reading a bit about past revolutions (mostly cuba, russia, china and vietnam) It seems to me like the peasantry was at least somewhat involved in each of these movements, with sympathetic peasants providing material support to proletarian revolutionary movements. as far as I understood it, this seemed to be particularly present in the chinese new democratic revolutionary government which sought to form an alliance of the four progressive classes under the ideological leadership of the proletariat, the peasantry being one of these four classes.
another thought is, does the peasant class still exist in the imperial core? I have farmers In my family but I'm not sure if they would qualify as peasantry, as while they own the land they work (and work it themselves, not employing workers afaik), they are entirely dependent on external factors to maintain their lifestyle (having to buy seeds, pesticides, fertilizer, fuel for equipment) rather than being relatively independent from the capitalist class. maybe I misunderstand the definition of peasant, but modern farmers in the imperial core seem to more closely fit the description of petty bourgeoisie, and this seems like a key difference between them and the peasant class that existed at the time of past proletarian revolutions.
this also brings up another couple questions: first, would a proletarian revolution in the imperial core today be able to rely on such a class of farmers (weather they qualify as peasant of petty bourgeoisie) to be sympathetic or does historical precedent make it seem more likely they would a reactionary opponent to progress? second, If the proletariat cannot rely on the support of any other class, how would revolutionary strategy differ from previous revolutionary movements?
sorry in advance if these are dumb questions.
You are looking to apply history a little rigidly I think. You highlight the most important question here:
A few more questions which you don't ask are 'why were the peasantry so important to historical revolutions?' and 'why did the peasantry tend to side with the communists during revolutionary periods?'
Fundamental to this is the class interests of peasantry. A crucial fact of these revolutionary struggles is that they were also struggles against feudalism. A central campaign of the Communist Party of China was land reform: the abolition of feudal relations of exploitation and the empowerment of the peasantry to directly control the means of production. This meant the peasantry had a tremendous stake in revolution!
Since the revolutions you highlight all occurred in countries that were only lightly industrialized or urbanized (as a share of the population), the peasantry was the most populous class and any revolutionary program must include and advance their interests. Peasants did not support communism out of altruism or grand ideals, the average person supported communism because it removed the yoke of feudal oppression and gave them enough land, tools, and seed for a dignified life.
The question now is what is the real class structure of my country and what classes can be allied to the goals of proletariat. In China, this meant collaboration and inclusion of capitalists and industrialists since the primary contradiction was with feudalism and imperialism—forces which also oppress or limit capitalists—not with capitalism.