Introduction

The survival and persistence of peasantries in present day have confused social scientists for a long time. The demise of peasants was announced time and again by intellectuals, capitalists, reformers and development planners alike. The mainstream image of the fate of peasants and peasantries was based on a standard story of the much-commented Western road to capitalist agriculture and the concurrent disintegration of peasant societies. Throughout history, peasants have been workers of the land. They live in rural, agricultural households and have direct access to the land they work, either as common users, tenants or smallholders. Peasantries have been the single most important social group in world history since the advent of agriculture. Peasant history is the history of peasants’ work, of the struggle for the fruits of their labor. Peasantries did not only feed civilizations, empires, states and economies; they also supported their ecological and social resilience and fueled their expansion.