In 1874, the British vice-consul in the Ottoman port-city of Kavala declared that local tobacco cultivators had become “indifferent to the success of their crops.” Indeed, the statement reflected the manner in which cultivators in the region related to the fruits of their labor with increasing apprehension. As others have clearly demonstrated, investments in the tobacco industry in the Eastern Mediterranean and especially in the Aegean region significantly altered the fabric of local society. Studies of the Ottoman tobacco industry have indicated that turbulent shop-floor relations emerged in the late-nineteenth century as the most telling evidence for social conflict between a nascent working class and the capitalists who employed them. This emphasis on the industrial workforce has not been limited to tobacco alone, but applies to other industries as well. The historical importance of industrial production is indisputable. However, because of this historiographical emphasis on urban labor, an unfortunate chasm has emerged between histories of urban labor in the Ottoman Aegean and our understanding of the livelihood and political agency of the regional peasantry. This paper aims to correct that discrepancy by shedding light on the many acts of sophisticated violence pursued by peasants and rebels in the Macedonian and Thracian countryside. By burning the villas of large land-holders, sabotaging fields, and kidnapping high-profile merchants and investors, rural people expressed their grievances with the wealthy urbanites who had profited most from their labor, specialized knowledge, and skill in the fields. Although these acts were not part of a coherent political program, they were far from aimless. By attacking the farmlands (çiftlikat) of the Abbott family or holding members of that family (or others) hostage for ransom, peasants targeted the most crucial players in regional economic ‘development.’ In doing so, they challenged the notion that development was an inherently noble process or one that benefitted working people. By looking at a few cases of persistent violence which wealthy merchant families faced in the Ottoman province of Selânik, this paper will highlight the importance of analyzing the activities of urban capitalists with an eye to the rural communities they depended on.