The Agrarian Question in World History – Palestine and China as case studies

Author: Chris Harding

Objective of the activity

I want students to think about the agrarian question in 20th world history. I want them to understand A) what the agrarian question is (the transformation of a pre-capitalist/private countryside into a modern/public one). B) and, to consider and understand two case studies, China (post-WWII) and Palestine (1922-1948). Students will have to present to class in some form or another to show that they have comprehension of the topic.

Pre-class activities

I will get students to read the following articles/books: https://jacobin.com/2024/07/marxism-and-the-agrarian-question, https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/38895, and from Commune to Capitalism: How China’s Peasants Lost Collective Farming and Gained Urban Poverty, ZHUN XU (pp.25-29). Guiding questions: what is the agrarian question? How does it make us consider the movement of history? Do you have any critiques of the agrarian question (think about stagism)? How do China and Palestine compare (be aware that we are discussing two different time periods)? What is the role of peasants in change?

In-class activities

First we will discuss what the agrarian question is, and how the students interpret it. Then we will analyse the table from p.25 of Zhun’s piece to think about Agrarian change and geography in the 20th century. Then we will discuss Palestine drawing on the Nahla Zu’bi article. We will talk about the political economy of the agrarian question. The role of peasants in a colonial setting (labour, resistance, wages, prisons, etc). The question of class (proletariat, semi-proletariat, peasant, bourgeois, petit-bourgeois and so on). I will then bring in other literature on class – namely Mahdi Amel’s “colonial mode of production”. I will do so to problematise the overly stagist analysis of Zu’bi – who sees pre-Mandate Palestine as pre-capitalist, because of the preponderance of peasants. Finally we will discuss the agrarian question in China. I want the students to compare the socialist system in China with the capitalist/colonial system in Palestine, thinking about wage labour/the wage relation. If time permits we can discuss Harold Wolpe’s concept of semi-proletarianisation here. I also want to discuss the revolutionary aspect of the agrarian question, that is, what effect peasants can have on revolution and change. In the case of Mao they were central to his ascension to power. In the case of Palestine they were the main agitators and anti-colonial force in the interwar period, yet the elites of Palestine did not seize upon their support. We will also look through some photos to get into the world of peasants.

After Class Activities

Towards the end of class I will ask the students to pair up. One person in the pair will have to speak about China, the other about Palestine. They are to tell each other what they know about the agrarian question in that place (how it relates to it, what questions it raises, and so forth). In doing so they will naturally contrast and compare each situation. This will allow them to think about the agrarian question more broadly and comparatively (politically, economically, from the perspective of the peasants). They will then give a short presentation of 2 minutes to the class (if the class is large I would use colloborative software which the students can simulateously post on).

Resources

l8mSDl5fZM40-11china_600.jpg, 

4nfxzq01hvP6-Harvesting-Palestinian-Peasants.jpg, 

SzAZtZcJPQ5F-Harvesting-Jewish-Colony.jpg, R5tmWRTfFUDz-Settlers-Palestine.jpg, 

t35Vjc5heqYz-Peasants-Palestine.jpg, 

5sbsAHQnnqVz-Table.png