote I wonder if you are confusing capitalism with industrialization.

"Unless I am mistaken, small-scale agricultural production existed before the early stages of industrialization. For example, there was small-scale agricultural production before anybody had discovered or invented any practical way to use steam engines in factory production."

You aren't mistaken. Small farms & capitalism both existed long before industrialization.