Crafts and trades (english): Comment on T. Shanin

Eric Hobsbawm's outline of the concept of social banditry suggest certain conditions of existence for that mode of primitive rebellion. Primary among these conditions are the presence of a ‘traditional peasant environment and the absence of ‘industrial capitalism’. This paper presents a critique of Hobsbawm's specifications, and suggest two alternative conditions: the presence of class conflict which unites direct producers, and the absence of effective, institutionalised political organisation of producers’ interests. This reformulation is illustrated by reference to the Kelly Outbreak in late nineteenth century Australia.     

Ireland 1785–1795

The Changing Peasantry of Eastern Europe by Joseph Obrebski, edited by Joel &; Barbara Halpern. Schenkman Publishing Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1976. Pp. 102. $11.25 (cloth), $5.95 (paper).

The Green Flag, Polish Populist Politics, 1867–1970, by Olga A. Narkiewicz. Croom Helm Ltd., London, 1976, Pp. 313. (index and bibliography). £7.95.

Agrarian Reform and Peasant Organisation on the Ecuadorian Coast, by M. R. Redclift, University of London, Institue of Latin American Studies Monographs 8, London: The Athlone Press, 1978, Pp. xi 186, £8.

Jhagrapur: Poor Peasants and Women in a Village in Bangladesh by Jenneke Arens and Jos van Beurden, Amsterdam, 1977. Pp. 189. Np.

Wort und Begriff ‘Bauer’. Zusammenfassender Bericht über die Kolloquien der Kommission für die Altertumskunde Mìttel‐ und Nordeuropas edited by Reinhard Wenskus, Herbert Jankuhn and Klaus Grinda. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck &; Ruprecht, 1975. Pp. 262. DM 69.00.     

Outside earnings in the Russian peasant farm: The case of Tula province 1900 to 1917

Employment in, and income earned from, crafts and trades (promysly) played an important role in the peasant budget in Tula province before the revolution. This income was earned in both domestic and migratory occupations of various types—many directly related to the urban industries of the town of Tula. Overall, these side earnings played a reciprocal role to farming proper—a point which is demonstrated within the province geographically, according to the size and ‘scale’ of the farm and according to its organisation and layout. This income was therefore primarily supplementary, so that rather than weakening the peasant household farm as an economic unit, industrial or other ‘off‐farm’ work served to maintain the peasant farm at a time of economic change and industrial growth.     

Boxers,Christians and the culture of violence in north China

History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth, by Paul A. Cohen. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. Pp.xviii + 249. £27.95/US$34.50 (hardback); US$18.50 (paperback). ISBN 0 231 10650 5 and 10651 3

On the one hand, the Boxers have been condemned as a product of uncivilised, irrational, superstitious anti‐foreignism among the common people. On the other, the Boxers are praised as patriotic anti‐imperialists. This latter characterisation remains the prevailing view not only in current Chinese writings but also in some recent Western accounts. While not denying the unsettling impact of certain aspects of foreign imperialism at the end of the nineteenth century, it is argued here that greater emphasis must be placed on the endogenous factors that gave rise to the Boxer Movement. In its broadest sense, the movement was a multi‐stranded and complex response to mounting internal and external pressures. A careful analysis of this conjuncture of factors will provide a more satisfactory explanation for the fateful events of 1898–1900.     

Blending issues and stakeholders: in pursuit of the elusive synergy

Two separate frameworks have existed for the analysis of social predicaments in which businesses play a role: issues management and stakeholder management. In this paper, we argue that the chasm dividing these two literatures is artificial, and potentially obstructive to the advancement of our knowledge of the position of business in contemporary societies. The position we take in the present paper is that all social predicaments have an issues side as well as a stakeholder side and that a dual focus on both issues and stakeholders is therefore essential to understanding the evolution of these predicaments and crucial to managerial dealings with these issues. We present an integrative co-evolutionary framework, explaining the dynamics between issues and stakeholders in all consecutive stages of a predicament's evolution. The framework proposes a new way of thinking about issues and stakeholders, as such facilitates a deeper understanding of how the social environment of business is constituted, and offers new insights for the practical management of issues and stakeholders.