Re: [OPE] Patnaik's Notes on Contemporary Imperialism

From: Dave Zachariah <davez@kth.se>
Date: Sun Jan 09 2011 - 14:00:42 EST

On 2010-12-27 18:45, GERALD LEVY wrote:
> Why would it continue to be primary in social formations where the
> peasantry has shrunk drastically in size and where a huge
> percentage of the former peasants have moved to urban areas to become
> willy-nilly part of the informal sector?
> [...] This was the basically the same claim used to deemphasize the role of the
> peasantry vis-a-vis the working class

Absolute size is not the key variable, but the structural position and
capacities of the economic agents. It is doubtful whether the informal
proletariat/petty producers can achieve the autonomous power of
industrial working-class organizations, but must rather rely on a
'strong man' at the center of the state apparatus to advance its
interests. It seems to me that it lacks the bargaining power of the
industrial working-class and the potential economic autonomy of the
peasantry.

//Dave Z
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Received on Sun Jan 9 14:02:18 2011

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