Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 175)

غرض

عنوان

Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 175)

المحتوى

peasants and partly due to British taxation policies, had speeded up
the process of class differentiation within the peasantry. In the
early 1930s, Palestine's rural formation was characterised by three
major classes.
1- The Big Absentee Landlords:
Until the early 20th century,this class was composed mainly of the
big absentee landlords such as the Sursuk family, discussed earlier.
By selling their land to (Jewish) colonial companies, this group,
which had previously formed the greatest economic power in the region,
virtually disappeared from the class map of rural Palestine. The
disappearance of this class has reinforced the class of indigenous
Palestinian landlords who were the heads of big Hamulas.
The Heads of HamulasS were partly absentee and partly residents of
the villages. As rural residents the landlords maintained a direct
relation with the peasants. As absentee landlords, they conducted
their business’ through a family member, sent to the village to
collect rent and oversee production. Although the size of this class
and the extent of their property is not known, an unofficial estimate
put their number at 30 families and their ownership at about 250,000
donums. Each family, according to this estimate, owned about 40-50
thousand donums. (1) This class can be classified as Palestine's rural
pourgeoisie. Yet, under colcnial and Zionist pressure, this class too
had undergone fundamental changes. While some of the families sold
their land and left the country (Stein,1984:226-235)those who remained
were largely stripped of their power.
161
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

هو جزء من

Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation

تاريخ

١٩٨٩

المنشئ

Nahla Abdo-Zubi

مجموعات العناصر

Generated Pages Set

Theses رسائل ماجستير ودكتوراه