Repost inspired by seeing a self-proclaimed communist commenter recently muse on how much better monarchy was than capitalism.
Repost inspired by seeing a self-proclaimed communist commenter recently muse on how much better monarchy was than capitalism.
Capitalism led to feudalism yes.
We are still stuck in that feudal system.
The feudal system of obligations to people who let you use their land predates the modern Capitalism where you hold obligations to people who let you use their capital.
The codependency of industry leading to far greater productive output, but requiring far greater up-front investments, providing the already wealthy a headstart in the race for getting even more wealthy is one of the contributing factors to modern Capitalism, but feudalism predates it by at least a millennium, depending on what point you take as the “birth” of feudalism.
Neither is particularly saintly. Both are systems of exploitation by the wealthy, just the form of wealth has (notionally) changed. Same shit, different coat of paint.
So pretty much what i said
Feudalism preceded Capitalism by several hundred years. When the systems of manoralism (an important part of the social structures of feudalism) started breaking down (16th century in England, ) as control over land became centralised and concentrated, the stratified structures of feudal vassalage were increasingly eroded, along with the fine-grained control that smaller lords held over their manor.
Mercantilism, seeking to maximise the exploitation of land and labour and shifting to systems of monetary rent rather than feudal obligations like providing goods and services directly, started taking that space instead, aiming for the concentration of monetary wealth that would eventually lay the groundwork for Capitalism.
I’m skipping a lot of details here, but the point is this: Feudalism died before Capitalism was born.
No, we’re not. For instance, state territories are no longer predicated on personal ownership of land. If you live in the UK, but the place you live in belongs to a French landlord, that doesn’t mean that France now has the right to enforce French laws on that land. It still belongs to the UK, and thus it’s subject to UK laws. Conversely, British expats taking up permanent residence elsewhere don’t automatically lose their British citizenship for it: They’re still subject to both the obligations and the freedoms of British citizens, though the latter may conflict with the laws of whatever state the place of their residence belongs to.
Exploitation isn’t tied to Feudalism, Capitalism, Mercantilism or any other system of ownership and legitimacy. Just because some feature of Feudalism remains doesn’t imply the system as a whole still applies.