The Political Economy of Flue-cured Tobacco Production.

This paper discusses recent neo-Marxist contributions to theories of the state, particularly as they relate to agricultural policy. A case study of the flue-cured tobacco program is developed to inform theories of the state. The case study is historical and focuses on the changing relationship between the state and tobacco growers from the New Deal to the present. This relationship has been influenced by the contradictory nature of the capitalist state, which must respond to both accumulation and legitimation crises. Although many agricultural programs developed during the New Deal were regressive and benefited monopoly capital, these programs also represent benefits fought for and won by farmers. However, the New Deal response to the Depression established the conditions that have produced today's structural contradictions in agriculture. Attempts to roll back the New Deal agricultural programs will probably be more successful for tobacco than for other agricultural commodities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]