The Serfs: A Major Change In The Economic System

By the end of the Crusades, a major change in the economic system developed. The serfs were able to accumulate money and property through their services and products. This era marked the transition from feudal economics into an early form of capitalism. In the primitive accumulation of capital, the direct producer would sell his/her labour power, and in return, reap the profit of that labour. This entails that the direct producer would only sell his/her own products or services—meaning that the producer could only profit from his/her own labour. This framework of petty proprietorship ensured that direct producers had complete control over their means of production. Marx argued that the emancipation of this method of profit is the first essential …show more content…
For the second prerequisite, Marx observed, “that the labourer instead of being in the position to sell commodities in which his labour is incorporated, must be obliged to offer for sale as a commodity that very labour-power, which exists only in his living self.” Labour-power is the ability to do work, whether it be muscle power, brainpower, or dexterity. In the second prerequisite, Marx explains that in a capitalistic economic system, one’s labour-power is sold as a commodity. When a worker applies for a job position, that person has to sell his/her ability to do work to an employer. From there, the worker and employer then settle on a wage salary, and the worker is now able to do labour after getting the job and settling on an allotted pay through a superior proprietor. Marx signifies that the evolution of the capitalist system is somewhat of a regression back to the feudalistic power dynamic by noting, “The economic structure of capitalistic society has grown out of the economic structure of feudal society. The dissolution of the latter set free the elements of the …show more content…
Serfs were quite skilled in production and services, and the upper classes heavily relied on their labour to sustain society. To reiterate, the upper classes saw themselves fit to rule over lower classes based on their ability to make necessary decisions. (They were not as skilled at the peasant class.) This ideology obstructed the serfs’ ability to gain any type of sociopolitical power or wealth, which tethered them to the land of their overseers and heavily restricted their freedom and rights. Marx highlights that the lords’ ability to profit from the serfs’ excess labour is an example of surplus labour, which, for Marx, is also the defining characteristic of capitalism. However, the use of surplus labour alone does not qualify the feudal framework to be capitalistic, but from it, capitalism has grown. Marx also noted that the relationship of a labouring working class and an appropriating upper class develops a class clash. Naturally, the distribution of surplus became a point of extreme tension between the affluent and the peasantry, as the peasant class was capable of sustaining their own economy without the need of the upper class. The serfs, after the Crusades, successfully inhibited the lords’ capability to profit from their labour in the traditional feudal sense. This created the conditions for a capitalist society to form. However, the serfs were not able to