Page 354 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 354
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
Introduction
The present article deals with the diversification of sources of income in
the peasant economy during the interwar period. It discusses the strate-
gies and practices used to maximise income, wherein peasants comple-
ment their agricultural activities with services and production of items
that fall outside the narrow scope of agriculture. This was done to obta-
in additional income and overcome mere subsistence farming on small
farms or to improve living conditions and allow for investments. These
strategies and practices could be termed as integrated peasant economy,
signifying the mixing of agricultural and non-agricultural activities in
Modern-Era peasant economy. These processes are complex, extremely
complicated, not at all straightforward, and, last but not least, take a very
long time. The interwar period is characterised by a duality of these di-
versification processes. We see that they are both spontaneous and state
regulated through the encouragement of certain activities, e.g. lacema-
king. In this respect, the interwar period witnesses the continuation of
the dynamics that had existed in previous periods. In the geographical
sense, the analysis deals with the “Yugoslav Slovenia,” to use Vasilij Me-
lik’s term, that existed as Slovenia joined the new state and its social and
economic context in 1918.
However, no discussion of the peasant economy and agriculture, as
well as of the diversification of sources of income in this respect, is possible
without a general introduction of the situation among the peasantry. Such
a general introduction will serve as a foundation for the understanding of
the peasant’s strategies and practices of income source diversification used
to mitigate the risks posed by a one-sided income structure. The interwar
period is namely the time when policies of income diversification were be-
coming an increasingly important part of the agricultural policies of the
Slovene authorities. They were now supposed to help overcome poverty in
the rural areas of Slovenia. Our mention of Yugoslavia above is another im-
portant point in the discussion, as the creation of the joint state had signifi-
cant consequences for the peasantry as well. As Slovenia joined Yugoslavia,
intersectoral ratios of relative prices changed to favour industrial activities.
In turn, this resulted in a change of the macro-economic circumstances in
agriculture. In combination with the international reality of falling prices,
Slovenian agriculture was going through a crisis even before the Great De-
pression of the 1930s.
352
Introduction
The present article deals with the diversification of sources of income in
the peasant economy during the interwar period. It discusses the strate-
gies and practices used to maximise income, wherein peasants comple-
ment their agricultural activities with services and production of items
that fall outside the narrow scope of agriculture. This was done to obta-
in additional income and overcome mere subsistence farming on small
farms or to improve living conditions and allow for investments. These
strategies and practices could be termed as integrated peasant economy,
signifying the mixing of agricultural and non-agricultural activities in
Modern-Era peasant economy. These processes are complex, extremely
complicated, not at all straightforward, and, last but not least, take a very
long time. The interwar period is characterised by a duality of these di-
versification processes. We see that they are both spontaneous and state
regulated through the encouragement of certain activities, e.g. lacema-
king. In this respect, the interwar period witnesses the continuation of
the dynamics that had existed in previous periods. In the geographical
sense, the analysis deals with the “Yugoslav Slovenia,” to use Vasilij Me-
lik’s term, that existed as Slovenia joined the new state and its social and
economic context in 1918.
However, no discussion of the peasant economy and agriculture, as
well as of the diversification of sources of income in this respect, is possible
without a general introduction of the situation among the peasantry. Such
a general introduction will serve as a foundation for the understanding of
the peasant’s strategies and practices of income source diversification used
to mitigate the risks posed by a one-sided income structure. The interwar
period is namely the time when policies of income diversification were be-
coming an increasingly important part of the agricultural policies of the
Slovene authorities. They were now supposed to help overcome poverty in
the rural areas of Slovenia. Our mention of Yugoslavia above is another im-
portant point in the discussion, as the creation of the joint state had signifi-
cant consequences for the peasantry as well. As Slovenia joined Yugoslavia,
intersectoral ratios of relative prices changed to favour industrial activities.
In turn, this resulted in a change of the macro-economic circumstances in
agriculture. In combination with the international reality of falling prices,
Slovenian agriculture was going through a crisis even before the Great De-
pression of the 1930s.
352
