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Book Review
Agriculture and the rise of capitalism
VENKATESH ATHREYA
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Selection of readings offering insights into agrarian problems in the context of transition to a capitalist economy
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THE AGRARIAN QUESTION IN MARX AND HIS SUCCESSORS — Vol.I: Utsa Patnaik — Editor; LeftWord, 12, Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 450.
A remarkable feature of recent discussions — even in the electronic media generally obsessed with trivia — is that some time and space is being devoted to a discussion, though often superficial, of the problems of agriculture and of the rural economy. The most striking and distressing outcome of the crisis of India’s agrarian economy has been the huge number of suicides of farmers across several states, a phenomenon with us for quite some years now and sh
owing little sign of coming to an end. This book is, in this context, very timely. It brings together several writings of Karl Marx, one of the most outstanding thinkers of all time, on the agrarian question. These include writings on the historical processes of “primitive” (or primary or original) accumulation of capital underlying the rise of capitalism and on the theory of rent. The final part of the selection of writings in the book consists of excerpts from a penetrating analysis of agrarian transformation in the transition to capitalism in modern Europe by Karl Kautsky, a leader and theoretician of the German communist movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and reviews and defence of Kautsky’s work by Lenin, the architect of the Russian revolution of 1917. Utsa Patnaik has provided a very useful editorial introduction to the collection.
Transition
The capitalist economy has as its basis and starting point the accumulation of the means of production in the hands of a few — the capitalist class — and the dispossession of a vast majority of the population, who then constitute the wage-labour class, and are hired by the capitalist class to produce surplus value. How did society historically arrive at the starting point of the capitalist economy? Marx shows, using the classic case of England’s transition to capitalism, that the process entailed distinct aspects. First, the primary producers in the feudal economy — peasants and serfs who worked the land and the artisans engaged in non-agricultural crafts — had to be dispossessed, so that they would have no alternative but to work for an employer. This process of separation of primary producers from the means of production is presented by the ideologues of the capitalist system as a process of liberation of the serf and the artisan from the thraldom of the feudal lord and the craft guild whereby the former gain the right to dispose of their labour power as they see fit instead of being bonded to a particular lord or guild.
Marx makes the point that this is indeed “freedom”, but in a double sense: the serf is not only freed from the clutches of the feudal lord, but also from the means of production to which he had access under feudalism. This implies removal of all the guarantees of existence afforded by the old feudal arrangements. Marx notes that serfdom had largely disappeared in England by the end of 14th century, gradually leading to the presence of a large class of peasant proprietors as a result. He demonstrates that the expropriation of peasants and artisans occurred through the breaking up of feudal retainers, spoliation of Church property, fraudulent alienation of Crown lands, robbery of common lands and usurpation of feudal and clan property. But it was not enough to bring about the polarity of a class of capitalists at one pole and a mass of property-less proletarians at the other. The latter had to be transformed into the modern wage labouring class, submitting themselves to the discipline of the factory and the machine. Marx documents how, after reducing peasants and artisans to vagabonds driven from home and hearth, the ruling classes used much force and a series of legislations to create the modern industrial proletariat. Marx then goes on to describe how the capitalist farmer emerged, and how the processes of primitive accumulation also led to the creation of the home market for capitalism.
Critique
The selection of Marx’s writings on rent provides a lucid critique of the conception and theorising of rent by the British classical economist Ricardo. Marx shows that monopoly of land ownership is the basis for absolute ground rent, which can be an important barrier to investment and growth in agriculture. The selection of writings from Kautsky and Lenin provides valuable insights on agrarian problems in the transition to capitalism, which is of great relevance to the Indian economy. This book will be a very valuable addition to the library of every serious student of political economy and economic history.
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