Transition from feudalism to capitalism

Intorducation

                             Feudalism existed in Europe from about 300 to 1400 AD, as the concept of capitalism started to take shape. It's generally believed that feudalism ended with the renaissance in Europe, a time in which there was a great revival of art, science, literature and human freedom. Although the renaissance played a key role in the transition from feudalism to capitalism, several other factors also contributed to the transition. These factors include flaws within the feudal system as well as external forces that created a long-lasting impact on the medieval societies.

                                                                                Some of the internal factors that led to the collapse of feudalism include internal wars, rebellions by the common folk and inefficiency of the system as a whole. The feudal system placed heads of groups between the monarch and the inhabitants, thereby increasing tension between the common folk and the monarch. A Peasant Revolt ensued all over Europe in the 14th century, which resulted into the old system being broken up and the beginning of the modern social economy. The Revolt led to the division of national wealth among small landed entrepreneurs.

                                                                                 The Crusades and travel during the middle ages opened new trade options for England. More trade saw the growth of more towns and thus more merchants. Another disruptive force was the increase of communication, which broke down the isolated homesteads, assisted the rise of towns, and facilitated the emergence of the middle-class. This process was greatly accelerated in the 14th century and did much to destroy the feudal classifications of society. Towns and cities in turn provided alternative employment opportunities, improving the livelihoods of the peasants and in the process encouraging rural to urban migration. Fiefs left their lords for towns and cities, leaving landlords labor less hence contributing to the demise of feudalism.

                                                                              Lords were to ensure that their fiefs had access to the church. They were also not permitted to force the fiefs to work on Sundays. In essence, the feudal arrangement was a subsistence system that focused on two elements, survival and salvation (Hamilton 2007). As Europe became safer, merchants invaded the rural society giving way to wealthy towns and cities. Vassals and fiefs were replaced by private armies and commoners, as merchants became the new source of power for the kings.

                                                                             Karl Marx points out the fall of feudalism should be mainly attributed to internal factors. As demand for commodities grew as a result of new markets and increase in trade, the inefficiency of the rigid feudal structure of production failed to meet new demand. New methods of production arose, thereby increasing division of labor which enhanced productivity. As capitalist modes of production improved, landlords began to perceive themselves as businessmen, thus striving for higher economic returns. As technology improved, new modes of production were only probable if farming was on larger fields. Fiefs were kicked off the land, those who left moved on to join towns and cities while the rest remained to become paid laborers.

                                                                              One of the major external factors that led to the transition form feudalism to capitalism was the expansion of trade. Merchants begun to prosper as Europe became more stable. They were a unique class of individuals in that they were not bound by obligations, thereby conducting trade in their own interest, or else everything would come to a standstill. Merchants started to transform society, from subsistence to an economic one, thereby revitalizing the notion of capital gain. The new merchant class also provided important money for kings, who stood much to gain by encouraging their trade.

                                                                              Monarchs could now raise money through merchants and build armies that were only loyal to the king, instead of relying on the commoners for military force. Mercenaries had few loyalties, except to money, and were feared all through Europe. The threat of mercenaries led to the employment of professionally trained private soldiers; the Standing Armies, and ultimately the end of Feudalism in Europe. The system of raising armies for wars ultimately led to the substitution of money for land. The old system of feudal levy, which formed the basis for feudalism, became obsolete as money became the symbol of power. Land ceased to be as valuable as it once was in the eyes of the monarch. In this sense, Europe started transforming from a land based economy to a money based economy. Land was later-on rented in exchange for money and the rights of lords over labor decreased.

Another external factor that weakened feudalism was the demographic crisis in the 14th century. The Great Famine (1315-1317) led to a decline in agricultural production, meaning the lords had to come up with new strategies to obtain sustainability. The Black Death (1348-1350) severely decreased Europe's population, thereby making labor a valuable commodity. The lords tracked their tenants as capital pleaded for labor. All provisions to control labor proved futile, as poor men entered into service of their own lords as hired laborers.

                                                                               In conclusion, the platform that held feudalism in place failed to pass the test of time. The mechanisms put in place weren't stable enough to fend off the concept of capitalism, what came to be termed as economic freedom. The renaissance in Europe also took its toll on feudalism, as the people embraced art, technologies and change, which marked an end of the medieval times and transition into the modern world.

Decline of the manorial system 

                                                              Increased agricultural production initially encouraged the growth of trade and commerce. Later it led to the decline of the manorial system. The feudal lords started depending more on cities for their demand of luxury items. They needed money for the purpose. To meet their need for money they started renting their land to peasants in exchange for money rent. In this process they simply became the landlords and in most of the cases absentee landlords.Peasants, on the other hand, found it profitable to sell their grain in the market for money and use this money to commute their labour services. This way they were free from all ties to the manor.They were free to sell their surplus in the market and pay the rent to the feudal lord. All these changes led to weakening of feudalties                                         ..
                                                                                 The dissolution of manorial system was further aggravated by disasters of the fourteen and the fifteen centuries. The hundred-year war between France and England (1337-1453) caused unrest in these two countries. Next, the bubonic plague of the 1350s reduced the English population by half. As we know, any disaster affects the poor more. The nobility tried to overcome labour scarcity by revoking the commutation of labour services. But all their attempts to revive the feudal ties were in vain. In some cases, peasants even resorted to violent revolts.

Creation of the Working Class

                                                             The dissolution of the manorial system and changes in the economy in the sixteenth century created a class which owned no means of production and were forced to sell their labour power to the owners of the means of production for wages. Only with these wages could they buy necessities.                                                 .             
                                                                               The peasants used to collect food, fuel and fodder from the village common land. By the thirteenth century the feudal lord started enclosing this land to meet the increased need for money. They used this land for grazing sheep. As a result the village people were denied access to this land. They moved to cities  in search of jobs. Cities became a haven for these rootless people. Guilds in cities have started concentrating on the material well-being of their members. The unemployed started concentrating in the urban centres. There was strict punishment against unlawful farming and begging. These inimical situations created a working class.

Other forces in the transition to Capitalism

                                                                         The discovery of some navigation devices (compass and telescope) helped in the transport of heavy precious metals and later in colonization. In the medieval times (1300-1500) money mainly consisted of gold and silver coins but the production of precious metals stagnated in Europe, causing a problem in transactions. The shortage eased when gold from the Americas travelled to Europe in the sixteenth century. Europe experienced very high inflation during sixteenth century to the tune of 150-300%, depending on the region. The price rise was more for the manufacturing sector than for agriculture and wages. As a result farmers and wage earners suffered more capitalists. With higher profit, the capital stock of the merchants  rose which, in due course, was reinvested and led to more capital. This way the process of capital accumulation progressed. The capitalist class earns profit from its capital stock and more capital means higher profit in the future. This period is also marked by the appearance of nation states. The monarchs needed support from the emerging capitalist class to fight the war with the feudal lords. Capitalists provided resources to monarch to fight wars and in return the monarch promised them military support and freedom from various rules and regulations of the manorial control. In addition a system of uniform weights and measures was introduced.

The initial phase of capitalism is known as mercantilism. Mercantilism originated simultaneously with scarcity of gold and silver in Europe. Mercantilist policies attempted to keep the gold and silver within the country and discouraged its outflow. Spain which experienced maximum gold and silver flow from Americas imposed various restrictions on its outflow. It even announced death penalty for illegal exporters. But, to meet the requirement of trade, the merchant class managed to smuggle it out by bribing the government officials.

                                                                 The government adopted various other measures to encourage the inflow of gold and silver. First, the domestic shipping and insurance agencies were promoted both for exports and imports over the foreign counterparts. Second, the government encouraged domestic monopoly because a single seller could have more control over price in the international market than if there were more than one domestic seller. In order to control foreign competition it even went ahead with the colonization of economic important regions. The export of raw material was also prohibited.

                                                                 Imports to the European countries, especially England, were restricted. If an industry was unable to withstand the foreign competition then the government provided various types of support and subsidies to overcome the setback. In the opinion of Hunt the resources necessary for capitalism could have been generated from trade and commerce, the putting-out system and the enclosure movement.

                                                                  During the transition period, the rent earning landlord class was still the dominant class. A small sector of commodity production also existed in this period. Dobb and other economists have called this as “petty mode of production period”. In this mode of production with artisans and peasants, who had turned into small capitalists, even with hired labour could not have changed this mode of production to capitalism. Prof. Habib suggests that the petty mode of production could have intensified landlord coercion and extension of merchant capital at the cost of small producer’s capital. This would only have delayed the onset of capitalism.

                                                                 Capitalism requires labourers who could be hired and fired by the employers, and factories using machines. Machine-based division of labour is different from that in the previous modes of production. Factories dependent on machines became a dominant form of production in England by the early eighteenth century. As Prof. Habib argues, even technological development could not have generated enough resources for the capitalist system. He suggests that the resources required for the growth of the capitalist system could only be made available from the primitive accumulation involving internal exploitation or control over other economies, for example, colonization.