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The Classical Agrarian Question: Myth, Reality and Relevance Today

Author

Listed:
  • Sam Moyo

    (Sam Moyo is Executive Director of the African Institute for Agrarian Studies (AIAS), Harare, Zimbabwe. Email: sam_moyo@yahoo.com)

  • Praveen Jha

    (Praveen Jha is Chairperson of the Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies (CISLS) and faculty at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CESP), School of Social Sciences (SSS), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India. Email: praveenjha2005@gmail.com)

  • Paris Yeros

    (Paris Yeros is Adjunct Professor of International Economics at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC), São Paulo, Brazil. Email: parisyeros@gmail.com)

Abstract

This article traces a particular view of the classical agrarian question in Marxian political economy which has sustained the myth of industrialization as the basic objective of transformation. The idea was born in the late nineteenth century among the European vanguard, then consolidated as an axiom during the Cold War, only to be resurrected in the neoliberal period by a professionalized discipline of ‘agrarian studies’. This article argues that such a view fails to acknowledge the historic importance of the national question and its land and peasant components, which are irreducible to industrialization. The article restores national sovereignty to its proper place in the classical agrarian question and argues that it remains the cornerstone of all other dimensions of the agrarian question, including gender equity and ecological sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Sam Moyo & Praveen Jha & Paris Yeros, 2013. "The Classical Agrarian Question: Myth, Reality and Relevance Today," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 2(1), pages 93-119, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:agspub:v:2:y:2013:i:1:p:93-119
    DOI: 10.1177/2277976013477224
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jayati Ghosh, 2012. "Accumulation Strategies and Human Development in India," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 1(1), pages 43-64, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Adams, Timothy & Gerber, Jean-David & Amacker, Michèle, 2019. "Constraints and opportunities in gender relations: Sugarcane outgrower schemes in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 282-294.

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