In this apposite study, Tom Brass explores the relationship between the political subject and the politics of the radical right in the absence of class-based projects of the left.

Tom Brass, D.Phil. (1982), formerly lectured in the Social and Political Sciences Faculty at Cambridge University and directed studies for Queens' College. He edited The Journal of Peasant Studies for almost two decades, and has published extensively on agrarian issues and rural labour relations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: The Best of Times, the Worst of Times?

1 The Vanishing

2 The Banishment

3 Making a Difference?

4 The Shrewd Scholar?

5 Something They Have Forgotten?

6 Themes

Part 1: Revolutionary/Counter-revolutionary Practice/Theory

1 Revolution in Practice

1 Introduction: Revolution, or Reform (and Counter-revolution)

2 Educate them to Revolt

3 The Greatest of All Proprietors

4 Desperation and Vengeance

5 As the Part to the Whole

6 Conclusion

2 Revolution in Theory

1 Revolution and/as Modernity

2 To the Barricades?

3 Half the Voters Plus One?

4 Confused Chatter and Legislative Obstruction

5 Modernity and/as Bourgeois Democracy

6 Conclusion

3 Refusing Revolution, Empowering Counter-Revolution

1 Introduction: To the Barricades?

2 What History Taught Us

3 The Nation's Great Concerns

4 The Balance of Class Power?

5 To the Barricades

6 The World We/(They) Have Lost

7 A (Marxist) Warning from History

8 Conclusion

Part 2: Other Marxisms, Other Priorities/Identities

4 The (Revolutionary) Path Not Taken

1 Introduction: Promoting Capitalism, Not Socialism

2 Laissez-faire Discourse-for

3 In the Footsteps of Laissez-faire

4 Capitalism - or Socialism?

5 The Path Not Taken

6 Conclusion

5 Avoiding Revolution: A Return to Patronage

1 Introduction: From Periphery to the (Academic) Core

2 Empiricism, Patronage and Subsistence

3 Personal Tie of Affection?

4 Two Concepts, or One?

5 A Caring State...

6 ...or Permanent Revolution

7 Conclusion

6 Misunderstanding Revolution: (Re-) Defining Coercion?

1 Introduction: A Necessary Journey?

2 The Debate

3 The Debate Transcended?

4 Problems with Theory

5 Butterfly Collecting

6 Conclusion

7 Other Priorities, Other Identities: Unmasking the Subaltern

1 Introduction: (Armchair) Generals Go to War

2 Subaltern Conquests

3 Nationalist Appropriation I: Cambridge and England

4 Nationalist Appropriation II: Delhi and India

5 Critique of a Critique

6 Difference and Sameness

7 &'A reiteration of the already said'

8 Conclusion

Part 3: Alternatives to Revolution?

8 Betraying Revolution (Again)

1 Introduction: Revolutionary Socialism as the Fifth Horseman

2 Peasants, Left and Right

3 A Plan of Campaign?

4 Power Wanting, But Wanting Power?

5 Resistance, Not Revolution

6 Conclusion

9 Viva la Revolución? Eric Hobsbawm on Peasants

1 Introduction: A Time There Was …

2 Big in Brazil

3 Hobsbawm and Feudalism

4 Hobsbawm and the hacienda System

5 Hobsbawm and Capitalism

6 Hobsbawm and Marxism

7 Outside Latin America

8 Conclusion

10 Marxism, or Postmodern Precursor? John Berger on Peasants

1 Introduction: Holy Humble Peasants?

2 No Country for Old Peasants

3 Migrants, Gender, Money

4 Different Stories, Same Themes

5 Looking, But Seeing?

6 Too Much History, Too Many Lives

7 Conclusion

Conclusion

Bibliography

Author Index

Subject Index