Peasant agriculture in Paraguay according to the classic theories on the agrarian issue

Abstract

This paper is an initial step in addressing transformations in the Paraguayan agrarian sector taking into account some of the most important traditional theories that have been used to analyze the agrarian question: Lenin on peasant differentiation; Chayonov on the organization of peasant economic unity, and Kautsky on peasant decline due to industry and commerce. The current reality, as observed in the field, merits a view from these theoretical traditions. The study is analytical, reviewing the above-mentioned theories while making a preliminary comparison with the Paraguayan agrarian process. The debate among these theories has not been exhausted; on the contrary, in a moment in which modern capitalist agriculture is advancing, problems in rural areas are deepening thus necessitating greater attention to this issue. The complexity of the present situation in rural areas, a reflection of the heterogeneity of production regimes and social structures, in turn translates into a disparity in theoretical constructs about this same phenomenon. In contrasting these theories, along with a critical analysis of the reality in rural Paraguay, which theory more precisely reflects the current agrarian process is not easily identifiable. Diverse modes of structures of production still persist and exist side by side in Paraguay, as do the diverse ways in which they are inserted into national and global structures of production.