The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 272)

غرض

عنوان

The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 272)

المحتوى

256
An examination of this question allows a better understanding of agrarian
change within the context of the overall economy. A central concept in this
examination is that of surplus appropriation. However, before dealing with surplus
appropriation in the production process, a brief reiteration of other forms that have
been discussed in more detail earlier is useful.
The first form of surplus appropriation outside the production process was
agricultural taxes. I showed how these different taxes represented a major burden
on the peasants. The extent of this burden is not to be judged by the share it
contributed to government revenue, which declined with time, but by what
proportion they represented of peasant income and the impact that had on the
livelihood of the peasant. Regardless of its size, agricultural taxes represented a
transfer of surplus from the peasantry to other classes of society and sectors of the
economy.”
The second form of surplus appropriation was that of usury. Given the
limited resources of the majority of peasants, they had to turn to moneylenders
when crops failed to meet their consumption needs, to pay taxes now paid in cash,
and to cover production costs for the next season. The dependence on
moneylenders because of the lack of alternative sources of credit led, in the context
of the increased commoditization of land, to the loss of land by many smallholders,
who were forced to sell their land to pay their debts.
°On this and the regressive nature of taxation, see Asad, “Anthropological
Texts.”
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

هو جزء من

The Dispossession of the Peasantry

تاريخ

٢٠٠٦

المنشئ

Riyad Mousa

مجموعات العناصر

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Theses رسائل ماجستير ودكتوراه