Amit Bhaduri: The Farmers’ Protest Exposed the Limitations of Class Analysis

By Dilip -

The farmers’ historic struggle and victory has upset not merely political arrogance but conventional wisdom in more than one way. It has shown the limitations of class analysis, and has thrown up new ideas for organizing peaceful protests in a democracy. The fact that relatively better-off farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh often led the movement should teach us the lesson that class position is not always the determining factor. When pushed to the wall, dissent spread across all classes in the entire agricultural sector and inequality within agriculture became less important.

Conditions were created for a movement based on an unprecedented solidarity. We witnessed this as small and marginal farmers, landless agricultural labourers — mostly Dalits — as well as men and women cutting across caste, gender, religion and region joined the movement. That the better-off farmers had greater economic staying power was an advantage. To this was added the nature of agricultural activity. It is different from factory work in so far as men and women could share the daily agricultural work routine. It prepared them for an indefinitely long resistance. In this game of patience, the government blinked first; its high-handed arrogance collapsed with several state elections looming large in the background.

It would be wrong to say that the farmers were unaware of the class character of the State and its policies. They took little time to point out that the now-repealed three farm laws were primarily meant to promote the interests of the two biggest business houses in the country. The role of the government was that of a facilitator for their profit from agriculture. This contrasts starkly against the Gandhian vagueness of ‘Trusteeship’ of national wealth in the hand of big business…

https://janataweekly.org/the-farmers-protest-exposed-the-limitations-of-class-analysis/


Farm laws repealed - Huge victory for India's agricultural population after a year-long non-violent struggle, and hundreds of lives lost


P. Sainath: Farmers win on many fronts, media fails on all / रवि आजाद BKU HARYANA | Kisan Ekta Morcha


Bharat Bhushan - Scania Scandal: Need to step up to the challenge


Bharat Bhushan - 'Entire political science' lesson: Peoples' power trumps people in power


Aryaman Jain, Irina Cheema - Farmers’ Movement in India: A Moment for Collective Introspection / Gallery: One Year of Kisan Andolan


संयुक्त किसान मोर्चा : श्री नरेंद्र मोदी, प्रधानमंत्री, भारत सरकार - राष्ट्र के नाम आपका संदेश और आपके नाम किसानों का संदेश


Surinder S. Jodhka: Changing Modes of Agriculture in Punjab


Jairus Banaji on the Indian corporate strategy of subordinating farm households and family labor


Indian Farmers' Protest - Work in progress videos


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