Poor Peasants Research Articles

‘Jews to Madagascar’: Poland in the face of ethnical problems in the 1930s

The idea of deporting the Jewish population of Europe was part of a modern anti-Semitism. Poland was no exception in this regard. Under the influence of other countries implementing anti-Jewish laws, also Polish anti-Semitism became more radical. After 1935, such postulates were openly expressed as the policy of the Polish government has changed its character – from state to national. Additionally, due to the global economic crisis the idea began to be taken far more seriously not just in national Catholic circles. The resettlement of Jews was seen as the way to reduce unemployment and to ‘Polonise’ Polish cities, as masses of poor peasants could replaced the Jewish workers as far as trade and craftsmanship were concerned. The authors of immigration plans for European Jews suggested evacuating them most willingly to uncivilised countries – including Madagascar (a French colony) – due to the fact that their lands were either not used at all or only used to an insufficient and inadequate extent. In Poland, the idea was first adopted in 1926 as a solution to the problem of overpopulation in rural areas. However, the conditions on the island did not allow settlement and soon the idea fell through. Yet it came back a decade later as a proposal of deporting exclusively Polish Jews. At the time, the project was taken much more seriously and in 1937 the Polish government commissioned a task force to examine the possibility of settling in Madagascar and to evaluate the island’s potential, in particular its climate and labour conditions. But the reports of the commission members were full of contradictions and the French were showing growing caution on the matter.

Resistance and Politics of Survival: The Moral Economy of a Tobacco Producing Peasantry in Kenya, 1945-2002

During the late 1960’s, BAT Company under state support controlled the tobacco contract farming that was starting to flourish in the fertile areas Kuria District in the southwestern parts of Republic of Kenya. From the beginning, tobacco proved to be a suitable cash crop for these poor peasants who were constantly struggling against a paucity of hard currency and declining pastoral economy b b. After years of successful tobacco planting, Kuria became symbols of prosperity. Even though the influence and power of the merchants and international conglomerates, was increasing, the cultivation of tobacco remained almost exclusively the field of a legion of families, who produced mounting loads of this crop. The case of tobacco production in this area demonstrated that minor-degree peasant agriculture could lead to increasing production for the export market. Because of their subsistence lifestyle, the tobacco producers were considered by many to be hardworking, honest, and thrifty citizens. According to some then-contemporary observers, this self-dependent lifestyle would lead the nation to a more democratic and egalitarian society. But that was not to be the case, the Kuria were once again in a perpetual crisis having been transformed by powerful forces of an international conglomerate in the course of few decades, from self-sufficient and haughty independent-minded tribesmen into poverty-stricken famine relief clients now living on ecological as well as political margins of the Kenyan society.

Detail-Based Analysis in the Study of Land Reform: A Methodology for Studying Modern Chinese History

I use “procedure,” rather than “resulting,” files in local archives to re-interpret the politics of China’s Land Reform. I demonstrate that, at the time, China’s rural population was not divided into landlords, rich peasants, middle peasants, poor peasants, and tenant peasants. Instead, the “rich tenant peasant” was an essential group to understand the land ownership and relations among the different groups. Furthermore, the existence of “one field with two owners” indicates that the land ownership in rural China was much more complicated than the dichotomous framework advocated by the Chinese Communist state. I discuss the methodological implications of my findings.

The State's Developmentalist Illusion and the Origins of Illegal Coca Cultivation in Peru's Alto Huallaga Valley (1960–80)

AbstractThe origin of illicit economies has been understood as a consequence of ‘low stateness’ (i.e. low reach of the state). Given the limited stateness in many regions, however, this article seeks to explain how only some sub-national territories have become vulnerable to illegal drug trafficking. To make this case, the representative example of the Alto Huallaga valley, in the Peruvian Amazon, is analysed. This article argues that ineffective development and settlement efforts by the Peruvian state in the Alto Huallaga, rather than the absence of the state, produced socio-ecological conditions in the region, in the late 1970s, that made it more vulnerable to the illegal economy. At the same time as international demand for illegal cocaine was expanding, two conditions resulting from frustrated state development plans came together: an enclave of poor peasants who were not self-sufficient and a natural environment impoverished by soil degradation and intensive deforestation, paradoxically not suitable for any crop except coca.

Climate change migration in the post‐conflict state: Understanding Cambodian migration narratives through geopolitical history and land struggles

While there has been increasing scholarship exploring the social, cultural, and political dimensions of climate change migration, there is to date limited research situating climate migration studies within geopolitical history and land struggles, particularly in post‐conflict states like Cambodia. Four decades after the Khmer Rouge genocide (1975–1979) ended, rural migration and land struggles remain a central aspect of Cambodia's political and economic life. Since the beginning of the Cambodian civil war (1970), rural populations have repeatedly been forced to move from their land. However, the geopolitical dimension of land has not been widely considered in current climate change migration literature. To explore these dynamic relationships between land, migration, and geopolitical history, this paper investigates both historical narratives and everyday relationships with land of land(less) migrants in Veal Veaeng District, Western Cambodia, a former war zone and a Khmer Rouge stronghold during the 1980s and 1990s. This paper argues that political history plays a vital role in defining migration trajectories in Cambodia, especially how historical factors define land struggles. Through exploring migrants and land frontier dynamics, this paper discovers that poor peasants have been forced between labour markets and land frontiers.

Covid-19 and some contours of India’s ongoing agrarian crisis

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to an aggravation of the agrarian crisis in India. The rural proletariat, poor peasants, and a section of middle peasants in India have been adversely affected. The paper advances a composite policy initiative to deal with this aggravation of the agrarian crisis involving an expansion of the existing rural employment guarantee schemes, various input subsidies to farmers, universal provision of safety gear for rural producers, and an expanded public procurement of food grains. It concludes with the political prognosis of the proposed composite policy initiative.

Poor and middle-class peasants in collective farm society of West Siberian region in the first half of 1930s

Poor and middle-class peasants in collective farm society of West Siberian region in the first half of 1930s

Msipa, Cephas G, In Pursuit of Freedom and Justice: A Memoir. Harare: Weaver Press 2015, xiv & 185 pp.

In Pursuit of Freedom and Justice: A Memoir by veteran nationalist Cephas Msipa joins the list of memoirs and biographies of women and men who fought for majority rule in Zimbabwe. Born on 7 July 1931 in the Shabani District in the Midlands province (p 1), "a teacher by profession and a politician by circumstances" (p ix), Msipa was a key member of the nationalist movement and a prominent politician in the post-colonial era. Born of poor peasants, Msipa's childhood was typical of many of his generation until he became politicised at a young age, especially during encounters with Benjamin Burombo, a proto-nationalist and a friend of his father, whom he describes as his political mentor (p 4).

Negotiating the price of the new state and republican modernization: resistance to the agricultural taxes in modern Turkey

AbstractAfter the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the building of the modern Turkish Republic was financed largely through the taxes extracted from the agricultural economy. Turkey’s economy was largely based on agriculture and accordingly the new state relied heavily on rural resources. Despite the abolition of the tithe, many other agricultural taxes increased remarkably. This paper examines the peasants’ everyday resistance to heavy taxes under the single-party regime in interwar Turkey. It shows that under an authoritarian single-party system, poor and small-income peasants used daily and mostly informal means to cope with the social injustice that resulted from the increasingly burdensome economic demands of the new state. In contrast to the existing accounts, which mostly regard the peasants as being atomized under the absolute control of the state, this paper portrays them as an active social dynamic that annulled the greater part of the taxes in practice and compelled the government to soften its heavy taxes. Based on new archival sources, such as gendarme records, politicians’ reports, citizens’ petitions, and newspaper reports, this paper reveals the peasants’ different forms of politics and the direct and indirect impact of such politics on the social and political transformation of the new Republic and on the modernization of Turkey overall.

Dwa bieguny katolickiej pedagogiki. Ks. dr hab. Jan Ślósarz i Jacek Woroniecki OP

Na gruncie socjologii interpretatywnej można stwierdzić, że biografie ks. dr. hab. Jana Ślósarza (1850–1917) i o. Jacka Woronieckiego (1878–1949) bardzo się różnią, ale też wykazują podobieństwa. Pierwszy pochodził z ubogiej wiejskiej rodziny, drugi był arystokratą. Żyli w czasach podobnych napięć społeczno-politycznych, wojen i ideologii: bolszewizmu, komunizmu, stalinizmu, nazizmu. Obaj byli związani z Lwowem i przez pewien czas trudnili się edukacją – ks. Ślósarz uczył w gimnazjach i na Uniwersytecie Lwowskim, a o. Woroniecki współzakładał Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski, był jego rektorem i wykładał w dominikańskich kolegiach. Ich główne książki służyły katolikom jako pedagogiczne przewodniki. Obaj formułowali w nich etyczne wskazówki, jak zachowywać się w trudnych, codziennych sytuacjach. Ksiądz Ślósarz pisał o grożących karach, odwołując się do doktryny Soboru Watykańskiego I. Natomiast o. Woroniecki pokazywał wzory i zachęcał do ich naśladowania katolicką inteligencję, uprzedzając ustalenia Soboru Watykańskiego II. W każdych czasach katolicka pedagogika – jak każda inna – wymaga zarówno odwoływania się do przestróg, jak i do stosowania zachęt.

Cultivation and Utilization of Bambara Groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.), a Neglected Plant in Cameroon

In order to improve the production and commercialization of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L) Verdc.) in Cameroon, an inventory on the use of available resources and peasant agronomic practices is a necessary prerequisite. Their understanding can help to establish efficient strategies to enhance this neglected crop. The objective of this work was therefore to identify the uses and the peasant knowledge on the Bambara groundnut in Cameroon. To this effect, a survey on the use of Bambara groundnut was carried out through interviews and direct discussions with farmers in the main production areas (Far North, Adamawa, Littoral (Coastal), Centre, North-West and West) of Cameroon. The survey revealed that in Cameroon, Bambara groundnut is mainly grown by women (74%). Monoculture (60%) is the most widely used cropping system; 40% of farmers associate it with other crops such as groundnuts, maize, sesame, okra, millet, sorghum, beans, egusi or pumpkin, and tubers. It is produced mainly on small land areas by the elderly. It is mainly cultivated by the poor peasants and without soil amendments. Several landraces are cultivated, the preferred varieties varying according to the production basins. Seed storage is mainly done with chemicals in closed containers. Weeds, lack of improved varieties, low yields, diseases and pests (insects, rodents) are the main production constraints identified. Results of this study could be exploited for the improvement and vulgarization of Bambara groundnut in Cameroon.

English

Plantain prices in sub-Saharan markets are very high due to the fact that the supply does not cover the large demand. The main constraint of plantain cultivation is the seedlings unavailability in quantity and quality, which is essential to boost the creation of new plantations. The PIF technique could solve this problem if its substrate of production is amended with natural products for quality enhancement. This study aims to assess clam shells and Tithonia diversifolia effects on the growth of PIF plantain seedlings and their sensitivity to Mycosphaerella fijiensis. Plantain PIF seedlings were grown in an amended substrate. The treatment influences the seedlings germination rate, number of shoots, height, diameter, area of leaves and favours a less sensitivity to M. fijiensis compared to the controls. The presence of clam shells and T. diversifolia in the treatment especially enhanced the (1) vegetative growth and (2) less sensitivity as well as accumulation of proteins and polyphenols respectively. This combination shows a synergic action with dual role both as a biofertilizer and as a biopesticide. This work valorises the use of by-fishing products and bad herbs that are environmentally benign and affordable to poor smallholders’ farmers, leading to a sustainable and responsible agriculture, as well as poor peasants’ empowerment. Key words: Plantain (Musa spp.), PIF seedlings, Tithonia diversifolia, clam shells, biofertilizer, biopesticide, Mycosphaerella fijiensis.   &nbsp

Conservation refugees and environmental dispossession in 21st century critical Geography

This study explores the relevance of the concepts of conservation refugees and environmental dispossession for steering a middle course between unjust bio-centric conservation and anti-environmentalism of extreme right “populism”. Historical geographers have recently taken up these concepts from contemporary Environmental History, and when with allied to the concepts of environmental ethics from Radical Ecology and Environmental Studies and nature enclosures from Political Ecology, a novel critique is produced of the role of full conservation units in debates surrounding global climate change. This kind of nature reserve is steeped in bio-centric environmental ethics which distill nature and dispossess native peoples and poor peasants. The latter are considered to be anthropic agents who are criminalized, removed and turned into conservation refugees in order to cleanse the landscape of (poor rural) human presence. Drawing on research undertaken on nature enclosures in three threatened biomes of Brazil, hybrid views of society-nature and actor-network assembly from Relational Geography are used to interpret specific cases involving successful resistance to environmental dispossession in which local people forced a change in mentality of nature reserve administrators, turned foe into ally and built socially inclusive conservation strategies.

Costs and returns of sugarcane production: A micro level study of Samastipur and Begusarai districts of Bihar

Sugarcane is a prominent cash crop. Present investigation was carried out to assess costs and returns in sugarcane cultivation in two leading sugarcane growing districts, Samastipur and Begusarai in Bihar as Hasanpur Sugar mill is located in the study area. Multistage sampling technique was applied for selection of sample respondents. The result revealed that the total cost of sugarcane cultivation was estimated to be Rs. 154968.57/ha. The operational cost was found to be Rs.92079.63/ha, constituting 59.42% of the total cost. Overhead cost came out to be Rs. 62888.93/ha and accounted for 40.58% of the total cost of cultivation of sugarcane. It was also observed that the total cost of cultivation increased as the farm size increased. Human labour cost came out as an important cost with a share of 17.01% of the total cost followed by transportation charge 9.87%, seed cost 7.91%. Inter farm size-wise comparison of different item of cost revealed that the cost of human labour decreased with increasing farm size while expenditure on machine labour showed the reverse trend. The overall B:C were estimated to be 2.40, 2.25, 2.37, 1.54, 2.11, 1.42 and 1.29 on the basis of costs A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, and C3, respectively. B:C on the basis of cost C3for different size group of farms were found to be 1.19, 1.36, 1.18and 1.44. Net return over Cost A1 and costA2 for all the farm size groups was found to be Rs.128724.60/ha and Rs. 122729.50/ha, respectively and over Cost C1, cost C2 and cost C3were worked out to be Rs115973.50, Rs. 65678.37 and Rs.50181.08 per hectare, respectively. Sugarcane production was found profitable in the study area. State government initiatives towards formation and implementation of state advised price (SAP) could also make sugarcane cultivation more remunerative. Being a labour intensive crop would certainly help in enhancing socio-economic status of poor peasants of India.

The Labour Side of the Story: Informalisation and New Forms of Mobilisation of Kerala’s Women Workers

Historically, in the context of Kerala, through mobilisation, electoral and mass struggles and a broad-based alliance of poor peasants, agricultural labour and workers were forged into a political constituency. This paper locates new forms of women workers’ struggles in the post-1990 context which saw a shift in the politics of labour and in the language of class and since the People’s Planning Campaign for democratic decentralisation in Kerala, when agency moved away from trade unions to a plurality of organisations serving a range of objectives but linked with local governance. There was a shift away from exclusive collective bargaining by workers to collective social activity, for example, Kudumbashree, Ayalkootam (neighbourhood groups), public works, MNREGA forums and other forms of associational activities. Identities shifted beyond that of workers to citizens, involving a range of rights with the neighbourhood and the local as an axis. This paper focusses on women labour particularly in the context of the trajectory of development and labour in Kerala and the wider canvas in which labour movements developed post the 1980s in India.

Pelaksanaan Program Redistribusi Tanah Di Kawasan Tanah Adat Provinsi Papua

Agrarian reform or Agrarian Reform as an issue, is complex and multidimensional which is a major program of the Indonesian state in realizing the welfare of the Indonesian people, especially in terms of increasing access of poor peasants to land tenure in Indonesia, but implementing agararial reform is not an easy thing, with many obstacles, both from the legal, land administration, social, political, cultural and security aspects. Agrarian Reform (Agrarian Reform) or land reform is one of the effective tools or ways to achieve successful development, because access to land is fundamental for socio-economic development, poverty reduction, and environmental sustainability, apart from being a factor of production, land is also a factor of wealth, prestige and strength or power. In this perspective, land redistribution not only results in an increase in economic assets owned by poor farmers, but also an increase in political power and social participation, thus, the implementation of agrarian reform is not only aimed at reducing poverty and unemployment, but also in order to eliminate inequality, especially in political and social fields. The Land Redistribution Program in Papua Province itself, as the author sees its implementation, does not pay attention to regulations higher than Presidential Decree Number 86 of 2018.This is also reinforced by Article 18B paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution which states that the state recognizes and respects customary law community units. along with their traditional rights as long as they are still alive and in accordance with the development of society and the principles of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. In addition, Article 3 of the UUPA does contain the term "ulayat rights and rights similar to that". Keywords: Inconsistency, Ulayat Land, Land Redistribution

TOLSTOY'DA SUÇUN TOPLUMSAL NEDENLERİ, AYDINLANMA FELSEFESİ VE MARKSİZM: DİRİLİŞ ROMANI ÖRNEĞİ

Some obvious traces of the Russian social structure in the 19th century can be found in “Resurrection”, as well as Tolstoy's evaluations on human and social philosophy. These evaluations can be summarized as follows. “Resurrection”, first of all, puts emphasis on the material social foundations of the phenomenon and asserts that it is not possible to fight against the phenomenon without addressing these foundations. In this regard, Tolstoy supported in advance the Chicago school's theoretical approaches that attach importance to the relationship between and environment in the field of criminal sociology. Secondly, the novel discusses the Enlightenment philosophy and the rationalism-based educational process of the broad masses of society in terms of class. According to the author, freeing the oppressed and poor peasants from superstitions and making them able to look at nature and society from a rational perspective are not a development that the dominant classes desire. In contrary, they see this as a threat to the continuation of the existing social order. This is why the dominant classes actually oppose the enlightenment process and rational education. The points made by Tolstoy in this regards are similar to those by the Turkish socialist-realist writers such as Sabahattin Ali, Fakir Baykurt, Orhan Kemal, and Mahmut Makal. Thirdly, “Resurrection” examines the institutional relations in a social structure with the Marxist methodological approach and, again, in terms of class. According to this consideration, contrary to popular belief, objective of laws is not to secure justice but to consolidate the interests of the dominant classes. For example, in Russia, the thoughts and actions dedicated to reorganizing the social order for the benefit of the lower classes are considered as political crime and other ordinary crimes created by the social order as real crime. In conclusion, it can be asserted that Tolstoy was influenced by the Marxist methodological approach and the humanist and socialist thoughts, and looked at the social structure in Russia at that time through the eyes of the people who lived on labor.

VERTICAL LAYERS OF TITHONIA DIVERSIFOLIA FLAKES AMENDMENT IMPROVES PLANTAIN SEEDLING PERFORMANCE

Plantain seedlings availability in sub-Saharan countries are very weak to support a high productivity level required. The plantain cultivation faces problem of the seedling’s unavailability in quantity and quality for intensification of this crop. The amendment of PIF substrate production with natural products could be an alternative to this problem. This study objective is to evaluate the effect of vertical layers of Tithonia diversifolia flakes on the performance of PIF plantain seedlings in terms of vegetative growth and susceptibility to black Sigatoka disease (BSD) in nursery. The vertical layer of T. diversifolia flakes amendment was introduced in the propagator in the presence of the control without amendment in controlled and uncontrolled conditions for shoots, then seedlings generation, followed by the evaluation of the vegetative growth parameters, the inoculation of the leaves with Mycosphaerella fijiensis and the pool of biomarkers evaluation. The treatment increases the germination rate, the number of shoots, the height and the diameter of shoots, the area of leaves as well as the seedlings roots, but also protects the seedlings against BSD up to about 56% compared to the controls. It also enhances the accumulation of proteins, polyphenols content and enzymes such as peroxidase, polyphenoloxidase and glucanase. The dual role of the vertical layer of T. diversifolia flakes in seedling production as a biofertilizer and as a biopesticide was revealed in this research. Taking into account this bad herbs flakes as a tool for sustainable and green agriculture is an open door to poor peasants for their empowerment.

«В УСАДЬБАХ НА МОСКВЕ»: РОМАН А. Н. ТОЛСТОГО «ПЕТР ПЕРВЫЙ» КАК УСАДЕБНЫЙ ТЕКСТ

The childhood of Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy passed on the steppe farm Sosnovka where his stepfather’s A. A. Bostrom’s estate was located. Subsequently, the writer reproduced both external appearance of the estates familiar to him, and the inhabitants of the estates and their way of life on the pages of his works. Everything that Tolstoy saw in his childhood (peasant yards, the life of a small-scale Samara estate (called ‘khutor’), a city estate) found reflection in his works and, in particular, in the manor texts, which undoubtedly include the novel Peter the Great. The paper considers the A. N. Tolstoy’s novel Peter the Great as an ‘estate text’. The first book of the novel is set in Moscow, in Kitay-Gorod. Tolstoy recreates in great detail the life of the city and its inhabitants that has gone into the past, which in the late 17th – early 18th centuries, according to the historian I. E. Zabelina looked like a big village. The descriptions of the peasant household, Moscow nobles estates and princely mansion are based, on the one hand, on the writer’s impressions and, on the other, on historical sources and represent the image of the estate. The estate plot closely connected with the characters living (both fictional and historical ones), with life of the city and the state. The novel provides a comprehensive description of the courtyard of the poor peasant Brovkin, the impoverished nobleman Volkov, as well as based on the testimony of the French envoy De Neuville and the work of S. M. Solovyov, a detailed image of the Moscow chambers of Prince V. V. Golitsyn. Childhood memories, historical sources and creative imagination allow Tolstoy to painstakingly recreate on the pages of the novel not only the image of the lost Moscow of Peter’s time, but also the ones of its inhabitants.

Faraizi Movement and Zamindars of Nineteenth Century Bengal: The Story of a Peasant Movement

The British colonial rule in Bengal had a very ominous impact on the people of the region as a whole. The introduction of a new land tenure system, known as the Permanent Settlement, and the creation of an all-powerful zamindar class particularly affected the interests of the peasants of Bengal. Under the new system, the government demand on the zamindars was fixed in perpetuity, but there was no legal restriction on the zamindars to enhance their share from the peasants. The peasants, consequently, became vulnerable to irregular rent increases and oppressions by the zamindars. The Faraizi movement, organized initially in the nineteenth century to reform the Muslim society, soon assumed the character of agrarian movement. In order to protect the poor peasants, the Faraizis soon became radical and challenged the zamindars. As majority of the peasants of the region, where this movement was launched, were Muslims and their zamindars mostly Hindus, the Faraizis used Islamic symbols to mobilize the Muslim masses. Thus, religion and economy intertwined in shaping such a protest movement in pre-industrial Bengal.