ABSTRACT
Marxian political economists have grappled with the “agrarian question” since the late nineteenth century, when European Marxists confronted the vitally important question of making sense of the agrarian peasantry’s role in the rapidly emerging European capitalist economies. Framed in this way, the agrarian question presented urgent theoretical and practical political challenges as Marxian revolutionaries considered what class alliances might best serve to push forward the communist project. The question of the relationship between agriculture and capitalist development has continued to fuel debate since Marx and his followers first confronted what was then called “the peasant question.” Over 125 years later, the agrarian question remains a puzzle.
