A close examination of the influential work by Breman [1974; 1985; 1993; 1996] on agrarian transformation in India reveals that he has changed his views about the systemic role of bonded labour. Previously regarded as a characteristic of the pre‐capitalist hali system in south Gujarat, unfreedom is now perceived as central to the accumulation process of agrarian capitalism. Because he defines a rural proletariat simply in terms of landlessness, however, Breman overlooks the fact that much contemporary labour‐power employed in the capitalist agriculture of south Gujarat is decommodified, and that what he (mis‐) interprets as proletarianisation is much rather a process of de‐proletarianisation.
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Tom Brass (1997) studied this question.
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