Lao Peasants under Socialism and Post-Socialism

318 Pages·1995·28.427 MB·English

by  Grant Evans

Lao Peasants
under
Socialism and Post-socialism
THE LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC AND PROVINCES
CHINA
PHONG VIETNAM
SALY
LUANG NAM
~“]THA /
BOKEO LUANG
PRABANG
HOUAPHAN
GULF
OF
£
8 XIENG TONKIN
co KHOUNG
co
►VIENTIANE PROVINCE
Vientiane
*0
Issan SAVANNAKHET
SARAVANE
THAILAND
XEKONG
Qoloven
r Plateau
ATTOPEO
ps
100
Kilometers CAMBODIA
Lao Peasants
under
Socialism
and
Post-socialism
Grant Evans
SILKWORM BOOKS
Lao Peasants under Socialism and Post-socialism
Grant Evans
Originally published as Lao peasants under Socialism
Copyright © 1990, 1995 by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any
form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright
Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from
the publishers.
This Southeast Asian edition is published by
Silkworm Books
54/1 Sridonchai Road, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand.
Silkworm Books is a registered trade mark of
Trasvin Publications Limited Partnership
National Library of Thailand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Evans, Grant, 1948-
Lao peasants under Socialism and Post-socialism/Grant Evans.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 974-7047-45-5
1 . Laos-Rural conditions. 2. Peasantry-Laos-History.
3. Collectivization of agriculture-Laos-History. 4. Socialism-
Laos-History. I. Title.
HN700.4.A8E9 1990
307.72 '09594-dc20
89-70466
CIP
Designed by James J. Johnson.
Set in Sabon Roman type by The Composing Room of Michigan, Inc.
Printed in Thailand by O.S. Printing House, Bangkok.
Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Abbreviations ix
Post Socialism xi
Post Socialism in Laos xi
Lao Peasants Under Post Socialism xxi
Economic Anthropology xxiv
The Anthropology of Socialism Re-visited xxviii
1990 Preface xxxv
1. The New Socialist man, Natural Economy,
and Collectivization. 1
Socialism and the Natural Economy 8
The reasons for collectivization 17
2. The Sociology ’’ isolation 27
The Lao State 30
Independence 34
The Lao Peasant World 35
The Reasons for the Revolution 41
V
3. The Campaign and After 44
The Campaign 49
Market Socialism 55
Collectivization 58
4. Peasant Society Under Socialism 65
Devolution After the Revolution 66
Livestock 71
A Rural Proletariat 75
The Occupational Structure 75
Cash Income 77
A "Proletarian Village" 79
A Poor Villager 81
Weaving and Petty Commodity production 83
Ceremonial Redistribution 86
5. "The System of Civilized Cooperators is the System of
Socialism" 90
Cooperative Aims 91
"Stages" of Cooperation 94
Don Dou Cooperative 96
Ban Thana Cooperative 104
Ban Nok Cooperatives 108
New Pressures on the Cooperatives 115
Trading Cooperatives 118
A Strategic Compromise 119
6. Peasant Economy and Society versus Collective
Economy 123
The Peasant Family 124
Authority in Production 128
Lao Peasant Women and Cooperatives 129
The Labor/Consumer Balance 133
Children 136
Traditional Labor Exchange Groups 139
7. Cooperation in the Cooperatives 150
The Mark Point System 155
Supervision and organization of Work 165
vi
Economies of Scale 165
Underemployment 172
Irrigation 174
8. "The New Countryside": Cooperative Village State 181
Administration 183
The Buddhist Sangha 185
Village political Organization 188
Cooperatives and the State 192
Women's Association 196
Persistence of Patronage 198
9. Peasants and Socialism 202
Peasant Culture and Cooperatives 202
The Possibility of Cooperation 210
Collectivization and the Domestic Mode of Production 215
Household Flexibility 219
Re-posing the Agrarian Question 220
An Anthropology of Socialism 227
Appendix: Exchange Rates, 1981-1987 235
Notes 237
Glossary 259
Index 261
vii
Illustrations
FIGURES
Frontispiece: The Lao People's Democratic Republic and
Provinces
4.1 Landholding in Ban Hat Kansa 68
4-2 Occupational Structure in Muang Hatsayfong 76
6.1 Compound Layout 126
6.2 Kinship in Compound 127
6.3 Illustration of Domestic Cycle 134
7.1 Kinship in Ban Nok 1 Cooperative 153
7.2 Kinship in Don Dou Cooperative 155
7.3 Graphs at Don Dou 161
TABLES
3.1 Number of Cooperatives by Province 59
4.1 Comparative Holding Size on Vientiane Plain c. 1973 69
4.2 Distribution of Land in Four Villages 69
4.3 Land Distribution of Rice Farms in Selected Villages 70
4.4 Buffalo and Cattle Ownership 72
4.5 Sectoral Distribution of the Labor Force 77
4.6 Income Distribution in Two Villages 78
viii
4.7 Nonagricultural Economic Activities 79
5.1 Seasonal Breakdown of Family Composition and
Payment in Don Don Cooperative, 1980-82 99
5.2 Basic Data about Ban Thana Cooperative 105
5.3 Ban Thana Cooperative, Wet Season 1982 and Dry
Season 1983 106
6.1 Labor-Exchange Group 135
6.2 Work Force /Dependent Relationship in Don Dou 136
6.3 Age Composition of Compound 138
7.1 Comparisons of Mark Points of Two Families 159
Photographs follow page 122
ix