From Feudalism to Capitalism | Part I

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From Feudalism to Capitalism | Part I
The first question is, “Why should socialists even study the transition?” After all, it happened centuries ago.  The answer is that there are many aspects of that now completed dialectical process that parallel the one we are presently in the midst of – aspects that provide vital insights into how far along we are in the next stage of economic evolution.  And how rough and uneven such massive transitions are when they involve the total reorganization of society.  

The second question, “What actually happened back then?” has many parts, all of them hotly debated among Marxist historians, sociologists and economists since WWII.  The chief issues are:

When did the transition to capitalism happen?
Where did it take place first? In towns and cities or in the countryside?  In England or on the continent?
How long did it take to complete?
What were the contributing factors?
And finally, was Marx right or does his interpretation of events need revising?

To understand the change, we need to look first at each -ism in its purest, least adulterated form.  The Carolingian feudalism of the 10thC and the British industrial capitalism of the mid-19thC provide the nearest thing to classic examples of each system.  

Western European feudalism just before the last millennium presents a strict hierarchy of King, nobles and clergy owning all the land, living in castles, manors or abbeys, governing a vast population of serfs, who live in huts and hovels, and work the surrounding fields primarily for the benefit of the lord, but also for their own bare subsistence and, in times of trouble, for their protection within the castle walls.  Production is only and for almost immediate use, including the weapons and trinkets the serfs are sometimes called upon to make in the castle workshops.  In a population and an economy more than 90% agricultural, money, wages and profit play no role in the daily lives of lords or bishops, monks or serfs.   There is some domestic trade in a few small cities, and itinerant peddlers occasionally travel from one demesne to another, but otherwise it is the farthest thing from a market economy.

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