Reframing Development: Global Peasant Movements and the New Agrarian Question

Author(s):  
Philip McMichael
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-40
Author(s):  
Archana Prasad

This article explores some questions arising from recent debates on patriarchy and capitalism. The focus is on the role of women in communist-led peasant movements in India and the implications of such struggles on the project of women’s emancipation. The first section lays out a framework for discussing the interface between class consciousness and the anti-patriarchal project, whereby patriarchy is located within the structural contradictions arising out of the contestations within the process of accumulation. The second section documents the historical context, focusing on the relationship between land reforms and social transformation in semi-feudal and early capitalist contexts, and analyzes the extent to which communist-led struggles are anti-patriarchal in character. The third section turns to the participation of women in the contemporary struggles of both agricultural workers and peasant movements and underlines the new emerging dialectics between women’s and peasant organizations under a neoliberal state and with deepening agrarian distress.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-59
Author(s):  
Bernardo Mançano Fernandes

Problems of land use and ownership result from the inequalities caused by the hegemonic form of capitalism, agribusiness. A possible alternative model has yet to be worked out, and there is a fundamental need to reflect on the struggle against the hegemony of capitalism and how to safeguard the interests of the peasantry. From this perspective, the agrarian question should be considered as a conflict between those favoring the interests of the peasantry and family farming and those favoring agribusiness. A paradigmatic debate about the roles of the Brazilian state, agribusiness, and the peasant movements in formulating public policy shows that the potential for the peasantry to grow food is threatened by the concentration of power, landownership, capital, technology, and wealth. Unless there is a change in the development model, the prospect is increasing inequality. The experiment with having two government ministries for agriculture is an important step in the shaping of policies to support family farming. Os problemas com uso e propriedade da terra são resultados das desigualdades causadas pelo modelo capitalista hegemônico denominado agronegócio. Um possível modelo alternativo está sendo gestado e há necessidade de refletir sobre a luta contra a hegemonia do capitalismo e como salvaguardar os interesses dos camponeses. A partir desta perspectiva, a questão agrária deve ser considerada como conflitualidade permanente entre os interesses dos camponeses ou agricultura familiar e os interesses do agronegócio. O debate paradigmático contribui para compreender o papel do Estado brasileiro, do agronegócio e dos movimentos camponeses na formulação de políticas públicas. Também mostra que as possibilidades de criação de um modelo de desenvolvimento do campesinato está ameaçado pela concentração de poder, propriedade da terra, capital, tecnologia e riqueza nas mãos do agronegócio. Se não houver uma mudança com a criação de um modelo de desenvolvimento voltado aos interesses da agricultura camponesa, a perspectiva é de aumento da desigualdade. A experiência de ter dois ministérios para a agricultura é condição fundamental na definição de políticas de apoio à agricultura camponesa e familiar.


REVISTA NERA ◽  
2012 ◽  
pp. 57-71
Author(s):  
Philip McMichael

This paper criticizes the conventional conception of the agrarian question and argues that the way the “agrarian question” is traditionally understood should be revised. The role played by the agrarian movement, especially transnational agrarian movements such as the Vía Campesina, is underscored.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Toendepi Shonhe

The reinvestment of rural agrarian surplus is driving capital accumulation in Zimbabwe's countryside, providing a scope to foster national (re-) industrialisation and job creation. Contrary to Bernstein's view, the Agrarian Question on capital remains unresolved in Southern Africa. Even though export finance, accessed through contract farming, provides an impetus for export cash crop production, and the government-mediated command agriculture supports food crop production, the reinvestment of proceeds from the sale of agricultural commodities is now driving capital accumulation. Drawing from empirical data, gathered through surveys and in-depth interviews from Hwedza district and Mvurwi farming area in Mazowe district in Zimbabwe, the findings of this study revealed the pre-eminence of the Agrarian Question, linked to an ongoing agrarian transition in Zimbabwe. This agrarian capital elaborates rural-urban interconnections and economic development, following two decades of de-industrialisation in Zimbabwe. 


2018 ◽  
pp. 98-108
Author(s):  
Vadim V. Kulachkov ◽  

The article studies documents from the State Archive of the Orel Region (GAOO) as an important source for studying the sense of justice of the Oryol gubernia peasants in early 20th century. Introduction of new archival materials allows to flesh out our knowledge and to produce a true-to-life picture of the Oryol peasants’ way of life. The peasant origins of the majority of the population necessitate a comprehensive study of peasant legal consciousness. Historical legacy is pertinent to present day, and forgetting its lessons is fraught with consequences. Evolution of modern Russian statehood hedges on its historical and legal traditions. The article studies documents in the fonds of public authorities, police, gendarmerie, courts, and prosecution offices. Introduction of new materials of public authorities, police, gendarmerie, courts, and prosecution offices into the scholarship promotes the analysis of the evolution of peasant legal sense in early 20th century. The chronological framework of the article is limited to the period from 1900 to 1917, its territorial framework is limited to the Oryol gubernia in its pre-revolutionary borders. The article studies reports, dispatches, and circular letters using the comparative method. The intensification of peasant protest was incidental to the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907 – the peasants hoped to force the government to settle the agrarian question, wherein lay the crux of their interests. As peasants of the Oryol gubernia suffered from shortage of arable land, antimonarchical sentiments gained momentum and translated a growing number of trials for contempt of the Emperor. Illegal literature spreading among the peasants, further radicalized them, and the authorities grew more and more hesitant in their assessment of peasant loyalty, which is quite intelligible in the archival documents. Thus, the use of new archival documents in addition to published materials promotes the scholarship on the peasant legal sense.


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