'Dead peasants' = a Gogol' reference?

[E Wayles Browne]

Dear SEELANGS readers,
One scene in Michael Moore's new film "Capitalism" discusses the
fact that some corporations buy life insurance on their employees
--and the corporation gets the money when the person dies.
Moore's interviewee states that this practice was referred to
as 'dead peasants.'
Does anyone know whether this term was really inspired by the
buying and selling of dead peasants in Gogol's Mertvye dushi,
or whether the similarity is coincidental?
-- 
Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
Morrill Hall 220, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.

tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)
fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE)
e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu

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