Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century

The picture of a downtrodden peasant fighting against a despotic ruling establishment often illustrates any discussion about peasant revolutions. Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century manages to unearth the roots and realities behind six cases of modern revolution—Mexico, Russia, China, Vietnam, Algeria and Cuba—and yet retain the romantic fervor of the peasants’ struggle.

     Eric Wolf writes of the long history of peasants’ rebellions and revolts attempting to right the wrongs inflicted by landlords, colonists, and governments. The book was unabashed in its concern for who was most likely to engage in revolutionary activity and what kinds of alliances led to transformative social change in different historical cases. It arrived at a moment when revolution, and particularly revolution in which peasants were among the central protagonists, was more than something that had happened in the past.

     A sense that revolution was possible—even likely—infused progressive intellectuals, activists, and popular struggles with both intense optimism and deep despair, as popular challenges to the established order drove states’ capacities for terror. Peasant Wars conveyed a belief that knowledge can serve the cause of social justice and that working people can make history.