The Myth of the French Peasant.

The article focuses on the historical development of the land system in France, the basic division of power on the land between 1870 and 1914, the hierarchy of rural personnel, and the irregularity of rural social behavior. Since its great revolution in 1789 France has been praised and envied as Europe's classic home of the family farmer, that independent, landholding peasant whose stake in the soil has made him the bulwark of private property and conservative politics. France is a fertile country of varied produce. Each of her seven topographical regions yields important and abundant products for the food and processing market. On the surface of things, therefore, the idea of a stable, contented peasantry in a balanced national economy has been supported by data on the high degree of ownership, the fertility of the countryside, and the impressive list of marketable staples. These statistics, however, do not explain the contrast between the familiar generalizations about the peasantry and certain vivid descriptions of oppressive rural living conditions. A striking contradiction, therefore, confronts the investigator of French farming, a gap between the pat theory and the spotted reality.