- Email: [email protected]
German imperialism in Africa
BOOK
Robison, Richard (1986) Indonesia: The Rise of Capital. North Sydney, Australia and Winchester, MA: Allen & Unwin (425 pp., paperback, $19.95). Thirteenth in an important Australian series on Southeast Asian history is a macro-political economy of contemporary Indonesia. Despite the presence of Chinese and foreign capital, both domestic and state-owned capital have been important for decades. As case studies of their complex interactions since the early 1970s show, state and local capital are rebalancing the triple alliance in their favor. Domestic capital has developed more independent financial bases and gained from joint venture experience, yet it is also using and expanding its privileged access to state power. One can expect further development toward South Korean or Singapore models. Shubert, Adrian (1987) The Road to Revolution in Spain: The Coal Miners of Asturias, 18604934. Champaign, IL: Univ. of Illinois Press (183 pp., cloth, $22.95). In October 1934 some 25,000 miners took on the Spanish state and were repressed. Shubert looks back at 70 years of the development of mining in Asturias to show why miners remained unable to translate multiple grievances into an effective social change movement. He finds no homogeneous community, rather working conditions and social origins limiting unity even in the World War I era. Regional rivalries, socialist/Catholic conflict, diversity of living conditions, intergenerational rivalry among immigrants, and lack of teamwork on the job left a movement unable to protect the small gains of decades of struggle during the industry crisis of the 1920s. Leaning on the state was then no answer, especially after the November 1933 election of the right. So, Alvin (1986) The South China Silk District: Local Historical Transformation and WorldSystem Theory. Albany, NY: SUNY Press (206 pp., cloth/paperback, $39.50/$14.95). World-system analysts have long been unjustly criticized for supposed inattention to local concerns. With this case study So seeks an explicit rejection of this allegation by analyzing six issues of local incorporation, class formation and the dynamism of the local-global linkages. This region began its incorporation with the expansion of the opium trade in the 1830s. Conquest and continued rural rebellion made it logical for local gentry to expand silk culture and export under their control. But at each stage thereafter
NOTES
989
peasants’ resistance and world-system impulses led to new cultural, technical or institutional changes. Resistance, however, did not improve the conditions of many peasants nor prepare them to survive global cycles, especially the Depression. This is an important work with wide methodological implications. Stephens, Evelyne and Stephens, John (1986) Democratic Socialism in Jamaica: The Political Movement and Social Transformation in Dependent Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press (423 pp., cloth/paperback, $55/$14.50). This stimulating case study looks for practical lessons to see if democratic socialism is a realistic strategy for transition in the periphery. The Manley government model involved these basic elements: state led efforts in key economic sectors to gear processes and results of production to basic needs; control of commanding heights which did not rule out using private sector skills; equity pursued culturally and politically, especially by the development of popular organizations to affect state policy; and non-alignment and reduced foreign dependence by renegotiations. The authors found Manley’s demise a function of country contexts and policy mistakes not just structural constraints. Possible (and timely) alternatives conclude. Stern, Stephen, ed. (1988) Resistance, Rebellion, and Consciousness in the Andean Peasant World, 18th to 20th Centuries. Madison, WI: Univ. of Wisconsin Press (446 pp., cloth/ paperback, $45/$15). From this exciting dialogue of history and anthropology come important new approaches to the study of peasant rebellion. One of three recent conferences on Andean history, this collection offers 11 case studies and a synthesis essay pointing to four revisions of the current debate: peasants are far from passive and can be continuous initiators; rebellions must be studied in appropriate time frames, typically multiple long and short; peasant consciousness and political horizons are quite diverse and study of local cultural history is thus essential; and ethnic dimensions of peasant consciousness cannot be glossed over or assumed away without comment. Without doubt this will remain an essential comparative collection for peasant studies of any region or time. Stoecker, Helmuth, ed. (1986) German Imperialism in Africa. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press Int. (446 pp., cloth, $38.50). The German
colonial
venture
in Africa
lasted
990
WORLD
DEViXOPMEN’l
just over three decades and has received relatively little academic attention outside Germany. A new synthesis is most welcome. This East German effort combines use of the colonial archives in East Germany and dialogue with previous Western commentary. The analytic narrative covers the background and conquest, political, economic, and social developments before and after the 19007 uprisings, and post-colonial drives from World War I through World War II. One wishes for more notice of the recent theoretical work in this revision and expansion of a 1977 German work, but there is much here of use for comparative study. Sundaram, Jomo Kwame (1986) A Question of Cluss: Capital, the State, and Uneven Development in Malaya. Singapore: Oxford Univ. Press (360 pp., cloth, $56). A Malay scholar has here produced one of the more theoretically informed modern country studies in recent years. He centers on class and class contention since the 1870s. Classes are in constant formation, constrained and in conflict with past and present. It is this contention “that makes history, though in circumstances beyond the full control of any of the contending sides.” While ongoing accumulation of capital is always an issue, class conflict does not have to involve consciousness, social organization or movement. Sundaram does not pretend he has unraveled all complexities. covered ail important social elements. or answered all questions. But if one is seeking the roots and potential of the current era of statist capitalists, this is a valuable and challenging work. Tardanico, Richard, ed. (1987) Crisis in the Caribbean Basin. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Pub. Co. (263 pp., cloth, $29.95). In the ninth contribution to the Political Economy of the World System series, the 10 participants use a looser term of world capitalism and do not share a general methodology other than interlevel and interdisciplinary orientation. The essays treat island and mainland cases over the last two centuries. They are centrally concerned with the distribution of wealth and power and, naturally, the role of the United States as hegemonic power. What comes through are inter and intraregionai dynamics, diversity of local con,texts, and the active roles of local classes and groups in larger changes as well as reverse influences. A study of Colombia’s labor arrangements, both rural and urban as generative of unequal exchange looks particularly good.
Thrift, Nigel and Forbes, Dean (1986) 7% Price of Wur: Urbanization in Vietrzanz, 19.56 1985. Winchester, MA: Allen Xr Unwin Int. (188 pp.. cloth, $29.95). The literature on urbanization in Third World socialist societies is very small, so even modest historical case studie5 are most welcome. As the authors note, the diversity among the 1.5 or so possible cases makes generalization difficult. So do the data limitations. Vietnam illustrates that the stereotypes of a monolithic state are far from the everyday realities of implementation problems and resonrce scarcity. The civil society is also capable of independent action and resistance. In this case, warfare has been the dominant policy constraint for state and society; the study of its impact on culture and institutions as well as on political economy is really just beginning. Tutino. John (19X6) From Insurrection to Revolution in Mexico: Social Bases of Agrariun Violence, 1750-1940. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press (425 pp., cloth, $42.50). In a major contribution to both Mexican studies and global peasant research, Tutino iliustrates the elegance and effectiveness of the long view. His core contrast is between the revolts of 1810 and those a century later. Nineteenth century elites were able to keep sociai conflict separate from political development; they limited and crushed rebellion in north central Mexico, in part because of their overall national unity. A century later national elites were in crisis and agrarian grievances were widespread. Specific social conditions are the key; in the earlier era Tutino found other peasants less likely to rebel, given local autonomy or better estate conditions. In Bahio the famine of 1809-10 combined with labor surplus and thus exploitation. In any era one must assess both grievances and opportunities. Wood, Phillip (1986) Southern Capitalism: The Political Economy of North Carolina, 188& I980. Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press (272 pp., cloth/paperback, $37.50/$12.9.5). Persistent poverty in the American South has generally been explained by the ability of an enduring pre-capitalist planter ruling class to use a wide variety of non-market constraints to retain power. Wood provides a substantial Marxist alternative, focusing on how a low wage region will have low costs and therefore higher profits using more modern technology. The result is growth without development. Movement of the textile industry from New England to the South in the 1890s was one example. Southern elites
Robison, Richard (1986) Indonesia: The Rise of Capital. North Sydney, Australia and Winchester, MA: Allen & Unwin (425 pp., paperback, $19.95). Thirteenth in an important Australian series on Southeast Asian history is a macro-political economy of contemporary Indonesia. Despite the presence of Chinese and foreign capital, both domestic and state-owned capital have been important for decades. As case studies of their complex interactions since the early 1970s show, state and local capital are rebalancing the triple alliance in their favor. Domestic capital has developed more independent financial bases and gained from joint venture experience, yet it is also using and expanding its privileged access to state power. One can expect further development toward South Korean or Singapore models. Shubert, Adrian (1987) The Road to Revolution in Spain: The Coal Miners of Asturias, 18604934. Champaign, IL: Univ. of Illinois Press (183 pp., cloth, $22.95). In October 1934 some 25,000 miners took on the Spanish state and were repressed. Shubert looks back at 70 years of the development of mining in Asturias to show why miners remained unable to translate multiple grievances into an effective social change movement. He finds no homogeneous community, rather working conditions and social origins limiting unity even in the World War I era. Regional rivalries, socialist/Catholic conflict, diversity of living conditions, intergenerational rivalry among immigrants, and lack of teamwork on the job left a movement unable to protect the small gains of decades of struggle during the industry crisis of the 1920s. Leaning on the state was then no answer, especially after the November 1933 election of the right. So, Alvin (1986) The South China Silk District: Local Historical Transformation and WorldSystem Theory. Albany, NY: SUNY Press (206 pp., cloth/paperback, $39.50/$14.95). World-system analysts have long been unjustly criticized for supposed inattention to local concerns. With this case study So seeks an explicit rejection of this allegation by analyzing six issues of local incorporation, class formation and the dynamism of the local-global linkages. This region began its incorporation with the expansion of the opium trade in the 1830s. Conquest and continued rural rebellion made it logical for local gentry to expand silk culture and export under their control. But at each stage thereafter
NOTES
989
peasants’ resistance and world-system impulses led to new cultural, technical or institutional changes. Resistance, however, did not improve the conditions of many peasants nor prepare them to survive global cycles, especially the Depression. This is an important work with wide methodological implications. Stephens, Evelyne and Stephens, John (1986) Democratic Socialism in Jamaica: The Political Movement and Social Transformation in Dependent Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press (423 pp., cloth/paperback, $55/$14.50). This stimulating case study looks for practical lessons to see if democratic socialism is a realistic strategy for transition in the periphery. The Manley government model involved these basic elements: state led efforts in key economic sectors to gear processes and results of production to basic needs; control of commanding heights which did not rule out using private sector skills; equity pursued culturally and politically, especially by the development of popular organizations to affect state policy; and non-alignment and reduced foreign dependence by renegotiations. The authors found Manley’s demise a function of country contexts and policy mistakes not just structural constraints. Possible (and timely) alternatives conclude. Stern, Stephen, ed. (1988) Resistance, Rebellion, and Consciousness in the Andean Peasant World, 18th to 20th Centuries. Madison, WI: Univ. of Wisconsin Press (446 pp., cloth/ paperback, $45/$15). From this exciting dialogue of history and anthropology come important new approaches to the study of peasant rebellion. One of three recent conferences on Andean history, this collection offers 11 case studies and a synthesis essay pointing to four revisions of the current debate: peasants are far from passive and can be continuous initiators; rebellions must be studied in appropriate time frames, typically multiple long and short; peasant consciousness and political horizons are quite diverse and study of local cultural history is thus essential; and ethnic dimensions of peasant consciousness cannot be glossed over or assumed away without comment. Without doubt this will remain an essential comparative collection for peasant studies of any region or time. Stoecker, Helmuth, ed. (1986) German Imperialism in Africa. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press Int. (446 pp., cloth, $38.50). The German
colonial
venture
in Africa
lasted
990
WORLD
DEViXOPMEN’l
just over three decades and has received relatively little academic attention outside Germany. A new synthesis is most welcome. This East German effort combines use of the colonial archives in East Germany and dialogue with previous Western commentary. The analytic narrative covers the background and conquest, political, economic, and social developments before and after the 19007 uprisings, and post-colonial drives from World War I through World War II. One wishes for more notice of the recent theoretical work in this revision and expansion of a 1977 German work, but there is much here of use for comparative study. Sundaram, Jomo Kwame (1986) A Question of Cluss: Capital, the State, and Uneven Development in Malaya. Singapore: Oxford Univ. Press (360 pp., cloth, $56). A Malay scholar has here produced one of the more theoretically informed modern country studies in recent years. He centers on class and class contention since the 1870s. Classes are in constant formation, constrained and in conflict with past and present. It is this contention “that makes history, though in circumstances beyond the full control of any of the contending sides.” While ongoing accumulation of capital is always an issue, class conflict does not have to involve consciousness, social organization or movement. Sundaram does not pretend he has unraveled all complexities. covered ail important social elements. or answered all questions. But if one is seeking the roots and potential of the current era of statist capitalists, this is a valuable and challenging work. Tardanico, Richard, ed. (1987) Crisis in the Caribbean Basin. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Pub. Co. (263 pp., cloth, $29.95). In the ninth contribution to the Political Economy of the World System series, the 10 participants use a looser term of world capitalism and do not share a general methodology other than interlevel and interdisciplinary orientation. The essays treat island and mainland cases over the last two centuries. They are centrally concerned with the distribution of wealth and power and, naturally, the role of the United States as hegemonic power. What comes through are inter and intraregionai dynamics, diversity of local con,texts, and the active roles of local classes and groups in larger changes as well as reverse influences. A study of Colombia’s labor arrangements, both rural and urban as generative of unequal exchange looks particularly good.
Thrift, Nigel and Forbes, Dean (1986) 7% Price of Wur: Urbanization in Vietrzanz, 19.56 1985. Winchester, MA: Allen Xr Unwin Int. (188 pp.. cloth, $29.95). The literature on urbanization in Third World socialist societies is very small, so even modest historical case studie5 are most welcome. As the authors note, the diversity among the 1.5 or so possible cases makes generalization difficult. So do the data limitations. Vietnam illustrates that the stereotypes of a monolithic state are far from the everyday realities of implementation problems and resonrce scarcity. The civil society is also capable of independent action and resistance. In this case, warfare has been the dominant policy constraint for state and society; the study of its impact on culture and institutions as well as on political economy is really just beginning. Tutino. John (19X6) From Insurrection to Revolution in Mexico: Social Bases of Agrariun Violence, 1750-1940. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press (425 pp., cloth, $42.50). In a major contribution to both Mexican studies and global peasant research, Tutino iliustrates the elegance and effectiveness of the long view. His core contrast is between the revolts of 1810 and those a century later. Nineteenth century elites were able to keep sociai conflict separate from political development; they limited and crushed rebellion in north central Mexico, in part because of their overall national unity. A century later national elites were in crisis and agrarian grievances were widespread. Specific social conditions are the key; in the earlier era Tutino found other peasants less likely to rebel, given local autonomy or better estate conditions. In Bahio the famine of 1809-10 combined with labor surplus and thus exploitation. In any era one must assess both grievances and opportunities. Wood, Phillip (1986) Southern Capitalism: The Political Economy of North Carolina, 188& I980. Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press (272 pp., cloth/paperback, $37.50/$12.9.5). Persistent poverty in the American South has generally been explained by the ability of an enduring pre-capitalist planter ruling class to use a wide variety of non-market constraints to retain power. Wood provides a substantial Marxist alternative, focusing on how a low wage region will have low costs and therefore higher profits using more modern technology. The result is growth without development. Movement of the textile industry from New England to the South in the 1890s was one example. Southern elites