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THESES ON PEASANTRY

J.M. Blaut, Kirsten Haring, Phil O'Keefe and Ben Wisner

Marxist theory seeks to understand the ( 3 ) . Peasant societies may display differ-
world in order to change it (1). The major- ences reflecting their particular colonial
ity 05 the world's population consists of history. Thus, the effects of British
peasants, and theories must therefore take colonial strategy were clearly different
adequate account of the peasantry. We ad- from those of French and Portuguese strategy.
vance the following theses on peasantry in Further, in any comparative analysis, it is
order to identify certain facts and process- crucial to consider whether a given peasant
es which seem to us to be crucial to a society lies within a classical colony, a
Marxist understanding of this question, and neo-colony, or a socialist state.
in order to call attention to certain sources
of confusion and error. (4). Comparisons among peasant societies
must take into account the presence and in-
THESIS 1 . tensity of pressure for European settlement,
past or present. This is obviously impor-
One obstacle to theory-building about tant in cases (like the "White Highlands" of
the peasantry is the tendency to over- Kenya, the sugar-plantation areas of Java)
generalize: to neglect the variations where local populations were dispossessed,
among peasant societies in different times and in cases where the peasantry itself is
and places. Some of the more important derived from European immigrants (as in
dimensions of variation, which must be taken southern South America).
into account in any general theorizing on
the peasantry, are the following: (5). The existence and types of land-
expropriating enterprises will have im-
(1). The history of depopulation, spatial portant effects on peasant societies, as in
displacement, and ethnocide in the New World the case of mineral concessions in Namibia,
since 1492 has led to fundamental differ- pine-forest cutting in the Dominican Repub-
ences between New and Old World peasantries. lic, and tourism in Kenya.
Thus, for example, New World peasant socie-
ties, under comparable socio-economic con- (6). The existence and type of labor
ditions, are likely to have a larger re- displacing enterprises will also have im-
source base than Old World societies. Thus portant effects, as in the case of labor
also, New World peasant societies are often migration from Emtswana, Turkey, and Mexico,
of very recent origin (even post-bourgeois and urban labor demand in Taiwan, Aden, and
revolution, as in the West Indies), and it Puerto Rico.
may be dangerous to compare them histori-
cally with those Old World societies which (7). Involvement in the production of ex-
evolved in one place, over a long period of port products (cotton in the Sudan, bananas
time, from earlier formations. in the Windward Islands, jute in Bangladesh,
etc.) is also an important variable to be
(2). Comparisons of peasantries must take taken into account in comparison among
into account differing histories of con- peasantries.
quest: for instance, Arab, Sudanic, Otto-
man, and European conquests in parts of
Africa.

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( 8 ) . Material aspects of the forces of pro- ism, theories about "one-stage" and "two-
duction which derive, directly or indirectly, stage" revolutions, etc.. Such thqories
from environmental qualities at a given pro- should at the very least be made explicit,
duction site must also be taken into account if arguments are to be joined. In addition,
in comparison and generalization. For ex- there is a danger that theories of this sort
may lead to a riori assumptions and blind
ample, the availability or non-availability
of ground water in parts of the Sahelian -E-7i
us to the concrete istorical reality of the
peasantry in specific areas. Fo$ example,
savanna has been a factor influencing the
impact on peasants of colonialism and neo- the proposition that a stage of struggle for
colonialism. On the other hand, one must land reform must precede a stage of struggle
bear in mind the fact that all other rela- for socialism is undoubtedly true in many
tions constituting the forces of production, peasant areas, but undoubtedly not true in
as well as the social relations of pro- others. Land reform, and peasant land-owner-
duction, must be taken into account in order ship, is usually not a terminal goal for in-
to avoid deterministic formulations, as in stance, in pure plantation areas where rural
the case of the Sahel famine deliberately population densities are so high that peasants
misnamed a drought - that is, attributed themselves are aware that family farms are
not viable as self-sustaining production
to environmental causes, not to capitalism.
Omitting ecological factors obstructs ma- units, and in areas (like Puerto Rico) where
terialist analysis: over-emphasizing ecolo- the class of family farmers has essentially
gical factors obstructs dialectical analy- been wiped out. Thus an a prtori ideological
sis. assumption must give way to historical and
geographical fact.
19). Comparison of peasant societies must
take into account cultural differences in THESIS 3.
such matters as language, kinship, religion,
and food preferences. The importance of A third obstacle to theorizing about
these differences derives in part from the peasants is the error which we call "Marx-
fact that they may antedate capitalism and ist fundamentalism," that of relying ex-
even (as in the case of some language dif- clusively on classical, 19th-century texts
ferences) antedate class society, and leads and ignoring the late development of Marx-
to important strategic outcomes, as in the ist theory, the history of change in peasant
problems of organizing a liberation struggle societies and that of peasant struggles, and
in an area with more than one language or the fact that classical Marxism limited its
religion. Again, however, the danger of analysis of peasantry very largely to the
improper invocation of cultural factors must yeoman peasantry of Western Europe - a case
be underscored. Even Marxists have at times atypical of peasants on a world-wide scale.
confused culture and class, improperly label- Marxist fundamentalism leads to extremely
led nations as cultures (or even "tribes"), serious errors based on improper generali-
and accepted such cultural stereotypes as zations from Marx's and Engels' correct
"African traditionalism" and "Asiatic characterization of the West-European yeo-
bureaucratism.'I man peasantry. These peasants were embedded
in a post-industrial-revolution society
THESIS 2. which was developing, not underdeveloping.
Development implied, among other things, that
A second obstacle to theory-building the dissolution of some family farms would
lies in the tendency to use key terms in lead to enrichment of others as part of the
ambiguous ways, and in permitting unstated rural population emigrated to expanding
assumptions and implicit theories to creep cities and as demand €or farm produce ex-
unnoticed into the analysis. In short, the panded. For this reason, and others related
rigor and univocality found in most Marxist to it, the yeoman peasantry was, indeed,
analysis of industrial capitalism has not petit-bourgeois in class attributes and
yet come to prevail in Marxist analysis of consciousness, was not nationally oppressed,
peasantry. and hence was strikingly different from the
great majority of peasants in the world as
The term "peasant" itself is an impor- a whole. Furthermore, the classical texts
tant example of ambiguous usage. At times did not provide a thorouqh analysis of
it may be restricted to the very narrow imperialism (beyond the much more limited
meaning of land-owning family farmers; at idea of capitalism's spatial expansion-
other times, it may comprehend all cate- diffusion), and modern peasantries are pro-
gories of rural workers, including planta- foundly influenced by imperialism - are in
tion workers and migrant farmworkers. The many ways a product of imperialism.
crucial point is the need for semantic THESIS 4.
clarity.
Implicit theories may be obstacles to It is improper to contrast the class
analysis in a somewhat different way. The behavior of peasants with that of pro-
various Marxist schools of thought will at letarians in colonial and neo-colonial
times subscribe to differing theories about countries. The tendency to do so, we feel,
matters which abut on the analysis of pea- results from the errors and confusions de-
sants - theories about the nature of modes lineated in Theses 1-3. while it is true
that non-wage family labor is a basic (per-
of production other than industrial capital- haps universal) element in peasant farm pro-

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duction, it does not follow that peasant free of charge to the capitalists, and as a
families are in any sense insulated from the means of maintaining low wages in the non-
forms of oppression visited upon other work- peasant sector by reducing the cost of living
ing-class elements in these countries, or through peasant supply of food (and some-
are exploited in a way fundamentally dif- times housing); such purposes can be seen
ferent from that of the proletariat, or are in some (though by no means all) peasant
in any sense capable of attaining the petit- development schemes and land-reform projects
bourgeois goals associated with a classical in many Third World countries: ( 4 ) , capital-
yeoman peasantry, or are necessarily under- ism may actually help to create a peasantry
going rapid transformation into an industrial under conditions where other uses of labor
labor force. The great majority of peasant would, for one of a number of reasons (in-
farms fall among a continuum between, at cluding isolation), yield less surplus value:
one extreme, the stable farm whose household this evidently occurred in the West Indies
not only owns the means of production but after emancipation, and occurs also in some
owns enough of the means to provide it with land colonization schemes (western Canada,
a full living on the farm itself and, at the
other extreme, the pure rural wage-earning
Amazonia, etc. ).
proletariat. The typical peasant farm, on THESIS 5 .
a world scale of comparison, tends to fall
much closer to the proletarian end of this Class struggle and active resistance
continuum than the yeoman-peasantry end. are the normal conditions of the peasantry.
The great majority of cases involve such a There is a continuum of forms of struggle
combination of insecure tenancy, small size which spans struggle and resistance em-
of farm and scale of production, and dff- bedded in cultural forms to wars of libera-
farm employment of farm family members that tion. Some specific examples include:
the net result is class behavior and class (11, the sabotage of material infrastructure:
consciousness strikingly close to that of ( 2 ) , the defense of land: ( 3 ) , the defense
the proletariat within the same society. of production systems, from the non-adoption
of innovations to rebellion; ( 4 ) , flight from
It is also improper to contrast the labor conscription; (5), the withholding of
peasantry and the proletariat in colonial produce and labor pDwer; (6), strikes; (7),
and neo-colonial countries in such a way banditry: and ( 8 ) , wars of liberation.
as to view the peasantry as a rapidly de- These forms of struggle are neither fully
clining class, the proletariat as one which documented nor adequately understood and
is at the same time rapidly enlarging as their role in the socialist revolution is
the peasant population leaves the country- frequently underestimated.
side. In this view, the peasantry is con-
sidered a class whose significance will THESIS 6.
necessarily diminish with the further de-
velopment of capitalism, as occured in Women play a crucial role within the
Europe a century ago. But capitalism does peasant farm,family. They assume a major
not develop in colonial and neo-colonial responsibility in the sphere of production
countries today as it did in the metro- and almost always a complete responsibility
politan countries in pre-imperialist times, in the sphere of reproduction. This con-
and peasantries do not quickly and auto- tribution to family maintenance and re-
matically dissolve. In fact, four cases production has been underestimated consist-
can be roughly distinguished for the direc- ently. Under capitalism, peasant women are
tions of evolutionary development which exploited at a higher rate than men. In
peasantries may take under imperialist con- many circumstances, the articulation of the
ditions, each of the cases representing an capitalist social formation reinforces pre-
outcome which will under certain circum- existing forms of women's subjugation and/
stances increase the total flow of surplus or creates new ones.
value hence fit the plans of advancing
capitalism: (l), the peasantry may dis- FOOTNOTE
solve rapidly (as happened in Puerto Rico);
( 2 ) , the peasantry may be undergoing a slow (1) The "Theses on Peasantry" is the
process of destruction through polarization output of a three day meeting between the
into kulak or corporate farms and wage- four authors held at Clark University in
earners (as is occurring in India), but the June 1977. The purpose of the meeting was
rate of change may be so slow that capital- to discuss what analysis currently existed
ism will disappear long before the process that could be utilized in understanding the
has come close to completion, or has even political economy of the peasantry and help
significantly altered the rural landscape: in building a Marxian theory of Peasantry.
-
( 3 ) , peasantries may be reinforced pro- The discussion was wide ranging -"Theses
tected and in some cases strengthened - on Peasantry" merely summarizes the most
by capitalism as a means of lowering the re- important conclusions reached in the dis-
production cost of labor, as a means of pro- cussion. Comments on the "Theses" would be
viding a form unemployment insurance and appreciated.
welfare at the expense of the peasants and

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