Revolution and Its Alternatives

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.

• Acknowledgements Introduction: The Best of Times, the Worst of Times?1 The Vanishing2 The Banishment3 Making a Difference?4 The Shrewd Scholar?5 Something They Have Forgotten?6 ThemesPart 1: Revolutionary/Counter-revolutionary Practice/Theory1 Revolution in Practice1 Introduction: Revolution, or Reform (and Counter-revolution)2 Educate them to Revolt3 The Greatest of All Proprietors4 Desperation and Vengeance5 As the Part to the Whole6 Conclusion2 Revolution in Theory 1 Revolution and/as Modernity2 To the Barricades?3 Half the Voters Plus One?4 Confused Chatter and Legislative Obstruction5 Modernity and/as Bourgeois Democracy6 Conclusion3 Refusing Revolution, Empowering Counter-Revolution 1 Introduction: To the Barricades?2 What History Taught Us3 The Nation’s Great Concerns4 The Balance of Class Power?5 To the Barricades6 The World We/(They) Have Lost7 A (Marxist) Warning from History8 ConclusionPart 2: Other Marxisms, Other Priorities/Identities4 The (Revolutionary) Path Not Taken1 Introduction: Promoting Capitalism, Not Socialism2 Laissez-faire Discourse-for3 In the Footsteps of Laissez-faire4 Capitalism – or Socialism?5 The Path Not Taken6 Conclusion5 Avoiding Revolution: A Return to Patronage1 Introduction: From Periphery to the (Academic) Core2 Empiricism, Patronage and Subsistence3 Personal Tie of Affection?4 Two Concepts, or One?5 A Caring State...6 ...or Permanent Revolution7 Conclusion6 Misunderstanding Revolution: (Re-) Defining Coercion? 1 Introduction: A Necessary Journey?2 The Debate3 The Debate Transcended?4 Problems with Theory5 Butterfly Collecting6 Conclusion7 Other Priorities, Other Identities: Unmasking the Subaltern1 Introduction: (Armchair) Generals Go to War2 Subaltern Conquests3 Nationalist Appropriation I: Cambridge and England4 Nationalist Appropriation II: Delhi and India5 Critique of a Critique6 Difference and Sameness7 ‘A reiteration of the already said’8 ConclusionPart 3: Alternatives to Revolution?8 Betraying Revolution (Again)1 Introduction: Revolutionary Socialism as the Fifth Horseman2 Peasants, Left and Right3 A Plan of Campaign?4 Power Wanting, But Wanting Power?5 Resistance, Not Revolution6 Conclusion9 Viva la Revolución? Eric Hobsbawm on Peasants1 Introduction: A Time There Was …2 Big in Brazil3 Hobsbawm and Feudalism4 Hobsbawm and the hacienda System5 Hobsbawm and Capitalism6 Hobsbawm and Marxism7 Outside Latin America8 Conclusion10 Marxism, or Postmodern Precursor? John Berger on Peasants1 Introduction: Holy Humble Peasants?2 No Country for Old Peasants3 Migrants, Gender, Money4 Different Stories, Same Themes5 Looking, But Seeing?6 Too Much History, Too Many Lives7 ConclusionConclusionBibliographyAuthor IndexSubject Index