THE TRANSITION FROM FEUDALISM TO CAPITALISM 01
In order to understand the transition from feudalism to capitalism it is very important to discuss the terms feudalism and capitalism.
Feudalism –The word feudalism comes from Latin word which means a private piece of land. The owner of that land was called the landlord or feudal lord and serfs/tenants were rented the land by the landlord.
This system of feudalism sometimes was called monorialism and it was practiced in Europe from 9th -14th Century when it started to collapse and gave way to the rise of Capitalism.
Characteristics of Feudalism.
1. Existence of Classes; there were two classes in feudalism .The class of those people who own land and the class of those who were landless. Those who own lands were called Landlord, and others were landless were called serfs or tenants.
A serf could be distinguished from a slave though sometimes they shared the common features. They were different on a sense that a slave could be sold.
2. Exploitation through Rent. In this system of feudalism there was exploitation of man by man where by the serfs were forced to pay rent to the landlord for the use of land.
Three types of rent for that case were identified during feudalism .These are rent in kind, rent in labour and rent in money.
Rent in labor was important at the begging period of feudalism .The serfs were obliged to offer their labor power in the plots of landlord for some days of week. Every feudal plot was divided into two sections that of the landlord and the other which is belong to the serfs and all have to be attended by serfs.
Rent in money was a type of rent which came next after these two.
Rent in money was the rent in which the serfs were obliged to pay some agreed amount of their product to the landlord for the use of the land. This type of rent is what infant led to the collapse of feudalism latter
3. Production for use [surplus was low or none]
Agriculture production was mainly for consumption and most of Europe was predominantly rural, also agriculture was practiced in the method of open field, that means the use of follow were one field was left every year.
Due to the poor development of productive forces and the combination of the stated reasons above. The production was done at a small scale and very little surplus was obtained hence production became for use rather than exchange.
4. Political and Judicial power are in the hands of few people [Monopolization of power]
It was pressed in the hands of landlords. During feudalism the landlords had not only possessed the land also the responsibility to do the following duties
[a ] To settle the disputes of his dependents [serfs ]
[b ] They have obligation of defending and protecting the serfs for this case the landlord were military elites
[c ] The landlord were subjected to the bigger landlord, and the bigger landlord to the king and finally the king was subjected to the pope.
5. Private ownership of major means of production (land).
CAPITALISM MODE OF PRODUCTION
This is the fourth of production which started to emerge in Europe from the 15th C after the collapse of feudalism and accomplished in the second half of 18th with the Industrial revolution. This system has the following characteristics.
1. Existence of two classes; the capitalists or Bourgeoisie who own the capital and proletariat class [working class] who own labour power
2 .All major means of production are privately owned and they are in hands of few people.
3. There is commodity production and commoditization of labour where by a worker is regarded as commodity.
4. Production of commodities for sale not for use.
FACTORS FOR TRANSITION FROM FEUDALISM TO CAPITALISM.
Feudalism did not collapse at once. This was a gradual process which had taken some centuries to be attended. Its transition to capitalism was caused by some development within Europe. The followings are the factors for transition;
1. ENCLOSURE SYSTEM.
This was the system of fencing land for rearing animals such as sheep and extensive agricultural production. This system started in England during the 15th C though its origin can be traced from the 13th C with the development of wool industry in Spain, Belgium and France. The demand for wool caused an increase in commercial sheep rearing in England. Many sheep were reared by aristocracy class.
More sheep rearing demanded more land hence the serfs and peasants were to be chased away and their land became enclosured, consequently most of them went to town to look for job. The law made it compulsory for the formal serfs and peasants who lost their land to work in the capitalist farms with the payment of wage. This marked the begging of the working class.
2. GROWTH OF TOWNS.
Though sometimes the towns of England were inherited from the time before feudalism because medieval of England was traditional agriculture and rural. There were four factors leading to the growth of towns during feudal England.
[a ] The growth of population ;As the time passed the population of England grew steadily for instance there were 3 million people in 1485 [14th C ]and 4 million 1603 in 16th C. This resulted to some people to become landless also it caused famine hence so many people wanted to live in town to undertake trade so the growth of those towns.
[b ] The place of defense and security ;During the war time peasants were always moving from the rural to other areas for defense and security later the merchants and long distance traders were attracted to those places as they provided potential customers. They settled just outside the fulfilled areas walls to finally those have to become big towns. The places were several overland 100 meet the traders or other people from various direction had a tendency of topping in the areas where many tools meet for either trading purpose or resting. Slowly those areas started to develop to become towns.
[c ] The growth of cathedrals and Monasteries; Cathedral are the areas where people worship and monasteries are the area where the King headquarters are located. These areas are demanded goods and services and hence attracted the traders and merchants who settled near the institutions. The concentration of these people resulted into growth of towns.
The growth of towns in England has contributed to the transition from feudalism to capitalism by creating a market for both agricultural and industrial production pattern from production for consumption which is famous in feudal system to production for exchange which is typical characteristic of capitalism.
Also a large concentration of people in towns led to the growth of working class which is one among the classes that constitute a system of capitalism.
3. DEVELOPMENT OF ARTISANS AND CRAFTSMEN.
This development is direct related to the increase of production and enclosure system where by a large group of those who had been expelled from their land ran to towns to become manufacturer of some items such as shoes, clothes, knives etc. in the workshop.
These artisan and craftsmen, in towns they grouped themselves according to the item which are produced. In that cluster of producers who produced the item for instance shoes or knives was called a guild system. This group of guild determined the quantity and price of the product. Later the guild master started to control the production and market while the artisans and craftsmen were reduce to become the wage labour. In turn a guild master became capitalist after he has accumulated capital through appropriation of profit.
4. THE ROLE OF LONG DISTANCE TRADE.
Long distance trade was a trade that covered wide and long geographical areas within Europe and even outside Europe. This was facilitated by the improvement in marine technology which included the building of ships, the discoveries of compass direction and clock watch. The merchants due to these discoveries they started to travel to very far to look for cheap commodities and items, and at home those commodities were sold at a very high price to earn a super profit.
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