Seminar series on Critical Agrarian Studies 2023, Seminar 03 – “The Agrarian Basis of Resistance to Dispossession”

A talk by Devaka Gunawardena

The Critical Agrarian Studies seminar series of the Social Scientists’ Association held its third talk titled “The Agrarian Basis of Resistance to Dispossession” on 7 April 2023 . The seminar series focuses on the contemporary agrarian political economy of Sri Lanka, aiming to map an agenda for critical agrarian studies in the 21st century.  The talk was led by Devaka Gunawardena (PhD, UCLA), political economist and independent researcher.

Dr. Devaka Gunawardena in his talk provided insights into the appropriate theoretical tradition for developing an analytical framework on the agrarian question in Sri Lanka, against the backdrop of the economic crisis.  Drawing upon a wide body of literature on classical Marxist engagement with the agrarian question, he recommended a critical return to Rosa Luxemburg’s magnum opus, The Accumulation of Capital. While this work is frequently discussed  in relation to Marxist theories of imperialism, he contended that it also has significant implications for agrarian political economy.

Luxemburg put forward the argument that capitalism could only survive and reproduce itself through dispossession of non-capitalist societies, especially in what has now become known as the global periphery. She was building upon Marx’s own argument that capitalism is established through primitive accumulation: for instance, slavery, land grabbing and other forms of extra economic coercion.

Gunawardena highlighted Rosa Luxemburg’s argument that primitive accumulation is an ongoing trend, rather than being only present in the origins of capitalism. At a point when there is growing recognition  in Sri Lanka of the urgency for domestic food production, it would be valuable to look at Luxemburg’s work anew to see how and where it might be expanded to include fresh ideas for theorising social forms of organising production. The Accumulation of Capital encourages us to re-examine the debate on whether Sri Lanka’s slowly re-emerging cooperative system is a collective social form through which working people (including the peasantry) are able to resist primitive accumulation with or without dispossession.