Feudal Mode Research Articles

Genesis of feudalism in Western Europe and its influence to the globai process of history: The conceptions of L. Vasilyev and E. Gudavičius

The purpose of this article is to compare E. Gudavičius' conception of feudalism with the Russian orientalist L. Vasilyev's attitude to this issue. Both historians treat themselves as Marxists (in the Western meaning of it, i.e. supporters of the Asian mode of production). Consequently, their views on the development of the history of mankind are similar but not equal. In this article, feudalism is treated as a historical and socioeconomic formation and some stage of human development during which the feudal mode of production was dominating. L. Vasilyev describes the stage of feudalism in Western Europe as the age of orientalisation of social structure, i.e. as a regress. Only the rebirth of Antiquity bore capitalism. E. Gudavičius stresses that feudalism created an individual producer (peasant) farm and consequently it was an essential progress in the social development of the societies of Western Europe. The character of the social structure of Germanic kingdoms in the early Middle Ages differed essentially from oriental societies in the stage of early politogenesis. The reason for that was the alodization of Germanic society. So the prefeudal stage (the term of E. Gudavičius) as well as the feudal stage was unique in both chronological and geographical senses (as for this aspect, Western Europe is comparable maybe only with medieval Japan). In the early Middle Ages, a necessary condition of the feudalisation of the periphery of Western Europe was the influence of the neighbouring (already feudal) countries. Otherwise, the social structure of peripheral societies would have been developing like in the Orient. L. Vasilyev affirms convincingly that market relations in Germanic society in the early Middle Ages were suppressed by vertical (subordinating) and corporative connections. In this sense, Western Europe became similar to the Orient. Nevertheless, the main difference was that private property remained in Western Europe. Private property enabled the development of market relations when civilization and technologies were restored. Medieval cities and burghers undermined feudalism and were the first sprouts of the capitalist structure. L. Vasilyev's statement that capitalism is the consequence of a structural rebirth of Antiquity is not very convincing. The structural heritage of Antiquity was a primary stimulus during the process of the genesis of feudalism. Later, feudalism developed spontaneously and the part of the heritage of Antiquity was only auxiliary. It is very doubtful that the historical experiment of the structural synthesis took place in medieval Western Europe (according to L. Vasilyev's conception it also took place in the Hellenistic Orient and in the Byzantine Empire). Already, during the stage of the genesis of feudalism, a social mutation (i.e. qualitative change) took place in Western Europe. So, in general, there was no more structural synthesis but spontaneous development. On the other hand, the mentioned L. Vasilyev's conception was not adapted to much more prospective cases like the Philippines and especially Latin America.

To Each According to his Power? Participation, Access, and Vulnerability in Irrigation and Flood Management in Pakistan

In this paper I draw upon a realist conceptualization of power to inform the analysis of ethnographic data on access to irrigation water and vulnerability to flood hazard in Pakistan. I undertake an integrated analysis of the role of different types of power in influencing differential vulnerability to flood hazard and access to irrigation water in four local-level villages in central Pakistan. Three modes of power are identified: the feudal mode, the bourgeoisie mode, and the communal mode. Each of the modes relies on force, socialization, and control over resources, respectively, to ensure compliance. The villages which are dominated by large landowners tend to have the feudal mode of power as the predominant power structure, whereas the villages with relatively equal property ownership tend to have the communal mode as the dominant power structure. The analyses of power suggest that the participatory reforms in the water sector of Pakistan proposed by the World Bank are unlikely to lead to gains in either equity or efficiency as long as issues of differential power remain unaddressed.

Benitez Rojo and Las Casas's Plague of Ants: The Libidinal Versus the Ideological Unconscious

Benítez Rojo and Las Casas's Plague of Ants:The Libidinal Versus the Ideological Unconscious Malcolm K. Read (bio) In a recent work, La isla que se repite, Cuban critic Antonio Benítez Rojo rereads one of the digressive "fictions" within Las Casas's Historia de las Indias, concerning a plague of ants that occurred in the Caribbean islands in 1519-21, and, through the deployment of the key Freudian notion of the uncanny, argues that it rehearses the Spaniard's deeply entrenched sense of guilty complicity in the importation of Negro slaves, who were currently "plaguing" these same islands. The initial goal of the present paper will be to review, metacritically, the theoretical apparatus that Benítez Rojo brings to bear on Las Casas's text. Psychoanalytic readings, as we know, have long been a commonplace of (post)colonial studies, although never conducted with an easy conscience. The problem, in its general outlines, is fairly clear. On the one hand, few would contest the transhistorical existence of a psychic human apparatus, succinctly alluded to by Freud himself in his famous observation concerning the Trobian islanders: "Don't they have an anus then?" On the other hand, we have the warnings of Frantz Fanon against the uninhibited application of manifestly "European" theoretical categories to a psychic economy of the colonized, on the grounds that the latter is manifestly inflected by the material brutalities of imperialism. Benítez Rojo is himself firmly persuaded of the relevance of psychoanalysis: the texts of Las Casas, he avers, constitute nothing less than a "performance psicoanalítica" ("psychoanalytic performance") [Benítez Rojo 139/110]. Reading Benítez Rojo against the grain, we will argue that, while the existence of an unconscious association between the ants and Negroes is undeniable, the psychoanalytic details mustered in its support are, in themselves, rather less convincing. The effect is to raise serious concerns about the ahistorical bias of psychoanalysis and, more specifically, the virtues of conducting "case studies" of premodern individualities. Our second goal will be to juxtapose to the libidinal unconscious its ideological counterpart, as articulated by the Spanish Marxist Juan Carlos Rodríguez. From the latter's standpoint, the universalized application of psychoanalytic categories cannot help but appear a risky enterprise, particularly when it comes to assuming, as part of our metacritical baggage, notions of subjectivity whose historical production needs to be properly theorized. The Spanish empire, within this context, has the virtue of being something of a test case through which to take the measure of relevant transhistorical and historical forces. The texts of Las Casas are shown to be overdetermined by two conflictual ideological structures, one associated with the feudal mode of production and the other with a mercantilist-capitalist mode. Our conclusion will be that the [End Page 60] materialist reading, staged in terms of Rodríguez's key categories, is far more persuasive than its psychoanalytic counterpart. Given such contrasting evaluations, it is important to clarify at the outset one particular point of principle: our aim is not to disqualify psychoanalytic criticism per se nor, more broadly, to promote some brand of structural monism. We readily concede (a) that the psychological sciences are no mere region of the "continent of history," to be explained away through a process of reduction to more fundamental levels of inquiry; and (b) that, by the same token, the social and psychological sciences need to be applied conjointly in the analysis of social formations, past and present. There can be no question, furthermore, of simply reducing the elements of a structure to the status of its effects, a view commonly attributed to Althusserianism. These positions, we believe, are perfectly compatible with the central concern of our paper, namely, to prioritize determination (in the last instance) by the ideological unconscious, whose pervasive influence is registered precisely in, but extends far beyond, the texts of Las Casas that Benítez Rojo has selected as the basis for his own analysis. Compatible for the simple reason that the reductive impulse is as unacceptable vis-à-vis the social sciences as against their psychological counterpart, particularly in the form of an attempt to treat the class struggle as a regional instance of...

The palladium of justice: origins of trial by jury

The Palladium of Justice: Origins of Trial by Jury. Leonard W. Levy. (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1999. Pp. 114. $18.95.) Professor Levy's work on civil liberties in early America has immeasurably enriched our understanding that Founding Fathers' conceptions of judicial process and a fair trial differ dramatically from our own. But this tiny book, lacking footnotes and original research, will at best serve those who want to celebrate evolution of right to a trial by jury without considering complications of exercising this right in specific instances. The Palladium of Justice would have fit well into American celebration of George Bancroft and others in mid-nineteenth century, for it is Whig history at its most unembarrassed. We have on page three a sharp juxtaposition of accusatorial system of justice in British Isles with approach taken on Continent. By no coincidence, writes Levy, the liberties of subject were to thrive in England and be throttled on Continent(3). After a quick survey of feudal modes of justice, temporary introduction of inquisitorial methods during Tudor-Stuart period, triumph of jury's right to decide law as well as facts in libel cases such as those of Bushell and Zenger, Levy applauds guarantee of jury trial in early state and United States Constitutions and wraps it all up with a discussion of 1804 New York case of Harry Croswell, allowing jury to decide criminality of an alleged libel and permitting truth as a defense if published with good motives for justifiable ends (105). What is most interesting is what is left out or brushed aside during this march of progress. The harshness and class bias of English juries and sentences and law in eighteenth century is conspicuous by its absence. The case of William Penn and jury which acquitted him is glorified. The myriad less prominent unfortunates who were shuffled through trials much like defendants in inner-city courtrooms today go unnoticed. Levy only mentions in passing couple of hundred offenses that crown, and later colonies and states, prosecute before a magistrate without a jury. Vagrancy, assaults, drunkenness, swearing, disorderly conduct, smuggling, and violations of liquor laws and Sabbath laws were among them (72). Needless to say, these offences, for which convicted could be whipped, fined, or sentenced to labor, were vast majority in which those outside elite encountered law. …

Dutch Colonial Rule and Development of Paddy Fields in Priangan, Java

This essay sketches the changing relationships among the Dutch Colonial Government and among native chiefs and their people in early 19th Century Priangan. This is a time when paddy fields were rapidly spreading to this area.Wet rice cultivation in Priangan started to spread in the middle of the 18th Century, and after the turn of the century, Dutch officials reported construction of various scale irrigation facilities. The Dutch Government began to construct large irrigation canals and dams, limiting its role to planning the works and supplying the necessary funds and goods for the projects. The native chiefs, who had been organizers of irrigation works throughout the 18th Century, undertook the projects. They organized their people's corvee labor, and arranged for native irrigation specialists to supervise the work. Besides these large facilities, many small scale irrigation facilities were constructed; some of them were planned by the chiefs, and others by the people. These small facilities seem to have contributed to the expansion of paddy fields far more than did the Govern ment's large facilities.Although irrigated paddy fields expanded with these facilities, the basic tax system in Priangan didn't change in these decades. Dutch sources show that most of the arable lands irrigated with these facilities were reclaimed by individual settlers who owned the lands. The poll-tax system survived as the main tax system in Priangan at least to the 1820s.During these decades the Government succeeded in expanding coffee cultivation with the people's corvee labor. This was not done by introducing land tax system, but by extending its patronage through the chiefs to the people. The chiefs obeyed the goverment because of their economic dependency. They could'nt manage their finances without the rights and interests given by the Government, which included funds for irrigation works and coffee plantations, concessions of coffee transport and trade, and a coffee production percentage. The people in turn obeyed their chiefs by producing coffee. The reason of their obedience partly because they could get far more profit from wet rice cultivation than from slash and burn. And partly, most of them couldn't run the rice cultivation without agricultural credits given by the chiefs, and part of them couldn't run the cultivation without the facilities constructed by the chiefs.Thus, the relationships between the chiefs and their people in early 19th Century Priangan seemed to be far different from M. C. Hoadley's “Feudal Mode of Production” (1994). On the other hand, this chief to people relationship shows some similar points to these depicted in Y. Breman's “patron-client relationships” (1978, 1982). However, the relationships in early 19th Century are not the same ones as the pre-colonial relationships, but are relationships transmuted under the influence of Dutch colonial rule.

De l'hégémonie planétaire occidentale à la mondialisation : Autour de l'hypothèse d'un développement stratifié du capitalisme

Jean de Martelaere, From Western Planetary Hegemony to Globalization : Concerning an Hypothesis about the Stratified Development of Capitalism The « globalization » of the capitalist system, so apparent at the present time, is less a contemporary development than the result of the long evolution of a particular mode cf production. Behind the ideological changes and debates that must be confronted when accounting for the transition between the feudal and capitalist modes of production, any study of the globalization of capitalism must be rooted in an analysis of productive relations.

The terrible trio: Capitalism, the nation‐state and militarism

Abstract The central contention of this paper is that militarism and war have to a considerable extent determined the convergence in the one social formation of the two structures, the nation‐state and capitalism. The paper considers the contemporaneous emergence of capitalism and the nation‐state out of the social formation formed by the feudal mode of production and the Absolutist State. It is demonstrated that the war and militarism which were endemic to the European states system in which both Feudalism and Absolutism arose provided much of the impetus for the reciprocal development of capitalism and the nation‐state, and for their convergence in a new social formation. The final section of the paper argues that the historical tendency has been for the nation‐state and capitalism to become more and more integrated to one another with the result that geopolitical competition predominates over the economic competition of the capitalist system.

Krishna Bharadwaj and Sudipta Kaviraj (eels) Perspectives on Capitalism - Marx, Keynes, Schumpeter and Weber. New Delhi. Sage Publications. 1989. pp.265 + Index. Price: Rs 190.00 (Hardbound) and Rs 90.00 (paperbound).

As a socio-economic world system, capitalism has undergone various historical changes from its early competitive market phase to late monopo~y capitalism. In its early phase, it largely constituted a process of transition gradually emerging from the feudal mode of production, which laid heavy restrictions on the new class of rising industrialists, businessmen, and merchants. Classical economists were the ideological champions of these progressive social classes; progressive as compared to the erstwhile feudal and monarchical classes. Karl Marx's critique of capitalism was an explanation of how capitalism as a growing socio-economic organism evolved from the pre-capitalist feudal order and was leading towards higher socio-economic formations. In this analysis of the capitalist economic system, Marx laid bare its internal contradictions and its crisis-ridden anarchic production, which in his view would inevitably yield place to socialism. His thesis was confirmed by the social revolutions which occurred after his death in 1883. He was witness to a period of capitalism which produced misery and pauperization of the working classes on a large scale, and wealth and prosperity for a tiny but powerful class of capitalists of various categories.

From feudalism to capitalism: Marxian theories of class struggle and social change

Introduction The Dynamics of Qualitative Social Transformation The Feudal Mode of Production From Feudalism to Capitalism: The Role of Merchant Capital From Feudalism to Capitalism: The Transformation of the Countryside Conclusion Selected Bibliography Index

The feudalism debate once more: The case of Byzantium

This article takes up one aspect of the debate on feudalism and non‐European societies. Through a review of elements of the social and economic history of the late Roman and Byzantine states, it seeks to demonstrate, first, how and why these social formations should be considered feudal; second, that a broad application of the concept of the feudal mode of production as a concept of political economy is both theoretically more valid and analytically more fruitful than its restriction to the examination of types of society traditionally identified as feudal on the basis of their institutional and super‐structural appearance. The crucial point in this context is the rigorous separation of concepts belonging to theoretical and heuristic categories such as mode of production from the forms which these concepts express in specific historical societies.

Production, distribution, and growth in transitional economies

Foreword by Keith Hart Theories of Economic Development Introduction to Structuralism Values, Money, and Prices in a Theoretical Synchrony Distribution and Accumulation in a Synchrony The Theory of Noncorrespondence The Transitional Mode of Production Social Formation and Dissimulation The Theory of Economic Calculation Theories of the Transition Economic Calculation in the Capitalist and Feudal Modes of Production The Theory of Economic Development Revisited

Pre‐capitalist modes of production in non‐European societies

This article is an intervention in the debate on feudalism in non‐European societies. The scholarly isolation of those working in the field is deplored; the difficulties associated with the concepts of mode of production and social formation are discussed; strong exception is taken to the position that the feudal mode of production is a universal category applicable to all societies; and it is further argued that universal laws of feudalism, comparable to those of capitalism, have never been identified. The author suggests that Marxist historians should abandon the concept of mode of production. Rather, history should be studied in terms of a succession of dominant relations of production.

The Definition and Classification of Medieval Irish Towns

The discussion attempts to elaborate a scheme within which the towns of medieval Ireland can be defined and categorised. Almost all the places identified were a product of Anglo-Norman initiative, characterised by the constitutional status of borough. But patently, many of these could not be regarded cither functionally or morphologically as towns. The scheme advanced here assesses the functional purpose of boroughs within the context of the feudal mode of production and distinguishes mercantile towns from small peasant towns from rural-boroughs and villae mercatoriae. The very few Gaelic towns identified arc also noted.

Slavery in the French Caribbean, 1625-1715

The exact relationship between the emergence of the Caribbean plantation slave economy and nascent capitalism is still not clear to many (see, for example, Meillassoux, 1975; 19). The Caribbean plantation colonies were based on African slave labor. They were the creation mostly of the seventeenth century. Capitalism was born from the womb of the feudal mode of production that still dominated most of Europe in the seventeenth century. The problem of the connection between slavery and nascent capitalism complicates the understanding of that stage of the transition from feudalism to capitalism that extends at least to the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, when the English seized the asiento slave-delivery contract from the French. Feudal relations of production then still held sway almost everywhere in Europe, including the powerful absolutist France of Louis XIV (1643-1715)-a rising competitor in the Atlantic slave trade and a rapacious exploiter in the Caribbean of African slave labor. At that juncture, capitalist relations of production predominated only in the Netherlands, and perhaps in England after 1689. Nowhere else in the world

Mode of Production in Medieval Iran

This essay has two purposes. One is to compare the agrarian mode of production in Iran during the 7th through 12th centuries with the mode of production in European feudalism, searching for clues as to why Europe--but not Iran--developed a capitalist mode of production. The second, accompanying purpose is to evaluate the theory of the Asiatic Mode of Production, a theory developed mainly within the Marxist tradition, in the context of medieval Iran.A few Persian writers of the 1960s and 1970s dealt with the question of why non-European societies failed to experience a transition to capitalism, but their writings were not convincing. If the transformation from a feudal mode to a capitalist mode is due to feudal evolution, then a rigorous comparative approach is necessary in order to see why such an evolution took place in one society and not in another.

Peasants, Patriarchy, and the Feudal Mode of Production in England: A Marxist Appraisal: 1 Property and Patriarchal Relations within the Peasantry

Peasants, Patriarchy, and the Feudal Mode of Production in England: A Marxist Appraisal: 1 Property and Patriarchal Relations within the Peasantry

Peasants, Patriarchy and the Feudal Mode of Production in England: 2 Feudal Lords and the Subordination of Peasant Women

Peasants, Patriarchy and the Feudal Mode of Production in England: 2 Feudal Lords and the Subordination of Peasant Women

Regional Modes of Production and Patterns of State Formation in Western Europe

The rise of the modern territorial state in early modern western Europe was a spatially skewed process. An endogenous model of the uneven pattern of 16th-century state formation is presented. It holds that the geographical distribution of the first modern state structures was largely determined by preexisting regional differences of social and economic organization, differences emanating from the 12th century if not earlier. The model specifies that three distinct regional modes of production existed in 12th-century western Europe. These postulated forms of social organization are designated as the sedentary pastoral, petty commodity, and feudal modes of production. The optimal preconditions for the initial formation of modern states were to be found only in those regions dominated by the feudal mode of production. The paper concludes with a discussion of some methodological and theoretical implications of these findings.

From Varna to Jati: The Indian caste system, from the Asiatic to the feudal mode of production

(1980). From Varna to Jati: The Indian caste system, from the Asiatic to the feudal mode of production. Journal of Contemporary Asia: Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 249-271.

A reply to Banaji on the feudal mode of production

A reply to Banaji on the feudal mode of production