GROWTH WITHOUT CAPITALISM: AGRARIAN CHANGE IN THE PEASANT ECONOMY OF SRI

119 Pages·2010·7.05 MB·English

GROWTH WITHOUT CAPITALISM:
AGRARIAN CHANGE IN THE PEASANT ECONOMY OF SRI LANKA
By
G.A. KUMUDU KUSUM KUMARA
B.A., University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 1980
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS
in
THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
(Department of Anthropology and Sociology)
We accept this thesis as conforming
to the required standard
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
MARCH 1991
(c) G.A. KUMUDU KUSUM KUMARA, 1991
In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced
degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it
freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive
copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my
department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or
publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written
permission.
Department
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada
(Sill
Date ?0
DE-6 (2788)
ABSTRACT
This study examines the impact of capital on the small peasant economy Sorfi Lanka which has been
dominated by paddy cultivation, the consequen tprocesses of agrarian change in the peasan tsociety and the
impact of these changes on the lives of the peasantry. The persistence of peasant agriculture throughout the
developing world has posed a challenge to classical theories of the development ocafpitalism in agriculture which
considered peasant production or Simple Commodity Production as a transitional phenomenon doomed to
disappear. Recent interpretations of theories on Simpl Ceommodity Production however, argue that peasant forms
of production can and likely will survive within capitalist social formations, and therefore the analysis of the
dynamics of agrarian change has to focus on historically specific situations. Pursuing the latter view, this study
identifies the role of the State ,class structure, and the role of agro-ecological imperatives as key factors
influencing agrarian change in Sri Lanka. While existing agrarian relations in the peasant sector have not become
a barrier to the growth of productive forces in the peasant economy, this growth has not necessarily led to the
disintegration of the peasantry ,despite a certain amount of differentiation among them. While the dynamism
manifested in the emergence of a small stratum o frich peasants and rural entrepreneurs may indicate the
possibility of capitalist development in the peasant sector i snome areas of the country, the overall situation within
the peasant economy indicates the possibility of paddy agriculture reaching its advanc estdages within the form
of peasant production itself. In the event of such a possibility, it is the problem of underemployed labour in the
peasant sector which will become the agrarian question of S rLianka.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ii
Table of Contents iii
List of Tables iv
Abbreviations v
Acknowledgements vi
Chapter I Introduction 1
1.1 The Theoretical Background 2
1.2 The Study 7
Chapter II Agrarian Change in Feudal and Colonial Sr iLanka:
From Service Tenure to Private Ownership 12
2.1 Agrarian Relations in the Medieval Period 12
2.2 Kandy Period 18
2.3 The Impact of Colonial Policy 21
Chapter III Post Colonial Period: Agricultural Growth and
Differentiation of Peasantry Without Disintegration 35
3.1 The State policies 35
3.2 Growth in the Peasant Economy 42
3.3 The Impact of Growth on the Peasantry 46
Chapter IV The Peasant Economy of a Paddy Producing Village:
Polgahawelena in Hambantota District 59
4.1 Peasant Production in Hambantota District 60
4.2 Polgahawelena: The Decay of the Gambaraya System 65
Chapter V Conclusion 88
Bibliography 105
iii
LIST OF TABLES
3.1 Increases and Annual Growth Rates of Output, Cultivated Area,
Productivity and Cropping Intensity in Paddy 1952-1985
4.1 Distribution of Paddy Land Ownership in Polgahawelena
by Size of Holding 1980/81 Maha
4.2 Polgahawelena - Land Ownership of Residents in 1980
4.3 Paddy Yields in Polgahawelena 1986/87 Maha
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ABBREVIATIONS
ARTI Agrarian Training and Research Institute
CBAR Central Bank Annual Report
DCS Department of Census and Statistics
DA.CCAC/P Department of Agriculture, Cost of Cultivation of Agricultural Crops/ Paddy
MPI Ministry of Plan Implementation
NAFNS National Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Strategy
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My graduate studies at The University of British Columbia leading to the presen tthesis had the benefit
of academic and material support of a number of individuals and institutions I wish to acknowledge with
gratitude. The Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University oBfritish Columbia gave me the
valuable opportunity of engaging in graduat estudies as part of which thi sthesis is produced. I immensely
benefitted from the faculty, and resources made available to me by the department. Profes sDoarvid Schweitzer,
as my initial graduate advisor guided me in m sytudies during the first half of th eprogram. Professor Yunshik
Chang, Chair of my thesis supervisory committee, together with the other two members, Professor Tsissa Fernando
and Robert Ratner guided me through difficult paths o bfringing a thesis to its successful completion. I wish to
thank all of them and my other teachers at The Univeristy oBfritish Columbia.
Financial support for the field survey which has formed a part of this study came from two sources,
Social Scientists' Association of Sri Lanka, and the NUFFIC Project at the Department of Sociology, University
of Colombo. My employer, Agrarian Research and Training Institute, Colombo, sponsored my study program.
Douglas Kulatileka of Polgahawelena generously shared with me his time and critical understanding iossfues
related to peasant agriculture making the field study most interesting and educative. Memebrs of the peasant
community in Polgahawelena patiently answered my questions while my association with young members among
them educated me on social reality at the village lev eJl..C.J. Munasinghe assisted me in my field work in 1987.
I also want to thank all of them.
There are several Sri Lankan scholars to whom I owe my gratitude for the inspiration they ha vpreovided
through their pioneering efforts, and personal encouragement in academic work. They are t hlaete Dr. Newton
Gunasinghe, Professor Senake Bandaranayake, Professor Kumari Jayawardena, Professor N. Shanmugaratnam and
Dr. S.B. D de Silva. In particular, I am deeply indebted to Dr. S. B. D de Silva for many hours of discussion
which I was privileged to have with him over a couple of years, and which helped me immensely to develop a
framework of thinking which I have attempted to use in producing the prese nthtesis.
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Agrarian change in peasant societies continues to interest socia lscientists due to the far reaching
economic, social and political implications of suc hprocesses for the development o fthese societies. In societies
which follow a capitalist path of development, agrarian change has to do with th emanner in which capital affects
peasant economies, and the nature of its impact on their transformation. The capitalist transformation of agriculture
as explained by classical theories of capitalist development is believed to have the potential for the formation of
capital for the development o fnon-agricultural sectors of the economy and the improvement o lfiving conditions
of the peasantry. It is also believed that the growth of productive forces resulti nfrgom the expansion of
commodity relations in the peasant economy woul dbring about the disintegration of the 'natural economy'.
Similar to that of many other developing countries in the world today, the S Lrainkan economy is
dominated by the agricultural sector within which peasan tproduction is predominant. The agricultural sector of
the Sri Lankan economy, comprises both plantation and peasant forms of production. The peasant sector includes -
aside from paddy or wet-rice, the dominan ctrop in the peasant economy and other food crops - small holdings
of tea, rubber and coconut .According to the familiar model of economic dualism, the plantations are regarded
as the more advanced sector. However, the supposed dynamism of this sector has recently been questioned:
Production technology in the plantations has almost stagnated at a low level even in the face d oefclining markets
and rising costs (de Silva,1982).
In contrast, the peasant sector consisting mainly of food cro pproduction for the domestic market, has
displayed a perceivable degree of dynamism, though it was this sector which in the dualist model was regarded
as pre-capitalist and economically backward. Contribution from the peasant sector to th eGDP in recent times has
been more than four times that of the plantation secto Or.ver the past two decades, there has been an impressive
expansion in paddy output brought about partly by increased yields per hectare. Labour productivity has increased
while there have also been improvements in water management. Changes ha vocecurred in the production process
through the use of modern inputs associated with high yielding varieties (Nanayakkara,1987; Throrbecke and
Svejnar,1987; Gunaratne and Karunasena,1988).
These developments have taken place, however, without any significant changes in the social relations
of production. Family labour remains predominant and share tenancy prevails. It has also been observed that in
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spite of significant developments in the productive forces, small peasan ptroduction and poverty continue to persist
within the Sri Lankan domestic agricultural sector (Shanmugaratnam, 1987).
In the context of the above observations, the present study examines th weays in which capital confronts
the small farming economy in Sri Lanka and the consequent processes of agrarian change in the peasan tsociety,
and the impact of these changes on the lives of the peasantry. In the process, this stud ayttempts to analyze the
factors contributing to these developments and indicates possible future directions of change in the peasant sector.
1.1 THE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Main Currents of Radical/Marxist Debate
Focusing on the problematic of transformation/non-transformation of peasan ptroduction under capitalist
development, the radical/marxist perspective has made one of the most notable contributions to theories aogfrarian
change. Classical marxist theories of capitalist development of agriculture considered the confrontati obnetween
peasant production and capital to result in the inevitable elimination of the former. Two main progressive
outcomes were identified: on one hand, relative improvements in the living conditions opfeasants through their
transformation into wage labourers based on the growth of productive forces in agriculture; the other, related to
the former, an advancement in the conditions necessary for social transformation through increasing polarisation
of social classes. It also considers the impact of capital on peasant production as resulting in the inevitable
transformation of the latter from the pre-capitalist stage to that of capitalist development .Here, peasant production
is considered to be located within the general category of petty commod iptyroduction.1 The penetration of peasant
agriculture by commodity relations is seen as bringing about social differentiation among the producers, leading
to a concentration and centralization of the means o pfroduction; the peasantry is doomed to disappear with the
onslaught of capitalist development which would polarise th esociety into opposing camps of capitalists and
proletariat. The concept of the elimination of the peasantry by capitalist development, evident in the works of
both Lenin (1977) and Kautsky (quoted in Alavi,1987) in their early formulations of th peroblem, is a theoretical
position defended in present day marxis dtebates (Deere and de Janvry,1981; de Janvry,1980; Rahman,1986).2 The
emphasis here is on the interpretation o Mf arx's analyses of the capitalist mode o fproduction and transition from
the pre-capitalist mode to capitalism, and his concept of petty commod itpyroduction. This unilinear proposition
which posits the 'politically inconsequential' nature of the peasantry in social change, has been widely questioned
on the basis of at least two major developments which point to the contrary fi:rst, what appears to be the
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stubborn persistence of the peasantry in the developing countries notwithstanding various forms of capitalist
development in those societies and second, the increasingly important role played b ryadical political movements
either lead by, based on, or with the strong participation of the peasantry, in the social transformations of the
developing world (Alavi.1965; Hobsbawm,1965 ;Shanin, 1987:1,357-364).
Thus, the persistence of small peasant production throughout the developin gworld, in the face of
advances in productive forces, has posed a challenge to marxist theories of social change.
It is this persistence of peasant forms o pfroduction around the world not only in developing countries bu etven
in developed capitalist societies which has been the focus of recent radical/marxi sdtebates on agrarian change.
These debates have focused on analyzing the nature of the mechanisms, dynami cansd future directions of agrarian
change within the general framework proposed b yMarx which gives primacy to the concept o fmodes of
production and the factors governing the transitio nfrom one mode to another in social transformation, based on
the social relations of production. The objective of these debates, until recently, has been one of producing a
general theory of agrarian change (Harriss,1982; Goodman and Redclift,1981 ;Foster-carter, 1978; Brenner,1977;
Shanin, 1987).
These radical/marxist debates can be broadly categorised under two main alternative conceptualizations
(Alavi, 1987:189-191). The first conceptualization, differs from the classical position described above in that it
argues that the confrontation between the pre-capitalist mode within which peasants operate, and the capitalist
mode, results in 'preserving' the former H. ere, the pre-capitalist mode is considered to be 'articulated' with the
latter, however, in a subordinated relationship (Amin,1976; Vergopoulous,1978). A concept of such a
'non-antagonistic and functional symbiosis 'between the dominant capitalist mode and a subordinate pre-capitalist
mode runs contrary to the fundamental marxis tconcepts of 'contradiction and conflict' and the related antagonistic
relationship between the rising capitalist mode and pre-capitalis tmodes which are assumed to be doomed under
the former's advance .This theory of 'articulation' does not explain why capitalism 'preserves' and makes
functional to it certain forms of pre-capitalis tproduction, while the general tendency of capitalism has been one
of destroying all pre-capitalist forms o fproduction. It also, fails to recognize the dynamism displayed by most
peasant societies in developing productive forces, while retaining what is identified in this proposition as
'pre-capitalist' forms of social relations of production .Other criticisms have been levelled against what are
identified as the theoreticism, ahistoricism, economism an dteleology underlying this line of argument
(Mouzelis.1976,1979; Booth,1985; Brenner,1977). Mouzelis (1976:488) correctly argues that, while attempting to
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