The Peasant Question: Why the Revolution Must Go Back to the Village by Liam Takura Kanhenga

Every five years, the Zimbabwean opposition faces a recurring nightmare: the urban centers vote for change, but the rural masses vote to retain the status quo. We complain, we blame fear, and we blame theft. But as revolutionaries, we must look deeper. We must use Historical Materialism to understand the material conditions of the people.

The 2022 Census confirms that 61.4% of Zimbabweans live in rural areas. The World Bank notes that over 76% of rural households live in extreme poverty. This reveals a fundamental truth: The majority of our people are not the industrial Proletariat (urban workers); they are the Peasantry.

Currently, this class is the stronghold of the parasitic bourgeoisie in Zanu PF. But we must not mistake their submission for permanence. To win the class struggle, we must understand how the peasant lost their way, and how the Vanguard can help them find it again.

The Pre-Colonial Order: Before the Chains

To understand where we are, we must look at the history of our Mode of Production. In pre-colonial Zimbabwe, society was communal. It was not a capitalist utopia, but the means of production (land and cattle) were accessible. The ruling elites of that time derived power not from banking accounts, but from lineage and spiritual hierarchies. Figures like Mbuya Nehanda held power through "divine lottery"—spiritual seniority that bound the society together. There was no "wage slavery" because the peasant worked for themselves and their community.

Primitive Accumulation: The Colonial Theft

The arrival of capitalism through British imperialism changed everything. Karl Marx calls this Primitive Accumulation—the original theft that creates a capitalist class. The colonial state didn't just want to rule; it needed cheap labor. To force a free peasant to work in a mine or factory, you must first make them poor.

The Land Apportionment Act of 1930: This was the legal weapon that stripped Africans of their fertile ancestral land and pushed them into "Native Reserves" (now Communal Areas). These areas were arid, rocky, and infertile.

The Creation of the Proletariat: By imposing Hut Taxes and seizing cattle, the colonial state forced the black man to leave the village and sell his labor in the city just to survive. This created the urban working class, linking the village to the global capitalist market through blood and sweat.

The Dialectic of Liberation: When the Peasant Entered History

It is a mistake to view the peasant as inherently weak. History proves otherwise. In the 1960s and 70s, the Nationalist Movement realized that petitions in the city were failing. They turned to the Armed Struggle. Crucially, the "Vanguard" (the educated leaders and commanders) aligned with the Peasantry. The war was not fought in the hotels of Harare; it was fought in the bushes of the rural areas. The peasants became the water, and the guerrillas became the fish. Just like the Mau Mau in Kenya or the Cha Cha Cha rebellion in Zambia, the revolution only succeeded when the rural masses "entered history"—when they stopped being victims and became active participants in their own liberation.

The Current Contradiction: Hegemony and False Consciousness

If the peasants fought for land, why do they now vote for the "parasitic bourgeoisie" that keeps them poor? Marxist Antonio Gramsci explains this as Cultural Hegemony. The ruling class dominates not just by force, but by controlling the mind.

Weaponized Poverty: Because the rural economy is dead, the peasant depends on the state for survival. Zanu PF uses state resources—inputs, food hampers, and seeds—as a weapon. This is patronage. The peasant sees the oppressor as a "benevolent father" who feeds them, not realizing the father first stole the food from the nation’s granary.

False Consciousness: The rural poor often do not see themselves as a distinct class with their own interests. Instead, they aspire to be the bourgeoisie. They admire the elite's wealth and hope that loyalty will allow them to pick up the crumbs. They are ideologically asleep.

The Vanguard’s Duty: Political Education

We cannot wait for the rural masses to wake up on their own. The Urban Working Class must lead, but it cannot win alone. We need a Vanguard Party—a disciplined group of revolutionaries—to bridge the gap between the town and the village. We must return to the strategy of the 1970s: Political Education (Pungwe).

We must teach the peasant that:

Poverty is not "bad luck"; it is a design of the current economic system.

The "donations" they receive are bribes using their own tax money.

Their struggle for fair crop prices is the same as the urban worker’s struggle for fair wages.

Conclusion: Engaging the Base

The urban elite cannot liberate Zimbabwe alone. The Lumpen-proletariat (the unemployed urban poor) is volatile, but the Peasantry is the ocean that carries the ship of state. We must organize resistance in the villages. We must help the peasants "enter history" once again. Until the village understands that the man in the Mercedes Benz is not their savior but their class enemy, the struggle will remain unfinished. let them know that their  hoe and  sickel atr weapons ( of consciousness)