Capitalism

The word ‘capitalism’, began to come into more general use during the 1860s. A contributory reason for this was the works of Karl Marx. In his eyes West European capitalism was a social system that had reached an advanced stage of development, even though it contained sizeable pre-capitalist groups. The most important of these was the peasantry. The destruction of peasant proprietorship (in the form of ownership of land by individual farmers) was regarded by Marx as an essential ingredient in the expansion of capitalism — a process which neither should nor could be prevented. He readily introduced specific historical events and prognoses into his theoretical works. In the course of his discussions, contained in Das Kapital, of the origins of capitalist rent, he raises the question of the possibility of the survival of peasant proprietorship as a production form. This is in part three of the work, which was not published until 1894, eleven years after his death.1 It is usually assumed, however, that he formulated his basic ideas as early as the 1860s.2 Thus, Das Kapita'sdiscussion of the chances of peasant proprietorship's survival as a production form reflects the author's reaction to conditions during the 1860s

Archaeology · Capitalism · Economics · Freehold · Market economy · Means of production · Neoclassical economics · Peasant · Political science · Sociology · Surplus value · Usury · History · Law · Political Economy and Marxism

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