Surplus yield and production structure: The case of small-scale rural industries in West Bengal

Rural industries in West Bengal are characterized by a multiplicity of orga nizational forms, such as independent petty production, petty production un der subcontracting relations with a master trader, modern small-scale produ ction, and medium-sized capitalist production. On the basis of field data, we have estimated the amount of surplus generated by these different kinds of producer across a number of organizations and industries, using an alter native criterion: imputing wages to family labour. It was observed that a l arge number of petty producers generate negative or very low surpluses, and thus have to find supplementary sources of income. Further, the surpluses generated by petty producers attached to a master trader are generally high er than those of independent petty producers. This can be explained in one of two ways. Either the existence of mutual trust between attached petty pr oducers and a master trader offers the former certain advantages over the i ndependent ones, in terms of steady access to urban markets, cheaper source s of raw materials, and easy credit. Or, alternatively, the control such at tachment licenses enables a master trader both to extract and to maintain c ontinuous access to higher levels of surplus. For these reasons, this syste m of organization lends viability to artisanal production.