After Chayanov and Lenin: New paths of agrarian capitalism

The theory of peasant economy is dominated by two classic authors of largely contradictory views A.V. Chayanov and V.I. Lenin. This paper begins by setting forth their contrasting interpretations of differentiation among the Russian peasantry at the end of the nineteenth century, and the contrasting theoretical frameworks of marginalism and Marxism which underlie those interpretations. It then proceeds to set its debate against certain aspects of current transformations in the agrarian structures of Latin America which call for a transcendence of this classic debate. In particular, it is pointed out in conclusion that ‘family farms’ far from being a feature of ‘peasant’ societies, are more common and more dominant in countries and regions which have experienced a relatively dynamic process of capitalist development.