right moment, his entire year’s labour was lost. The workers did not suffer from natural calamities, the farmer did. This uncertainty made it very difficult for a farmer to make any long-term plans. His profession compelled him to be almost fatalistic. This was also the only profession where the producer did not fix his selling price. The nature of their work made farmers individualistic. Even Karl Marx wrotes, ‘Farmers are like a sack of potatoes, the moment there was a hole in the sack, potatoes would scatter here and there.’ Moreover, it was almost impossible to find a village where disputes over land did not exist. Even two brothers did not see eye to eye. Each village was further divided along caste or political lines. Joshi knew the uniqueness of his efforts and therefore perhaps never tried to give any formal, cohesive shape to his organization. The first working committee of SS came into being only on 27 May 1984; almost five years after the organization was created. He used to say, ‘Whoever is willing to put his hand in the pocket is our treasurer and whoever is willing to suffer a blow of the police lathi is our worker.’ SS conventions did not take place every year. Joshi avoided any kind of rituals and kept the organization flexible. SS had no formal membership or subscription. Its followers were spread throughout Maharashtra and many were in fact in very remote, often inaccessible, villages. To meet the obvious need for communicating with the far-flung followers it published a small, 8-page fortnightly called Shetkari Sanghatak which was largely managed by Sureshchandra Mhatre. It carried the news of various activities of the organization. Often Joshi wrote for it. In fact most of his books which were published in later years were the compilations of articles he wrote in this fortnightly. It played a vital role in keeping the flock together When White Gold Turned Red
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