中西部反「独占」的農民運動と独占資本主義体制の成立 : 農民生活史からの一視座

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In spite of the agrarian protests against "Monopoly", 19th century American catitalism could develop into the stage of the monopolistic capitalism in the early 20th century. It is curious that the Americans including farmers who had criticized "Monopoly" came to believe the 20th century society to be democratic. The purpose of this paper is to state why they came to think so. At first we find out the social background of the farmer's discontents. The farmers criticized "Monopoly" as they thought it wielded over-whelming power politically and economically in order to get big profits. We admit their belief caused the agrarian revolt directly. But we think this is onesided explanation. There was a deeper reason for the farmer's dissatisfaction. That is the widening gap of "the standard of living" between "country" and "city". In "city", people had been able to get more goods more easily since the early 19th century. At the same time characteristic role allotment in the family appeared, that is to say, "business" and "household affairs" were divided between husband and wife. This life style of "city" can be characterized as the middle class life style, which became the symbol and the goal of the American citizens. The more the railroads were constructed and the information of the city life entered into "country", the more the country people increased their desires for the city life style on the one hand and their feelings of inequality on the other hand. Farmers made efforts to make their lives more affluent. This was the basic element of the agrarian revolt, along with the political opposition against "Monopoly". To realize this they tried to make cooperative stores, but most of them failed because of the lack of capital and experience and other reasons. Never the less, they could have another channel to get several goods made in "city" more easily and more cheaply than before. It was the mail-order system. The first big mail-order house, Montgomery Ward Co., was established in 1872 to provide several kinds of goods to the western farmers cheaper than those of the country stores. The business grew to succeed in getting large markets in rural areas. The history of the mail-order house is a typical example which reveals that the rationalization of the economic system by the big businesses appeased farmer's discontents. We can find out the same examples in other industries; farm machinery, railroad and etc. Ironically saying, the farmer's anti-monopolistic feeling was appeased by the establishment of the big businesses. So far as the big businesses continue to provide many cheap consumer goods, the American society is considered democratic in the eyes of the Americans.
社会経済史学会の論文
1982-07-15

中西部反「独占」的農民運動と独占資本主義体制の成立 : 農民生活史からの一視座

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