ABSTRACT
The timing of the departure of the white planters in the early 1970s was opportune for the two class fractions, which emerged in the mid-1970s to dominate the industry: the petit bourgeosie and the big peasantry. The Lowa Census Division (CD), which is also the Goroka Open electorate, is the centre of the coffee industry in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The process of marshalling clan resources for business ventures has gone through various stages since the informal process described by Finney. The differences between big peasant interests represented by the Eastern Highlands Development Corporation and the interests of those engaged in service or petit bourgeoisie activities, like Gouna, have always been apparent, though these have not until now been thought to constitute the existence of separate class fractions. Production of a commodity for sale in a market with the object of realising profit is a process based on the appropriation of surplus value.
