Table Of ContentAGRARIAN CLASS CONFLICT
University of British Columbia Press
Asian Studies Monographs
Agrarian Class Conflict is the second volume in a continuing series of studies in
Asian history and society published by the University of British Columbia
Press.
Other volumes in the series are:
1. China's Intellectual Dilemma: Politics and University Enrolment, 1949-
1978, by Robert Taylor
AGRARIAN
CLASS CONFLICT
THE POLITICAL MOBILIZATION
OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS
IN KUTTANAD, SOUTH INDIA
Joseph Tharamangalam
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA PRESS
VANCOUVER AND LONDON
AGRARIAN CLASS CONFLICT
The Political Mobilization of Agricultural Labourers
in Kuttanad, South India
© The University of British Columbia 1981
All rights reserved
This book has been published with the assistance of a grant from
the Social Science Federation of Canada, using funds provided
by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada.
Tharamangalam, Joseph.
Agrarian class conflict
(Asian studies monographs; 2)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-7748-0126-3
1. Agricultural laborers—India—Kuttanad—Political activity.
2. Trade-unions—Agricultural laborers—India—Kuttanad. 3. Social
classes—India—Kuttanad. I. Title. II. Series.
HD1537.14T492 331.7'63'095483 C80-091229-2
International Standard Book Number 0-7748-0126-3
Printed in Canada
Contents
List of Tables vi
Preface and Acknowledgements vii
1 Introduction 1
2 Agriculture in Kuttanad 17
3 Agrarian Relations in Kuttanad 32
4 The Agricultural Labourers 51
5 Organization and Struggle 67
6 Conclusion: Agrarian Class Conflict, Trade Unionism, and
Democratic Politics 89
Notes 99
Bibliography 111
Index 125
Tables
1 Population for Alleppey District, Kerala, India, 1901-1971 20
2 Work Participation Rate for Kerala, Alleppey, and Kuttanad, 1901-1971 20
3 Work Participation by Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Categories for
Kuttanad, Alleppey, and Kerala, 1971 21
4 Percentage Distribution of the Labour Force Engaged in Agriculture in
Kuttanad, Alleppey, and Kerala, 1971 21
5 Literacy Rates for Kuttanad, Alleppey, Kerala, and India, 1961
and 1971 23
6 Literacy Rates in Alleppey District by Sex, 1961 and 1971 24
7 Rural-Urban Literacy by Sex, Alleppey District, 1971 24
8 Distribution of Land among 108 Randomly Selected Farmers in
One Village in Kuttanad Taluk by Caste and Amount of
Land Owned, 1975 37
9 Pattern of Landholdings in Kuttanad, June 1973 42
10 Pattern of Landholdings in Kuttanad, June 1973—Percentages 42
11 Percentage Distribution of the Labour Force in Agriculture in
Relation to Landholdings 43
12 Distribution of Sample Households Engaged in Cultivation by Size
of Land Cultivated for Rural Areas of the District and Taluks 44
13 Distribution of Selected Holdings in the Kayal Area of Kuttanad
by Size 45
14 Distribution of the Work Force Engaged in Agriculture in Alleppey
District, 1961 and 1971 54
15 Daily Wage Rates, Paddy Prices, and the Paddy Equivalent of
Daily Wages in Kuttanad, 1944-45 to 1970-71 61
16 Wage Rates, Paddy Prices, and the Paddy Equivalent of Daily Wages
in Kuttanad, 1971-72 to 1975-76 62
17 Unemployment of Adult Male Casual and Attached Workers,
1950-51 and 1956-57 63
18 Number of Days of Employment, Paddy Equivalent of Daily
Wages, and Paddy Equivalent of Mean Annual Wage of
Male Workers in Kuttanad, 1950-1975 64
19 Cases Relating to Agrarian Agitation in Alleppey District,
1 January 1965 to 31 December 1969 81
Preface and Acknowledgements
This book is a revised version of a doctoral thesis submitted to the department of
sociology at York University. Fieldwork for this study was conducted in 1974-
75, and most of the chapters were written in 1975-76. It, therefore, describes
events and processes that took place before August 1975. Although I conducted
further fieldwork in 1979-80, I have resisted the temptation to update the book
for two main reasons. First, significant economic and political changes have oc-
curred in Kuttanad since 1975, which include a substantial fall in paddy prices
during the last few years and a recent rapprochement between the CPI and the
CPI(M). These would require detailed treatment and hence a much larger book,
if not an altogether new one. Not only do I lack the time and resources for this
task at this time, but this book, already in press for two years, can wait no longer.
Second, despite these changes, I see little reason at this time to make any sub-
stantial alteration in my basic arguments or conclusions.
This book is dedicated to the landless agricultural labourers of Kuttanad. For
centuries, they were passive objects of history, acted upon by external forces, by
other men and other classes. Now, through their courageous struggle for elemen-
tary human dignity they have transformed themselves into active agents for his-
torical change with some collective power, however limited, to change their con-
dition, and in the process Indian society itself.
Many people have helped in the preparation and publication of this book. I am
grateful to the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute for granting me a junior fellowship
which made the fieldwork in India possible. I wish to thank my former teachers,
Professors Anton H. Turrittin, Donald Willmott, and Mirek Disman for their
help and guidance in the planning and writing of this work when it was a thesis. I
also warmly thank Kathleen Gough, who gave me her valuable time and advice
at various stages of this work. Finally, it is difficult to talk about this work with-
out thanking Elzy Tharamangalam for her loving support, without which it
would never have been completed.
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1
Introduction
The vast majority of mankind lives in agrarian societies in the so-called underde-
veloped countries of the third world. Yet it was not until recently that sociolo-
gists and anthropologists began to give any systematic attention to these socie-
ties. To be sure, anthropologists and ethnologists have long been carrying out
studies of tribes, primitives, and even peasants, no doubt taking special care to
record their exotic customs and strange cultural traits. But it has been the peasant
wars and upheavals of the twentieth century that have captured the attention of
social scientists and turned their thoughts seriously to the political and revolu-
tionary potential of the peasantries of the world and to the implications of this po-
tential for the future of mankind.1 Sociologists and anthropologists, who entered
the field relatively late,2 have been able to generate much greater interest in the
nature of these societies, in their internal differentiation and dynamics, and in the
impact on these societies of exogenous, worldwide processes.3 Greater attention
has also been given to discovering general patterns and regularities regarding
these phenomena. A major concern for the political sociology of the rural com-
munities of the non-Western world has been to discover the general conditions
under which peasants rise in revolt or become politically mobilized and the con-
ditions under which they are able to achieve at least limited success.
One aspect of agrarian societies that has received greater recognition as a re-
sult of these concerns is the degree to which they are internally differentiated.
Gone is the idyllic notion of the harmonious "peasant community."4 Gone also
is the image of the isolated and self-sufficient "village community."5 It has now
become clear that there are few peasant communities even in the remotest corners
of the world which have been left untouched by the upheavals and turmoils that
created the modern industrial world. The metropolitan centres of the world have
throughout maintained an organic relationship to the hinterlands in Asia, Africa,
