The scythe is the best peasant weapon. I actually like that. It makes sense and gives everyone a weapon they can use in the beginning rounds of strat. Because of it's great length it is still usable by non-polearms.
As other people mentions, there are also many other good non-polearms that the scythe can be compared too. The scythe only wins over them in length but loses heavily in speed. It's in the speed range of the mauls, maces and slower axes.
But one thing that nobody has pointed out and which for me balances it out a great deal, is the fact that it is unsheathable. It might be the best peasant weapon (peasants ARE armed with scythes, and torches. Need to buff the torch!) and can be decently be used by non-peasants. But, since you will drop it the moment you pickup another weapon/a weapon of your type, it becomes useless unless you put that weapon on your back. This makes sense to me and balances it (in strat) a great ammount to me.
I am not saying it isn't the king of the peasant war, only that it still will be much less effective against higher equipment than it's other friends. 28 cut is bad against armour, the speed is too low and the length is always an issue in group fights and ganks, something peasants heavily depend on to fight real troops. The Two Handed Axe, Battle Axe, Falchion, Spiked Club and Voulge; it's price brethren are in my eyes all slightly more usefull against hier tier equipment than the scythe. The scythe wins at low gear, but loses much more efficiency than the others the better the oponents equipment gets.