How much land does a man need?

In a circle, surrounded by rustic farmhands from his Yasnaya Polyana farm, Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), the great Russian writer, told them the following story, which I will summarize to illustrate how a capitalist's mind works.

"There was a poor farmer who was very eager to own more land to cultivate and become rich. He thought: 'I'll make a pact with the devil. He'll bring me luck,' he said to his wife, who wrinkled her nose and warned him: 'My husband, be careful with the devil, nothing good ever comes from making a pact with him; this desire of yours to get rich will only lead to your downfall.'"

But, at her husband's insistence, she decided to go with him. So they left, taking few belongings with them.

They learned that far away there was a group of gypsies who sold cheap land. The couple headed towards that area. Upon arriving, they found the devil already there, all dressed up, giving the air of an influential land merchant. The peasant and his wife politely greeted the gypsies. When they were about to express their desire to buy land from them, the devil, without ceremony, preempted them and said:

“Good sir, I see you have come from afar and are driven by a great desire to make your fortune. I have an excellent offer for you, better than that of the gypsies. I make you the following proposal: you leave a reasonable sum of money in a bag here where I am standing. If you travel through a territory for the duration of a day, from sunrise to sunset, and are back before sunset, all the land you traveled will be yours. Otherwise, you will lose the land you traveled and the money in the bag.”

The peasant's eyes, eager for wealth, shone with emotion and he said: 

"I think it's an excellent proposal. I have strong legs and I accept. Tomorrow, very early, at sunrise, I'll start running and all the territory my legs can reach will be mine." 

 The devil, ever mischievous, grinned smugly.

Indeed, very early, as soon as the sun broke through the edge of the horizon, the peasant, seized by greed, began to run. He ran and ran a lot. He jumped fences, crossed streams and, not content, did not even stop to rest. He saw before him a smiling green plain and immediately thought: "here I will plant wheat in abundance". Looking to the left, a very flat valley unfolded before him and he thought: "here I can plant a whole field of flax to give away and sell".

He climbed, breathless, a small hill, and behold, below lay a field of virgin land. He immediately thought: “I want that land too. There I will raise cattle and sheep and fill my coffers with lots of money.” 

And so he traveled many kilometers, not satisfied with what he had achieved, for the places he saw were attractive and further fueled his unbridled desire to possess them as well.

Suddenly he looked up at the sky and realized that the sun was setting behind the mountain. He said to himself:

"There's no time to lose. I have to run back, otherwise I'll lose all the ground we've covered and, on top of that, the money."A day of pain, a lifetime of love."r," he thought, just like his grandfather used to say.

He began to run with astonishing speed for his tired legs. But he had to run without paying attention to the limits of his tense muscles. He kept looking at the position of the sun, already near the horizon, enormous and red as blood. But it hadn't set completely yet. Even exhausted, he ran more and more and could no longer feel his legs. Sadly, he thought: "Perhaps I've covered too much ground and I might lose everything. But let's go on."

But seeing the devil in the distance, solemnly standing with the bag of money beside him, he regained his courage, certain that he would arrive before sunset. He gathered all the energy he had and made one last effort. He jumped a fence, crossed a stream, and ran, almost flying. Not far from the finish line, he threw himself forward, almost losing his balance. Recovering, he took a few more long strides.

It was then that, exhausted and with no strength left, he collapsed to the ground. And he died. His mouth was bleeding, and his whole body was covered in scratches and sweat.

The devil, maliciously, merely smiled and took the bag of money for himself. Indifferent to the dead man's fate, he even went to the trouble of digging a grave the size of the peasant and placed him inside. It was only seven spans of earth, the smallest portion he could afford from all the land he had covered. He needed nothing more than that. The woman, petrified, watched everything, weeping copiously.

This story reminds us of the poet from Pernambuco, João Cabral de Melo Neto (1920-1999), who left us this moving work. Severe Death and Life (1995). At the farmer's funeral it says:This grave in which you lie, measured in spans, is the smallest account you settled in life; it is the portion that falls to you of this vast estate.".

The farmer's wife was right in her warning: "Beware of the devil, for he tempts you to have more and more, and in the end he will destroy you and take all your money." That is the logic of capital. We live and suffer within it. Advancing upon the forests, it brought us Covid-19. How will we rid ourselves of it?