30 SOCIAL SCIENTIST however, this route of escape was closed in most areas. ^ 18 In some extreme cases upto 40 intermediaries were recorded between the primary producer and the State. This indicates that the Government's revenue demand absorbed only a fraction of the peasants' surplus produce, the bulk being appropriated by a hierarchy of parasitic intermediaries. 19 In the first half of the 19th century, assessments in Madras Presidency were 50% of the value of gross produce on wet land, one-third on dry—in theory. In practice, revenue collections were higher. See D Kumar, Land and Caste in South India, pp ^82-84. Also quoted is the estimate by Raja, 'Economic-Conditions in Madras Presi-, dency 1800-1850', that for every 100 of population, Bengal paid Rs 1,006 in revenue, , Bombay Rs 1,672 and Madras Rs 2,313. D Kumar, Ibid., p 98. 20 R C Dutt, Economic History of India in the Victorian Age. 21 R Kumar, Western India in the igth Century. See also Report of the Deccan Riots Qommission, 1876. 22 See ]VT Darling, The Punjab Peasantry in Prosperity and Debt. 23 D Kumar : Land and Caste in South India, Ch. VIII. 24 See for example, A Aiyappan : "Social Revolution in a Kerala Village" and B Hygle, op. cit., pp 102-114. 25 Census of India, 1931. Vol. I Part II, p 226. 26 S J Patel, "Agricultural Labourers in India and Pakistan" in Essays on Economic Transition, 1965, pp 23-25. 27 Royal Commission on Agriculture, Report, p 582. 28 This is observed for inslance in 19th century Ireland. "The Condition of the Agricul-cultural Classes of Great Britain and Ireland". Vol I, Ch. IV, London 1842. 29 A V Chayanov, Theory of the Peasant Economy. 30 Census of India, 1951, Vol. I, Part IIB—Economic Tables (General Population). 81 Unfortunately some advocates of land redistribution have put forward this fallacious argument of the greater 'efficiency' of small scale production to support their case. ! f The slogan of land to the tiller is a political one which stands independently of any misguided narrowly 'economistic' arguments which idealise petty production. 32 See for example A K Sen, "Peasant and Dualism with or Without Surplus Labour", J P E., 1966. 33 The development of manufacturing being concentrated in particular areas (predominantly Calcutta and Bombay) left the vast peninsular hinterland virtually untouched. 34 A Gunder Frank, in his 'Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America, stresses correctly that underdevelopment of the colony or satellite is an integral part of the process of capitalist development in the metropolis. But he goes on to argue that, because a satellite is integrated into the world Capitalist system, its institutions must be regarded as capitalist in content. This appears to be a very simplistic identification of the nature of the imperialist exploitation of satellites by international capital, with the nature of the mode of production within the satellite itself. It is argued here, that on the contrary, far from implying a generalisation of the capitalist mode of production to the satellite, imperialist domination by the metropolis preserves and even intensifies precapitalist modes of exploitation within the satellite, though on a new monetised basis. There is no historical ' instance of the generalisation of the capitalist mode of production to a statellite from , an imperialist country : the only historical instance of capitalist development in Asia ' for example, is Japan, which escaped imperialist domination. 16 M L Darling, The Punjab Peasant in Prosperity and Debt, p 135. «6 Ibid., p 137. 17 Ibid., quoting "Report on Colonisation ofRakh and Mian Alt Branches", 1896. »8 See Financing Public Sector Investment, ECAFE Bulletin Vol. XIX No. 2 1968. Also W Malenbaum, "prospects for India's Development". 39 R Thamarajakshi. "Intersectoral Terms of Trade and Marketed Surplus of Agricultural produce, 1951-52 to 1965-66". E P W.June 23, 1969.