AGRARIAN REVOLUTIONS OF THE PAST 15 



The history of agrarian protest varies between 

 wide limits. Sometimes it reveals itself in the em- 

 bittered appeal of some social reformer, and then 

 again it may manifest itself in a widespread social 

 upheaval on the part of an entire discontented class. 

 The recital of conscious wrongs by some moral or 

 spiritual leader has had the effect of arousing the 

 discontented class to action and causing a revolution. 

 This has happened from time to time throughout 

 the course of human association. 



The prophets, Micah and Isaiah, are good exam- 

 ples of great social reformers who reflect the senti- 

 ments of discontent of the peasants of their respec- 

 tive ages. "Woe unto them," says Isaiah, "that join 

 house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no 

 place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of 

 the earth." x This was undoubtedly a striking state- 

 ment of the agrarian situation that was causing wide- 

 spread discontent. That this situation was of long 

 standing is indicated by a similar protest of Micah, 

 who lived in a much earlier age. "Woe unto them 

 . . . that covet fields, and take them by violence; 

 and houses, and take them away; so they oppress a 

 man and his house, even a man and his herds." 2 



These agrarian protests run through the Jewish 

 prophetic literature and indicate that inequalities 

 in land tenure developed very early in the evolution 



1 Isaiah, 5:8. 

 1 Micah, 2:3. 



