Peasant Workers Research Articles

The Great Terror in 1930s Kharkiv: The Case of Konrad Weisselberg and Anna Mykalo

The article presents the fate of Konrad Weisselberg (1905–1937) and his wife Anna (Galia) Mykalo (1914–1989), shedding light on the intensification of violence in Kharkiv in the 1930s and on the mechanisms of the Great Terror. Weisselberg was a chemist, an Austrian communist of Jewish origin, an ideological immigrant to the USSR, and a little-known victim of Stalin’s purges. Anna Mykalo was a peasant worker who moved to Kharkiv just before the Stalinist regime locked peasants in the countryside. The couple was associated with the Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology (UPTI), where prominent physicists—Soviet and foreign—worked in the 1930s. Their story is linked to post-revolutionary Kharkiv, a city of industrial utopia and the site of the Great Famine and the Great Terror.

Contemporary urban employment patterns among Chinese peasant workers in the 2020s

ABSTRACT The urban employment dynamics of Chinese peasant workers have transformed in the 2020s, influenced by factors like COVID-19, demographic shifts, China’s economy, urbanization, and globalization. The data presented in this paper comes from China’s national and local authorities, official publications, and reports. The findings reveal a growing trend of these workers seeking jobs closer to their hometowns, causing hiring challenges in city manufacturing sectors. We also found that young workers struggle to secure employment in emerging tertiary industries due to skill gaps, while older workers confront employment barriers from policy restrictions and market biases. This study provides an analysis of the current employment situation for peasant workers in urban areas. It offers valuable insights for policymakers to create measures that foster stable and sustainable employment opportunities for this vulnerable demographic in China.

Analysis of Characterization and Humanistic Care in Underclass Literature in Urban Literature

Jia Pingwa is a writer who cares deeply about the underclass, and his novel Gao Xing is another of his creative heights, following Ruined City and The Qin Cavern. Jia Pingwa tells the story of peasant workers’ journey to the city in this novel. This paper discusses Jia Pingwa's literary portrayal of the character of the underclass scavenger, his ingenious use of narrative perspective in creating the underclass story, and the social criticism and humanistic concern shown in his work through analysis of the text of Gao Xing and a review of relevant literature. Jia Pingwa uses an optimistic and humorous human attitude and comedic language and plot to present the tragedy of underclass life, reflecting the plight of the underclass people and their spiritual pursuit under urbanisation. The novel deeply reflects his close concern for the social problems that still exist in the prosperous city and his deep concern for the underclass people.

The Impact of Basic Public Health Services on Migrant Peasant Workers’ Urban Integration: Evidence from China

The key to promoting urbanization in China is to achieve urban integration of migrant peasant workers, and basic public health services may have a potential social impact on the subjective welfare of migrant peasant workers. In this paper, we use data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) to study the impact of basic public health services on the urban integration of migrant peasant workers. The results show that basic public health services can significantly improve the probability of migrant peasant workers’ urban integration. The conclusions remain robust after mitigating potential endogeneity issues using the propensity score matching method (PSM), the CMP method, and robustness testing by replacing the explanatory variables with the reduced tail treatment. Further research found that the impact of basic public health services on migrant peasant workers’ urban integration is heterogeneous. The urban integration effect of basic public health services is more significant in male, high school and above, migrant peasant workers’ groups. The urban integration effect of basic public health services gradually increases with upgrading of the urban grade at the second-tier city and higher urban levels, and it also plays a vital role in the urban integration of the migrant peasant workers at the third-tier city and lower urban levels. Our findings also provide an evidence-based policy for China to promote equalizing basic public health services and a path to the urbanization of migrant peasant workers.

16:20

I saw the van full of construction workers on March 18th, 2022, at 16:20 when I passed them near the fourth ring of Beijing. Growing up, I’ve been told that young, adventurous peasants happily come to work in the cities to build a better life for themselves, and such is the foundation of Chinese Progress. Indeed, their labor gives rise to magnificent skyscrapers housing 21 million people, splendid wealth that puts China on par with the developed economies, and enviable healthcare, education, and transportation. And yet, for the five seconds we waited for the red lights to change, I saw exhausted, aging men, enmeshed in an invisible prison of intellectual boredom and physical drainage, who were, both legally through the hukou system and economically through neoliberalism, alien to all the riches they created.
 The hukou system functions like domestic passports, where each person is a citizen of the place they are born in. One must have an employment or a hukou in the city to qualify for its public healthcare and education, which in most cities are immensely superior to those of the countryside. Often, the “peasant workers,” as they are derogatorily called, are independent contractors that the construction companies hire daily and whose healthcare premium to the government the employers pay nothing toward. The companies also make sure to shy away from paying any compensation for work hazards, and wages can be delayed for months or years. In addition, without a hukou in the city, the workers’ children are also disqualified from entering the public education system. They either stay behind in the countryside, see their parents once a year, or attend semilegal schools in the slums in the city’s periphery.
 This work is the third in my series called “Progress,” which contains snapshots of my personal life, perhaps a glimpse, a momentary revelation, that give context and complexity to the well-acclaimed liberalization of Chinese economy.

How Internet usage contributes to livelihood resilience of migrant peasant workers? Evidence from China

Access to employment through the Internet matters a great deal to stabilise the livelihood of migrant peasant workers in Chinese cities. This study examines how Internet usage affects the off-farm income of migrant peasant workers by constructing a random effects model for the period 2010–2016. Research findings corroborate that Internet usage has significantly increased the off-farm income of migrant peasant workers and the positive impact of Internet usage on income is stronger for migrant peasant workers than for their urban flexible-employed counterparts. The positive impacts of Internet usage on migrant peasant workers’ income vary regarding region, gender, and educational level. It is concluded that Internet usage has helped improve the livelihood resilience of migrant peasant workers in China.

Peasant Worker Communist Spy: A Chinese Intelligence Agent Looks Back at His Time in Cambodia

Peasant Worker Communist Spy: A Chinese Intelligence Agent Looks Back at His Time in Cambodia

Mangliu on film: Wu Wenguang and the Beijing blind floaters

With the loosened Household Registration Policy in China in the late 1980s and early 1990s, peasants flocked to major cities and became peasant workers. Meanwhile, some provincial artists moved to the art capital of Beijing to pursue their artistic careers, among them Wu Wenguang, a pioneering figure in the New Documentary Movement in the 1990s. The two different social groups shared the designation of mangliu because of their similar amorphous or floating lifestyles. In this article, through an analysis of Wu Wenguang’s works in the 1990s and early 2000s, I examine how he documented ‘blind floating’ artists as well as peasant workers, whose life trajectories became entangled. For Wu Wenguang, as representative of provincial artists who lived in the urban-rural fringe of Beijing, his documentation of his contemporary blind floating artists is consistent with his recording of the peasant-turned-blind-floater. I also explore how Wu Wenguang’s aesthetic of xianchang (being on the scene) is in accordance with his self-identification as a blind floating artist who lived in communities with blind floating peasant workers. The collaborative piece Dance with Farm Workers provides a reflection on the utilisation of peasant workers in performance art. Wu Wenguang addressed social issues revolving around peasant workers by revealing their status of being exploited in the collaborative performance between artists and peasant workers. In the guise of collaborative performers, peasant workers were nevertheless caught in a power relationship similar to the one between employer and wage labourer.

The impact of the ILO Supervisory System on the achievement of labour rights and the promotion of social dialogue in the Latin American region

The impact of the ILO Supervisory System on the achievement of labour rights and the promotion of social dialogue in the Latin American region Monica V Tepfer (bio) The pronouncements of the supervisory bodies of the International Labour Organisation have had a high degree of influence on the conquest of rights and the promotion of social dialogue in the Latin American region. The ILO’s corpus of standards, characterised by a set of legally binding conventions, recommendations and declarations on various subjects related to the world of work, has its own supervisory system that is unique in the multilateral system. The supervisory system is composed of independent legal experts and tripartite bodies. Monitoring of the body of law is carried out through a regular system and special procedures. The regular monitoring system is based on the examination of reports on implementation by law and in practice sent by Member States, as well as on comments received from workers’ and employers’ organisations. This report is produced by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations1. Its observations constitute assessments of the conformity of a Member State’s national legislation with the conventions it has ratified. Its comments have acquired a high moral standing over the years and their legal value in national realities has become indisputable2. The regular monitoring system is complemented by the work of the Committee on the Application of Standards of the International Labour Conference. This is a standing tripartite committee. Its main objective is, through its analysis of the report submitted by the Committee of Experts, to adopt conclusions, recommending that governments take specific measures to address the challenges at a national level, including ILO missions or technical assistance. The special supervisory procedures3 include, on the one hand, a generally applicable complaints and grievance procedure and, on the other hand, a special procedure on freedom of association. The latter is carried out by a special body called the Freedom of Association Committee of the Governing Body set up in 1951 to examine complaints about violations of freedom of association. The pronouncements of the supervisory bodies and their possible qualification as a source of law or as “soft law jurisprudence” have given rise to much debate and discussion among academics and jurists outside and inside the ILO4. However, its value has always been highlighted by the trade union movement, especially in the Americas region, where, thanks to the pronouncements of the ILO supervisory bodies, it has been possible to celebrate important achievements of rights in the different national realities. In other words, beyond any debate on the legal nature of the supervisory bodies’ pronouncements, the trade union movement has undoubtedly been able to use them to promote the effective recognition of fundamental rights. ■ Recently in Ecuador, the Provincial Court of Pichincha5, following up on the recommendations adopted by the Committee on Freedom of Association and approved by the Governing Body in its report no. 391 of October 20196, ordered that the Association of Banana and Peasant Workers (ASTAC) be registered as a trade union organisation and, in turn, ordered the regulation of the exercise of the right to freedom of association by branch of activity in the country. ■ In Colombia, the Supreme Court of Justice, Labour Cassation Chamber7, in its judgement of June 2020, recognising the pronouncements of the Committee on Freedom of Association and the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations as authentic interpreters of the conventions on freedom of association, declared the legality of the strike promoted by the National Health and Social Security Trade Union (SINDESS) and considered the right to strike as a possible instrument for the realisation of the general interest of a society. Both court rulings demonstrate that, on the one hand, from a purely legal analysis, national courts have the capacity to recognise and give binding force to the recommendations of the ILO supervisory bodies8. On the other hand, it clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the ILO supervisory mechanism in empowering trade union organisations in their countries to achieve effective recognition of their rights. Over the last 20 years, the ILO has witnessed an exponential...

Establishing a Sustainable Labor Market in Developing Countries: A Perspective of Generational Differences in Household Wage

The importance of a sustainable labor market is a critical and fundamental point for many developing countries, where global competitiveness is based on cheap labor. The aim of this empirical–analytical study, framed in China in the research context, is to approach this hot topic from the lens of household wage differences between generations. Using cross-sectional data, consisting of the China Dynamic Migrant Survey and Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition methods and quantiles, to analyze the data results confirmed the differences in wages between two generations of peasant and urban workers. Moreover, a distinctive tapering in the pay gap occurred among the new generation. Fundamentally, a big gap exists in the rate of return on education between urban and rural labor. According to the results of quantile decomposition, the old generation of peasant and urban workers demonstrate anti-discriminatory phenomena at very low and very high scores.

Peasant migrant workers’ defense of rights in China at the modern reform stage: challenges and opportunities

Peasant migrant workers’ defense of rights in China at the modern reform stage: challenges and opportunities

Epidemiological characteristics of imported malaria in Mianyang, Sichuan, 2009-2019

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of imported malaria in Mianyang during the 20092019 period, and we provide scientific basis for the control of imported malaria. Methods The epidemic situation was collected from the infectious disease reporting information system and the epidemiological investigation data of imported malaria during 2009–2019 in Mianyang. The data were analyzed by descriptive epidemiological. Results A total of 169 imported malaria cases were reported during 2009–2019 in Mianyang, all were laboratory confirmed cases, with an average annual incidence rate of 0.43/100 000. There were 64 cases (37.876%) of vivax malaria, 91 cases (53.85%) of falciparum malaria, 5 cases (2.96%) of ovale malaria, 1 case (0.59%) of quartan malaria and 8 cases (4.73%) of mixed infections. Imported cases were reported all the year round, June and July had the most cases, with 22 cases each, accounting for 26.04% of the whole year. There were 10 cases (5.92%) imported from other province in China, 38 cases (22.49%) imported from 6 countries in Asia, 121 cases (71.60%) imported from 24 countries in Africa. Imported malaria cases have been reported in 10 counties. The average age of the cases was (38.45±11.74) years. Malaria cases were majorly young men working as peasant and migrant workers. The average time from symptom appearing to being diagnosed was 4.18 d, 39.05% and 56.21% of the patients were diagnosed in municipal and county medical treatment units, respectively. Conclusion The situation of imported malaria from overseas is still serious in Mianyang. It is important to improve the malaria diagnosis and treatment, and strengthen the health education of migrant workers and their families in order to achieve better prevention and control of imported malaria in the area and put an end to secondary cases. 摘要:目的 分析 2009—2019 年四川省绵阳市输人性疟疾的流行病学特征, 为进一步加强输人性疟疾防治工作提 供科学依据。 方法 通过法定传染病报告信息管理系统, 收集绵阳市 2009—2019 年疟疾病例流行病学资料和病例个 案调査资料。采用描述性流行病学方法对这些资料进行统计学分析。 结果 2009—2019 年绵阳市共有 169 例输人性 疟疾病例, 均为实验室确诊病例, 年均发病率 0.43/10 万。其中间日疟64 例 (37.87%)、恶性疟 91 例(53.85%)、三日疟1 例 (0.59%)、卵型疟 5 例 (2.96%)、混合感染 8 例 (4.73%)。输人性病例全年均有分布, 6 月和 7 月最多, 均为 22 例, 占全年 的26.04%。169例输人性疟疾病例中, 10 例 (5.92%)来自国内其他省份, 38 例 (22.49%)来自亚洲 6 个国家, 121 例 (71.60%)来自非洲 24 个国家。全市10 个县市区均有输人性疟疾病例报告。病例平均年龄 (38.45±11.74) 岁, 主要为男 性青壮年, 职业以农民、工人为主。发病至诊断时间平均为 4.18d, 39.05%、56.21% 的病例分别在县级、市级医疗机构确 诊。 结论 绵阳市输人性疟疾疫情仍然严峻, 应引起高度重视, 需进一步加强输人性疟疾防控;提高医务人员疟疾诊 治能力, 完善疟疾监测体系, 加强对重点地区重点人群尤其是出境人员和高疟区回归人员的健康教育, 防止继发病例 发生。

The Household Registration Threshold and Peasant Worker Decision-Making over Acquiring Urban Hukou in China

This paper investigates the effects of the household registration threshold on peasant worker decision-making over acquiring urban hukou using 2258 peasant workers’ data in China. The results demonstrate that the household registration threshold will significantly increase the peasant workers’ willingness to obtain urban hukou, and increase the peasant workers’ probability of acquiring the urban hukou of home province cities. In addition, China’s household registration threshold plays a more significant role in metropolitan cities and eastern cities than in small and medium-sized cities and midwestern cities in terms of its impact on peasant workers’ willingness to acquire urban hukou, and their urban hukou location intention. The degree of social integration’s mediating effect is significant. Firstly, the degree of social integration reduces the positive effect of the household registration threshold for peasant workers acquiring urban hukou. Next, the degree of social integration influences peasant workers choosing urban hukou in the work city. To achieve improvement in the new urbanisation level of the household registration population, it is necessary to promote the integration of peasant workers and residents and decrease the household registration threshold for peasant workers’ work cities.

Drifting Peasant Workers: The Reflection of the Hukou System within the Chinese Cinematic Network


 Migrating from rural areas to urban areas, Chinese farmers become part of the urban working class. The migration have attracted both urban cinema and independent documentary to represent the integration of farmers into urban space. However, whether the figures of peasant workers in urban areas can be simply treated as the urban working class is problematic. Here I introduce the theories of textuality and intertextuality to explore the audiovisual representation of Chinese migrant workers within Chinese urban cinema and Chinese independent documentary at the turn of the 21st century, searching for the communal sign representation and social signification of peasant images within urban context. As a result, peasant workers are depicted as drifters between urban areas and rural areas because they are marginalized by local workers, urban elites, and urban governors due to the household registration system. Their identity, cultural manifestation, and social status are shaped by the rural-urban mediation, if not conflict.

РАСПРОСТРАНЕНИЕ ФИЗИЧЕСКОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ КАК ЧАСТИ СОВЕТСКОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ В СРЕДЕ ТРУДЯЩЕЙСЯ МОЛОДЕЖИ ЗАПАДНОЙ СИБИРИ В ПЕРИОД ИНДУСТРИАЛИЗАЦИИ И КОЛЛЕКТИВИЗАЦИИ (1930-е гг.).

The study analyzes the transformation of physical education in the 1930s, the involvement of the working youth in it, and the implementation of the social functions of physical education on the example of Western Siberia. The development of physical culture during the period of rapid economic transformations, which predetermined a multiple increase in the industrial capacity of the USSR, is considered on the basis of regional archival material and periodicals. The study showed that the years of industrialization and collectivization became a period of essential transformations in the field of physical culture, including: the creation of a normative basis for physical education and the All-Union Council of Physical Culture and Sports, the inclusion of physical education in socialist competition, the transition to the production principle of building physical education organizations, the creation of labor physical education links, etc. Exercises in the workplace and physical training breaks were recognized as the most appropriate forms of physical culture activities. In accordance with specific economic tasks, the restructuring of the departments activities in the field of physical culture in the region became the agenda of the III Plenary Session of the West Siberian Regional Council of Physical Culture in 1930. Physical training shock-brigades, overfulfilling production plans, were to become the main power to turn Siberian Krai into an industrial-agricultural and cultural territory. Trade unions and the Komsomol had an active position in this issue. In 1932, in Western Siberia, there were 75 thousand members of shock-brigades, combined in 356 self-supporting physical training brigades. Despite its great socioeconomic role, the organization and distribution of physical education in the agricultural sector were faced eith significant difficulties. Some improvement in the situation of the region resulted from measures taken to increase the number of physical education movement members: restructuring of the management of physical education of peasant youth; creation of political departments, introduction of rates for physical education workers in the staffing of machine tractor stations and state farms; holding of mass events. However, the simplest sports facilities appeared only in very few economically strong collective and state farms, the staffing was minimal, and the physical culture movement at the end of the decade was in the process of organizing collectives. Thus, in the 1930s, serious transformations took place in the field of physical culture. They became the prerequisite for the formation of physical culture as part of the Soviet culture and lifestyle of workers, for the solution of economic, social, and political problems. The involvement of Siberian peasant workers in this sphere, increases in workers’ labor productivity and health, among other factors, contributed to the industrialization and collectivization of the state in the short term.

ГРОМАДСЬКА ДІЯЛЬНІСТЬ СТУДЕНТСТВА ПЕДАГОГІЧНИХ НАВЧАЛЬНИХ ЗАКЛАДІВ КИЄВА У 20–30-ті рр. ХХ ст.

In the 20–30s of the 20th century special attention was paid to the formation of the ideological worldview of students of education institutions, future teachers who were to shape the political consciousness of the younger generation with communist ideals. The ideological principles of the party were subordinated to the social activities of youth, in particular, in Kyiv pedagogical educational institutions. The article deals with the work of student clubs and student government bodies, various organizations. Since the mid-20s of the 20th century trade union organizations took over the functions of youth advocates, which were largely influenced by university administrations and controlled the social composition of students, who presented themselves as an exclusively peasant workers. Some of the students were embraced by work in the cells of voluntary societies, the government used to propagate their ideas of socialist construction and the ideological education of the masses. The most active were the cells of Tsoaviakhim, which oversaw the work of the rifle circles. Close to them were sports clubs. Universities also operated cells of MOPR, the Friends of the Children societies, the All-Ukrainian Society for Land Organization of Working Jews OZET, and the Friends of Radio. The ideological work among students was intensified by the student press, the production of “live and light newspapers” that covered the processes of building a higher school, the participation of youth organizations in the proletariat of institutes and technical schools, the life and attitude of students, their participation in cultural work etc. Most of the time, students took part in enriching work. In particular, they worked on various campaigns related to raising funds for the state’s economic needs, participating in fundraising to strengthen defense, days of industrialization, etc.

A Middle-Class Misidentification

Through the autobiographical poetry of contemporary Chinese female peasant workers, this article studies how Chinese migrant workers are dis-identified by the identifying hukou system and thus become bodies of non-identity drifting in cities. Driven by the urban desire intrigued by national discourses on modernization, peasants deidentify themselves by abandoning their officially recognized rural identity only to see that they are disidentified by the authority that rejects their urban citizenship. The double dispossession leaves them no way to identify themselves. To deradicalize the nonidentity, postsocialist ideologies invent a middle-class dream, attempting to reshape migrant workers into a “working class” misidentified with a class image beyond its financial reach as well as social function. It thus disunites the working class by throwing migrant workers into constant search for identities.

The Study of Geometric Parameters of the Mong Impact on Natural Frequency

The Mong or Tam-tam is sometimes also called Gong, which is a percussion instrument in Thailand. The Mong with boss generates a tone with less shim and a one-key sound. A player has to percuss the Mongs to create a rhythm with a hard rubber mallet. It was originally used for signaling peasant workers in from the fields and telling time in Thai because the Mongs are loud enough to be heard from up to 8 km away. The sound of the Mong is usually generated from the vibration of its own structure. The aims of this analysis were to study the eigen modes and identify the important parameters to generate a natural frequency, in which the boss of the Mong are excited. Finite element analysis and the design of the experiment were used to find the relation of geometric parameters that impact the eigen mode. In this paper, the inertia relief method was used to study the natural frequency of the Mong, while the spectrum analyzer was used to measure the eigen mode. The results showed that the diameter of the horizontal flange and the thickness of the Mong had a significant effect on the eigen natural frequency, which is similar to the Gong. This implies that the thickness and horizontal flange diameter must be increased if wanting to use the Mong with many key tones. The analysis agreed with the actual behavior of the structure of the Gong of Khong Wong Yai.

Current Form of Reciprocity Between Land Owners Peasant and Peasant Laborer

The main focus of this research is aimed to discover the current form of reciprocity between landowners and farm laborers in the rural areas of Purbalingga and Banyumas, Central Java Province, Indonesia. This research is also aimed to find how the patront can maintain their work relation to client. This study uses a qualitative descriptive. All peasant who were working as peasant laborers in the research location included as the research subject. The determination of informant is done by purposive sampling, while the number of informants is not determined rigidly but is adjusted to the needs and completeness of the data. The result of the study shows that the forms of reciprocal relations is general and some are special. In reciprocal relationships which are general, it inclined to be symmetrical and fair. However in some other cases that were special, there is symmetrical or asymmetrical reciprocal relationship. Suggestion to be given is that symmetrical reciprocal relationships are better be maintained so the quality of relationship will improved, while for relationships that are asymmetrical and unfair can also be improved by providing sufficient space for peasant workers through integrated and sustainable empowerment.

Physical Illnesses and Medically Serious Suicide Attempts in Rural China.

Background: Physical illness is a strong correlate of suicidal behavior. However, its impact on attempted suicide in rural China is under-studied. Aims: This study was designed to assess the influence of physical illness on risk of suicide attempts and to identify distinguishing characteristics among medically serious suicide attempters with physical illnesses from those without. Method: Participants were medically serious suicide attempters identified through hospital emergency rooms (n = 659) as well as age- and gender-matched community controls (n = 659) from Shandong Province, China. Face-to-face interviews with the respondents were conducted with a semistructured protocol that included sociodemographic and psychological measures. Results: Physical illness was a significant risk factor for medically serious suicide attempts (OR= 1.739, 95% CI = 1.182-2.560). Older age was a significant risk factor, while female gender, no religion, and non-peasant occupations were significant protective factors for suicide attempts with physical illness. Limitations: Samples from only one province may not completely represent all serious suicide attempters in China. Furthermore, we did not assess the severity and the degree to which their physical illness limited the functioning of the individual. Conclusion: Physical illness is an important risk factor for suicide attempts in rural China. More efforts are needed to specifically target older people, males, those with religious beliefs, and peasant workers with physical illness.