F.A.M. Hüsken

Landlords, sharecroppers and agricultural labourers: Changing labour relations in Rural Java

Summary It has mainlv been the large landowners in Gondosari who have been in a position to take advantage of the modernisasi of agricultural production. Long before the seventies they enjoyed a dominant economic, social and political position in the village. Closely linked by family ties,7 they have occupied all the important positions (such as village head and members of the village administration) since the end of the last century. In this way they have been able to maintain and enlarge their economic power. Although several of them attempted to engage in commercial farming in the past, particularly in the twenties, until recently such efforts did not always meet with success. The cultivation of cash crops such as peanuts and kapok was practically under their complete control, but because profit margins were narrow, this did not lead to accumulation on a large scale. In the period 1930 to 1950, when monetized trade practically disappeared as a consequence of economic depression, war and revolution, com...