The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 130)

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The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 130)

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114
First, the 12.5 percent tithe rate, initially retained, was reduced to 10 percent of
the gross yield in 1925. Second, tax farming was abolished in 1919.
However, two other changes in the collection of the tithe more than offset
any potential benefits that the first two measures could have produced. First, in
1928, the ordinance issued the previous year for the “commutation of tithe” came
into effect. This meant that the tithe was now a fixed annual amount based on the
average yield of the four years preceding its application (i.e., 1924-1927). What
made this new measure disastrous for the peasants was the “scissors crisis”? that
transpired in some of the following years in terms of bad harvests and deep price
drops, especially during the Great Depression.
For major winter crops, the average total production for 1924-1927 was
159,000 metric tons.* In 1928, production was 119,000 tons, a drop of 25
percent. The next three years production bounced back, but in 1932 and 1933, it
decreased substantially to 81,000 and 86,000 metric tons, respectively. As for
wheat only, the average production for 1924-1927 was 98,000 metric tons, and in
1928 decreased to 65,000 tons. Again, the next three years saw increases on wheat
The “scissors crisis” was an idea commonly applied to the fact that during the
1920s and early 1930s, farm prices generally fell more than nonfarm prices
throughout the world. Although Palestine, like other primarily agricultural
countries was severely affected by this crisis, I am using the term, somewhat
differently, to also illustrate the “twin” effects of falling prices and harvest
failures.
*All numbers on production are taken or derived from Abstract 1939, Table 47,
39, and rounded to the nearest thousand. Winter crops include wheat, barley,
lentils, kKersenneh, beans, and chick peas; summer crops include durrah, sesame,
chives, melons, grapes, figs, almonds, other fruits, and vegetables.
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The Dispossession of the Peasantry

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المنشئ

Riyad Mousa

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