ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses ‘peasant wars’ in one of the case studies covered by Wolf in PWTC, namely Mexico. The purpose of this chapter is not principally to revisit Wolf’s own analyses of this ‘peasant war’ (although this is something that is undertaken) but is, perhaps more importantly, to examine what became of it in the decades following the (somewhat arbitrary) endpoints in Wolf’s narrative. Since Wolf chose not to pursue analysis of ‘peasant wars’ from his new theoretical perspective as delineated in EPWH, this lacuna affords the opportunity to address these later developments through the Marxian theory articulated by Wolf and the authors of this book. Here, the analysis takes in, then, the neoliberal/neo-imperial era, and synthesizes experiences concerning capitalism, the state, and imperialism in relation to the peasantry, together with processes of reformism and class co-optation. It also draws lessons from agrarian transitions in industrialization strategies, especially relevant to Mexico, detailing the political and ecological contradictions of the proletarianization process and agricultural productivism.
