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Re: CMP by Louis Proyect 27 March 2002 23:40 UTC |
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On Wed, 27 Mar 2002 18:13:48 -0500, Mike Alexander wrote: > There is much discussion about how >capitalism arose in the 15th century. > >Wouldn't the 12th century Spanish shoemaker >Jofre Isaac be a capitalist? > >My understanding of capitalism is it arose from >the earlier feudal society through the >monetization of the economy. Money existed back in the time of Plato. It only becomes crucial when commodity production becomes generalized. In 12th century Spain (and the rest of Europe), the economy was characterized by what Marxists call the production of use values. Kautsky called it the "natural economy". For an extensive discussion of how it worked, see Marc Bloch's books on feudalism. Within the feudal estate, food and other necessities were produced for internal consumption. The lord extracted a surplus which could be exchanged for luxury items. In the city, the economy was not as dominated by such social relations but there is no scholarly consensus on how capitalism might have emerged in the cities, as opposed to the countryside. My own view is that artisans such as Jofre Isaac would have had more freedom in the cities and could have evolved into early manufacturers, providing tools, raw materials, etc. to other artisans. They were a nascent bourgeoisie who came to the fore soon after the New World was invaded and cheap raw materials poured into European cities. -- Louis Proyect, lnp3@panix.com on 03/27/2002 Marxism list: http://www.marxmail.org
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