This paper attempts three things. First, it tries to put the discussion of land reform policies in its proper context by relating it to the existing agrarian structure. Secondly, it presents a critique of too-facile generalisations about the supposed benefits of certain recommended policies. Thirdly, it broaches a discussion of the political preconditions and consequences of these policies. The first three sections develop the argument that the dominant mode of production in Bangladesh agriculture is a petty peasant mode of production, whose working are modified in important ways but not yet qualitatively transformed by the dominance at a higher level of the world capitalist system. It is the fragmented nature of peasant property, rather than rent, usury capital, or merchant capital, that constitutes the main internal barrier to growth. It is argued that while policies like abolition of Sharecropping and ceiling legislation may be politically essential as a transitional programme, they cannot provide in themselves a solution to the agrarian problem. Finally the paper tries to evaluate the political feasibility of the various policies discussed, given the existing class structure and the class nature of the state, and concludes on what may be called a guardedly pessimistic note.