ABSTRACT
The Agrarian-Marxists devoted a great deal of time and energy to the formulation of their research methodology. The concentration on measurement need not be interpreted as the refuge of reluctant experts. Instead, it reflected the attitude of scholars determined to distinguish themselves by being "scientific" about their work and by refraining from making policy recommendations on the basis of insufficient evidence. The new system of measurement, with which the Kritsman group soon became identified, had the particular merit of being sensitive to the pattern of rural social development that the Agrarian-Marxists anticipated. The expedition to Samara had been part of an ongoing project set up by the Central Statistical Administration to explore the processes of class stratification in the countryside. The project was financed by the USSR Commissariat of Worker-Peasant Inspection.
