From Feudalism to Capitalism: A Case Study of Agrarian West-Bengal (1920-1980)

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Dr. Manas Bakshi, M. Com, LL.B., Ph.D., a free-lance journalist, is presently associated with a nationalised Bank. His articles and features on various socio-economic aspects, numbering over 100, have been published in several Newspapers and Journals of repute. Some of the empirical findings, included in the present work, have already appeared in The Statesman, The Telegraph, Capital, Frontier, The Economic Age and Business Studies. Grateful acknowledgement to the respective editors.

This apart, Dr. Bakshi -a major voice in the World of Indian English poetry today with seven books of poems from publishers like Rupa & Co, Firma KLM P. Ltd and Script and ms brought out in more than 50 magazines of eminence in India and broad is included in the biographical reference works of American Biographical Institute Inc. U.S.A, International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, U.K., and Journal of Commonwealth Literature.

Pr. Bakshi is Associate Editor, Cridge-in-Making, an international magazine of English poems and appraisal; Member, the Research Board of Advisors, The American Biographical Institute Inc. U.S.A; Member, Editorial Board, United - House Magazine of United Bank of India.

At the very outset, I take the opportunity to offer my sincere regards to my parents who have been a constant source of inspiration to me. I am grateful to my teachers at the University of Calcutta, specially Prof Subrata Ganguly who supervised my research work, Prof. Ranjit Chakraborty who guided me in carrying out the field work, Prof. Arun K. Dutta Gupta, Dr. Bhabatosh Banerjee, Dr Subrata Gupta, Prof. M. Rahman and Prof. Sukumar Bhattacharya who always urged me to complete the work. Sincere gratitude to Mr. Saktipada Bhattacharya, Ex. C.O. Legal Dept, U.B.I, Prof. Pulak Sengupta, Bangabasi College, Dr. Malay Gupta, Ex. Principal, S.T.C, U.B.I for their valuable comments at various stages.

In course of the field work, I have been immensely assisted by Mr. Swapan Bhattacharya of Babupara, Debagram, Nadia, Mr. Hemanta Palit of Paschim Seikh Para, Morag, Hooghly, Mr. Hiraklal Kansbanik and Mr. Tapas Das of R.B.I, Mr. Dharmadas Dutta of S.B.I, Mr. Pradip Lahiri and Mr. Tapan Das of U.B.I., Mr. Jajneswar Choudhuri of UCO Bank and Mr. Suhas Ranjan Sengupta. My indebtedness to them is beyond measure.

I am thankful to Mr. Nirmal Chowdhury, Uttarpara Public Library, Sm. Anima Das, National Library, Sm. Jayati Roy, Commercial Library and Mr. Arun Ghosh, C.S.S.S Library, Kolkata for extending their cooperation in every possible way. I am also happy to record my appreciation of the invaluable assistance rendered to my desk work by Mr. Ramranjit Bhattacharya, Mr. Saumyendu Dasgupta and Sm. Rita Bakshi. Thanks to Mr. Samar Auddy and Mr. Kashinath Pal for reducing the burden of proof reading and expediting the process of publication. Kudos to Sm. Swati Mukherji, M.D, Firma KLM P. Ltd, for conceding to bring out the book sans institutional aid.

The development of capitalist relations in the Indian countryside was much due to the British colonial rule which helped the gradual penetration of capitalism while imperialism helped in maintaining feudal survivals. And the adjustment of land relations for the development of Capitalism ended in agreements with the feudal classes.¹ Owing to the economic policy of the British industrial capital in India, commercialisation of agriculture became rapid, India's involvement in the world capitalist economy increased, commodity-money relations developed and class differentiation of the Indian peasantry gradually intensified. But the forms, conditions, rapidity and circumstances of the gradual replacement of the feudal by the capitalist economy were different in India since the shifts towards the course of capitalist development were taking place in a colonial country and under the conditions of general crisis and disintegration of capitalism.

Bengal, with the population density highest in India even in the 1930s, had the typical feature of supremacy of large feudal landlordism which was different from large-scale landlord farming in India as a whole. Several authors have confirmed that the rural sector in Bengal had long been characterised by feudal norms.