Karl Marx and the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to revise Karl Marx’s model for the formation of capitalism in light of new research. In Das Kapital, Marx focused his study in England through parliamentary documents. The present article examines not only the English situation, but also that of other areas, especially Castile, through village documents. It demonstrates that the new relations of production developed within the functioning process of feudalism. Therefore, there was only one contradictory logic for the reproduction of feudalism and the genesis of capitalism. This leads to the reconsideration of the role of class struggle in the transition.

KEYWORDS:

• Marx
• transition to capitalism
• current research

Acknowledgements

This article was translated by Ana Ras from Los Angeles, California, USA.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributor

Carlos Astarita is a professor of Medieval History at the University of Buenos Aires and University of La Plata. He has specialized in the economic and social history of the Middle Ages. His published works include Desarrollo desigual en los orígenes del capitalismo (Buenos Aires, 1992), Del feudalismo al capitalismo (Valencia, 2005), and approximately 70 papers in specialized journals.

Notes

1. For a general overview of this issue see Seccombe (1995); to the contrary, Marx (1976, vol. 1, 453) believed that those cast out from the land joined fledgling manufacturing operations.

2. This gave rise to opposing views: Some authors considered that capitalism had developed in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries, for example, Rutenburg (1966, 1971), while others denied that this development took place (such as Melis 1966). For theoretical aspects, see Procacci (1955).

3. The paragraphs below summarize the research contained in Astarita (2005, 151ff.). The documents studied date from the 13th to the 16th centuries and correspond to municipalities and religious institutions in Ávila, Sepúlveda, Zamora, Ledesma, Madrid, Cuellar, Riaza, Salamanca, Mombeltrán, Alba de Tormes, Villalpando and Santa Clara de Villalobos in Zamora, Ciudad Rodrigo, Segovia, Cuenca, Piedrahíta, and the villages of Ávila de San Bartolomé de Pinares, Villatoro, La Adrada, Candelada, Higuera de las Dueñas and Sotillo de la Adrada.

4. Thirty percent of those who sold land in the 14th century in the area of Cuenca were widows (Sánchez Benito 1994, 134).

5. On the difference between Kaufsystem and Verlagssystem see Kriedte, Medick, and Schlumbohm (1981). Schlumbohm in particular considers Verlagssystem as a capitalist form.

6. In Zamora, where there was no Verlagssystem but a system of small producers who sold to merchants, between 1477 and 1495 the sales tax for cloth increased from 80,000 maravedíes to 188,000 and the taxes on spun wool sold for weaving doubled. Circulation taxes only give us an approximate idea of the true importance of rural manufacturing since many operations evaded controls (Iradiel Murugarren 1974, 338; 1995, 528–529). Regarding this for the case of England, see Dyer (2000, 304–27).

7. The concept of only one contradictory logic was proposed by Bois (1976), albeit within a theoretical framework influenced by Malthus and Ricardo that the author applied in combination with Marxian concepts. Bois’ analysis of the movement of feudalism in phases of demographic expansion and contraction from which wage labor emerged has been an influence in the study of the origins of Verlagssystem. See Kriedte (1980).

8. This question was suggested by one of the referees of this article.

9. Also, rich peasants led the revolt in the countryside (Gutiérrez Nieto 1973).

10. A matter summarized by Smith (2007, 700): “It is to the alcabala [merchandise trade tax] . . . the ruin of the manufactures of Spain.” See also García Sanz (1977).

11. Examples of histories of the Middle Ages that deny the importance of the revolutions of medieval communities: Monsalvo Antón (1997), Baschet (2009), and Wickham (2016).

12. These historians were Kofler (1948) and Romero (1967).

13. This is observed in different chronicles. See for example, on the rebellion of the bourgeois of Cologne in 1074, Migne (1878b); on the rebellion of Sahagún between 1110 and 1117, see Puyol y Alonso (1920); on the one in Santiago de Compostela in the year 1117, see Migne (1878a).