Farmers still hold the key to our future!

BOOK REVIEW :

For generations, the word ‘peasant’ has evoked images of ignorance, poverty and backwardness. Modern societies often equate progress with urbanisation and industrial development, pushing farming communities to the margins. In ‘Peasants, Makers of the Modern World’ Maryam Aslany challenges this perception, arguing that agrarian communities remain central to civilisation and hold valuable lessons for the future.

Drawing on global history and four years of travel and fieldwork in India, Cambodia, Peru and Ghana, Aslany examines how peasant contributions have been overlooked. She argues that modernisation need not mean the disappearance of peasant life

A past built on agriculture

The book traces negative attitudes towards peasants to Britain's transition to capitalism. The enclosure acts converted common land into private property, while peasants increasingly came to be viewed as obstacles to progress. Thinkers such as Voltaire portrayed them as slow-witted, while Karl Marx considered them a reactionary force within capitalism.

Yet agrarian empires depended on peasant labour for centuries. Agricultural surpluses, particularly from rice cultivation, sustained cities, temples and bureaucracies. China's imperial system relied heavily on peasant farming, irrigation and organised administration.

The past century brought further devastation. Stalin's collectivisation killed millions of Soviet peasants, while US bombing ravaged rural Vietnam. In Cambodia, Pol Pot's attempt to recreate an idealised peasant society resulted in mass deaths. Conflicts over land and resources also devastated rural communities in Africa.

The burden of modern capitalism

Aslany argues that global capitalism continues to depend on peasant labour while denying farmers a fair share of profits. Debt-ridden countries emerging from colonial rule faced pressure during the 1980s to adopt market-oriented policies, leaving commodity producers vulnerable to powerful commercial interests.

In Maharashtra, cotton farmers face droughts and devastating floods linked to global heating. Sugarcane growers, meanwhile, are vulnerable to processors who exploit the urgency of crushing harvested cane. Some women undergo early hysterectomies to avoid losing wages.

Ghana's cocoa farmers struggle with crop diseases and environmental damage from illegal gold mining. In Peru, coca growers often depend on drug cartels for loans and administrative support.

Through these accounts, Aslany highlights the resilience, cooperation and survival strategies of farming communities often neglected by modern economic systems.