$ Das Kapital. L Kritik der politischen Ockonomie. E 0 v.. !4 8 Karl Marn. I I Errtcr Band B.A I. DU rrOl.*~.~.~...'. dl%X.~IYLI.

Hamburg Verlsg von Otta Meiasner. 1 1861 Crmer of rhs First Ce-Edition of CAPITAL. 1'01. 1 (reduced) CAPITAL A Critique of Political Economy by KARL MARX VOLUME I THE PROCESS OF CAPITALIST PRODUCTION TRANSLATED FROM THE THIRD CERMAN EDITION BY SAMUEL MOORE AND EDWARD AVEWNC EDITED BY FREDERICK ENGELS INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS New York

Cnl~l'C:\LIST I~ILOUUCTION devclopmcnl of 111~ niid~llc ages, ~lic exislence of sovereign towns, has been long on rhe nanc. ~l~~ llislor!. of priniilivc accum~~lalion, all rovolulionsare el,oC~l-llln~illg~ l I?CL ~ ~ l ~ ICVCIS for LIIC eallilillisl class in collrso of ~orInalion; but, above all, those momenls when veal masses of are suddcnl!. and forcibly torn from their means of sllbsis~ence, and hurled as free and "unattached prolelarians on lll0 Inl)our-nlarkel. The exproprialion of the agricultural producer, of lllc pcasanl, from the soil, is Lhe basis 01 Lhc whole process. TI^^ llislory of this exproprialion, in differen1 counlries, aSSumes differen1 aspecls, and runs Lllrouglr ils various phases in dinerent succession, nn~l nl differcut pcriods. In Ellgland alone, ,vhicll \,.e lake as our urnniple, has il 1110 classic form.' CHAPTER XXVII E~PR~PRI~'lTON AQILICULTIIRAL PCII'L7..iT[r)y OF TllE PllUP TlIE LAND IxEngland. serfdom had practically disappeared in the last Par1 of tho 14th coiltury. The immense majority of ihe populalion' consisted then, and to a still larger extenl, in the 15th cenlurY, of free peasant proprietors, whatever was the felldal Litle un'der which their right of property was hidden. In the larger seignorial domains, the old bailiff, himself a serf, \va~displaecd by the fmo farlncr. The woyo-lu1,ourcru of ngric~llLljrr: consisrctl P~"L~Y of Peasauts, wllo uliliecd tl~oir luisuro limo t,y \vorking On Lhe large eslalos, partly of an independent special class of l~ag~-labourers,relatively and absolutely few in numbers. ~h~ laLl0r also were ~raclically at the same lime peasant farmers, hesides lheir wagos, they had allotted to them arable land to the exlent of 4 or more acres, logether with their cotlages. B~they, with the rest of the peasants, enjoyed the usufrllct of Lhe collllnon land, wl~icll gave paslure to their calllc, furnijtLed lhem with timber, fire-wood, turf, &c.' In all countries of Europe, 'Wc mu31 never brgcl Llral evcn Lbr serl was no1 only Lhe oancr, if but a Lribulc-paying uwcr, ol Lbe piece ol land allached lo his houzo, but

718 EXPROPRIATION OF AORICULTURAL POPULATION 719 CAPITALIST PRODUCTION I feudal production is characteriscd by division of the soil anlongst tbc greatest possiblc nunlbcr of sub-fcl~datorics. The might of thc feudal lord, like that of the sovereign, depcndcd not on the length of his rent-roll, hut on the number of his subjects, and the latter depended on the number of peasant proprietor~.~ Although, therefore, the English land, after the Norman conquest, was distributed in gigantic baronies, one of which often includcd sonlo 900 of the old Anglo-Saxon lordships, it was hcslrc\vn with small pcasnllt properties, only here and there interspersed with grcat seignorial domains. Such conditions. togctller with tbe prosperity of thc towns so characteristicof the 15th century, allowed of that wealth of the eople which Chnnccllor Foriescue so eloquently paints in his "{audcs legum Anglba"; but it excluded the possibility of capitalistic wealth. The prelude of tbe revolution that laid the foundation of the capitalist mode of production, was played in the last tbird of the 15th, and the first decade of thc 16th century. A mass of free proletarians was hurled on the labour-market by the breaking-up of the bands of feudal retainers, who, as Sir James Steuart well says, "everywhere uselessly filled housc and castle." Altl~ough the royal power, itself a product of bourgeois development, in its strife after absolute sovereignty forcibly hastened on thc dissolution of these bands of retainers, it was by no menus the sole cause of it. In insolent conflict with king and parliament, thc great feudal lords crcated an incomparably larger proletariat by the forcible driving of tlle peasantry from the land, to which the latter had the same feudal right as the lord himself. and by the usurpation of the conllnon lands. Tllc rapid rise of tho Flcmisb wool manufactures, anJ the corresponding rise in the price of tvool in England, gave the direct impulse to these evictions. The old nobility had been devoured by the great fcudal wars. The ncw nobility was the child of its time, for which nroncy was tlle power of all powers. T~*ansformation of arable land into also a co-possessor 01 tho common land. "Le paysan (in Silesla, under Fredericb: 11.) esl serl." Novorlheless, Lheso serI6 posw common lands. "On n'n pas I pu encore cllgagcr lc9 SilSsie~lsau partage dcs communes, tandis que dans la ! Nouvelle hlarcbe, il n'y a gukrc de village oh ce partn c ne soit cxfculb avcc le plus grand succbs!' (hlrrnbcau: "De la hlonarchie $russlennc. I.ondres. I 1788, 1. ii, pp. 129, 126.) 1 Japan, witil ils purely feudal organisation 01 landed property and its developed perire culture, gives a much truer picture of lbe European middle ages lban all our history hoohs, dictated as these are, lor the most part, bybou

rgeois prejudices. It is very convcniei~t to be "liberal" at lhe expense of tbe middle agcs. P ; !. sheep-walks was, therefore, its cry. Harrison, in his "Description of England! prefixed to Holinshed's Cbroniclcs," dezcrihes bow the exproprlatlon of small peasants is ruining the Country. "What care our great encroachers?" The dwellings of ~hc pcarar~ts aud the cottages of the lnbourers were razed to the ground or doomed to decay. ''If," says Harrison, "the old records of euerie manour be sought ... it will soon appear tbat in some manour seventeene. eighteene, or twentie houscs are shrunk . . . that England was neuer less furnished with people than at the prescnt .. . Of cities and townes eitllcr uttcrly docaied or moro than a qllartar or hall diminished, though some one he a little irlcreascd hereor thcre; of townes pulled downe for sheepe-wnlks, and no more bul the lordships now standing in them. . .I could saie some\\fhat." The complaints of these old chroniclers are always exaggerated, but they reflect faithfully the impression made on contemp~raries by the revolution in the conditions of production. A comparison of the writings of Chancellor Fortescue and Thomas More reveals the gulf between the 15th and 16th century. As Thornton rightly has it, the English working-class was prccipitated without any transition from its golden into its iron age. Legislation was terrified at this revolution. It did not yet stand on tbat height of civilisation where the "wealth of the nation" (i.e., the formation of capital, and the reckless esploitation and impoverishing of the mass of the people) figure as the ulrirna Thule of all state-craft. In his lristory of Henry VII., Bacon says: "Inclosures at that time (1h89) began to he more frequent, whereby arable land (wllich could not he manured willlout pcopll? and fernilics) was turncfl into rjarlurc, \r.l~ich was easily rid by a few herdsmen; and tenancies for years, lives, and at will (whereupon much of thc yeomanry lived) were turned into demesnes. This bred a decay of people, and (hy consequcmcc) a decay of towns, churclles, tithes, and the like . . . . In remedying of this inconvcnicnce the king's wisdom was admirable, and the parliament's at that time . . . they took a course to Lake

away depopul~lting inclosures, and depopulating pasturogo." An Act of Henry VII., 1489, cap. 19, forbad thc destruction of all "houses of husbandry" to which at least 20 acres of land belonged. By an Act, 25 Henry VIII., the same law was renewed. It recites, among other things, that many farms and large flocks ol cattle, especially of sheep, are concentrated in the hands of a few men, whereby the rent of land basmuch risen and tillage has fallen off, churchcs and houses have been pulled down, and marvellous numbers of people have buen deprived of the means wherewith

CAPITALIST PRODUCTION to mail~tain tLernselves and tlleir families. The Act, thercfore, ordains the rebuilding of the tlecayetl form-steads, and fires a proportion between corn land and pastore land, kc. An Act uf 15.33 recites illat some owners possess 24,000 sheep, and limits the numberto be owned to 2,000.' The cry of the ~eople and llle legislation directed, for 150 years after Henry VII., against the espropriation of the small farmers and peasants, were alilio fr~itless. The secret of their inefficiency Baco~~, \\rithout knolvi~~g it, reveals to us. "The device of King Henry VII.," says Bacon, in his "Essa!.s, Civil and iloral," Essay 29, "was profound an11 admirable, in making farms and houses of llosbandry of a standard; that is, maintained with such a proportion of land unto tllenl as may breed a subject to live in coriveniont plenty, and no servile contlition, and to keep the plougll in the hands of the o\vners aud not lnero hirelings."? \\'hat the capitalist system demanded was, on the ot.her hand, a degraded and alnlost servileconditioll of the mass of lie people, the transformation of them into mercenaries, and of their means of labour into capital. During this transIornlntiol~ period, legislation also strove to retain tllo 4 acres of land bj- the cottage of the agricultural wage-labourer, and forbad him to takr lodgers into his cottage. In the reign of James I., 1627, Kugcr Cruckcr of Front Mill. \\,as condcmncd for having built 111his "Ulopia," Thomas hloro says, lhal in England :'your sllepe tllat were wont lo be so mekc and mmc, and so smal calurs, now, as I hosre saw, hc lccomc so great devourers and so wylde Lhal Lhcy eale up, and swallow downc, u:r very men lhemsclfes." "lllopia," lransl. by Robinson, ed. Al.ber. Lond., 16G!I, p. 41. Bacon sho\\.s Lhe connesion bel\veen a free, \\-ell-to-dopcasantry and good infantry. "This did wonderfully concern Llrc nliglll and mal~nerhood of ~llu kilqdom to llavu farms as il werc of a slanda~d sutiicic~lt Lo ma~nlain all ablc body dnl of pcnury, aud did in ccfcct amorliso a groat part of Lhc land5 of tbe kiugdon~ut~loihc llold and uccupetion ollho yco~nnnry or middla pco. plc, of a conditios between genllcmco, and collagcrs and pcasaats .... For it hatlr been helll by Ihe gc,~leral opinion of men of best judpenl in Llte wars... . thal the principal slrcngtll of an army consislelh i:~thelnfantry or foot.AnJ to make good infanlry il requircll~men bred, no1 in a servile or indigent lashion: lul in some frce and plc~~liful manner. Thcrclorc, if a State runnlosl Lo iloblernel~ and cnllemen, aud Lhal lho husbandr~lcll and plougl~men be but RS tbeir\\.orkfo!k and labourers, or else mere cotlagers (\vhlch are but hous'd begqars), you may have a good cavalry, bul nc\.cr good slablo bn~ldsof fool.... .%ndI his is to be seen in Frnuce, and Italy, and somc other partsnbrond, \~hcre

in eKccl all is noblesse or peasau~try.... il~so~llucl~ (hat lhey arc inforccd to c~~~ploymcrccnary bands of S\\.iLzcrs aud ll~clike, for lhcir bntlalio~~s of fool: whereby aljo it comes lo pass tl~al those nalions l~avo much peoplc and fcw soldiers." ("The Reign of Heury VII." Vcrbalinl reprint from Kennet's England. Ed. i'i1'3. Lond., 1870, p. 30s.) a cottage on the manor of Front Mill nrithout 4 acres of lariil ;ittacl~etl to the same in perpetuity. As late as Charles 1,'s~.i!ig~l, lfi38, o royal comnlission was appointed to cnforcc llic cilrl.?.jrig (11,t of tllc old lalvs, especinlly tl~nl rcfcrring Lo tllc 4 aclcs of lanil. Even in Crom~vell's time, the building of a house within 4 mi1r.i of London mas forbidden unless it \\.as endowed will1 4 acres of land. As late as the first half of the 16th century complai~lt i.5 made if the cottage of theagricultural labourer has not an adjunct of one or two acres of land. Nowadays he is luck? if it is fuinished witha little gnrdcn, or if he nlay Font, far n\vay fron~ his coltago, o few roods. "Landlords and farmers," says Dr. Hunter, "work here hand in hand. A few acres to the cottage would makc the labourers too independont."l The process of forcible expropriation of the people received in the 16th century a new and frightful impulse from the Reformation, and from the consequent colossal spoliation of the church property. The Catholic church was, at the time of the Reformation, feudal proprietor of a great part of the English land. The suppression of the monasteries, &c., hurled their inmates into the proletariat. The estates of the church were to a large extent given away to rapnciolls royal favourites, or sold at a nominal price 111 speclllating farmers and citizens, who drove out, m masre, the Ilprcditary sub-tenants and threw their holdings into onc. Tlle legally guaranteed properly of the poorer folk in a part of the churc11's tithes urns tacitly cmnfiscntc~l.' "Pallper llhiql~e jacet," cried Queen Elizabeth, after a journey thronghEn:land. In the 43rd year .of her reign the nation Jvas obliged to recognise paupcrism officially by the introduction of a poor-rate. "The arlthors of this law seem to have bee11 ashamed to state the ground; ~f it, lor [contrary to traditional usage] it has no prennlblo \vl~ntr\.cr."~ I<!. the 161.11 of Charles l., cli. 4, it was declared perpet~~al,rind ill f~lct.only in 16,'34 tlitl it t:~l<u a n1:w anrl harshcr form.' '~Yu:sc ' Dr. Hunter, 1. c., p. 134. "Tl~c quanlily of land assigned (in the 01x7 1,~s) \\.osld now he 'udgcd loo great for laboorcrs, and rather as likely to co:rrrrl lhclrl into small farmers:' (George RoberLs: "The Social History of tl~s Prnplc of lhc Soulhcrn Counties of England in Past Centurirs." I.oilJ..

IS%. no. 184-185.1 ''.T~ICright 61 the poor lo share in tl~clilhe, is cslabljshcd by thc tenour or ~-...-.~ nncionl slnlutcs." I'rnckoll. I. c., Vol. It., PD. 88.-605). a William c~hhe~<?~h 5 ,571. 11isiory' of ~hc Protcsta<i ~r,~orrnaiion,* 'The "spirit" of I'rolrslanlism may bc seen fro113 lllc fr,llo\rir~g.;rr:,r,ng dlrr ll~ings.In thcsoutll of Elrglnnd crrlnin landcd proprielors and well-1u.d~ far!~~rrs pul lhcir heads logerht,r and propoundcd Len qucstiolbr as LO tlic righ!. inlcrllrctationof lho poor-law 01 Elizabeth. These lhcy laid bcfore a crlcbrated

CAPITALIST PRODUCTION 722 1 immediate results of the Reformation were not its most lasting ones. The properly of the cliurcll formed the religious bul~vark of I the traditional conditions of landed property. With its fall tl~ese were no longer tenable.' Even in the last decade of the ~-17th century, the yeomanry, -~-~ the class of independent peasants, were more numerous than the class of farmers. They had formed the backbone of Cromaell'a strength, and, even accorlling to 1110 confession of hlacaulay, stood in favourable contrast to the drunkeu squires and to their servjurist oi tlrat limo, Sergeant Sniggc (later o jnd7c under laulcs 1.) lor his opilrion. "Qoestioll 0-Soma of tllu nlora ~vea~tlly~armcrs ill lllu pal.ish ilsve devised a skilful mode by wl~icll all tho trouhlo of cneculing this he1 (Lbo 43rd 01 Eilzatclh) miglrl be avoided. Thcy have proposcd tilat wvc shall erect a prison in the parish, and then give notice to the ncigbhoerhood, tho1 il ally peeons are disposed to farm tile poor ol this parish, they do givc in scvlc d proposals, on a cerlain day, of the lowest price at which tllay will taka them off our hands; and that they will he authorised to refuse to any one unless he he shut up in the aforesaid f!iso". Tho proposers of lllis plan conceive that lllere will be fouud in the a lolrllng counties, pcrsons.wll0, hcing unwillinglo labour and notpossessing substance or credit to take a fnrm or ship. so as to live ailhout labour, may be rnduced lo make a very advantagcons offcr lo the parish. If any of the poor perish under the contractor's care. lhe sin will lie a1 his door, 5s the parish will have done its duty by them. We are, however, apprehensrve that the present Act (43rd of Elizabeth) will not warrant a prudenlial measure of this kind; but you are to barn that 1110 rest of the freeholders of the county, and 01the adjoiztingeounly of B, will very rcadily join in instructing their nremhers lo pro Kose an Act to enable tll e parish to contract with a erson to lack up and wor the poor; and to declare that if any person shall reyuse Lo hc so locked up and worlred, he shall bc cntitled lo no relief. This, it is hopcd, will revcnt pcrsons in distress from wanting relief, and be the means of keepin iown parishes:' [R.Blakey: 'Ths History of Political Literature from the fiarliest Times." Lond., 1855, Vol. 11.. pp. 86-85.) In Scotland, the abolition of serfdom took place some centuries laler than in England. Even in 1608, Fletcher of Sultonn, declared in the Scotch pnrliament. "The number of beggars in Scotland is reckoncd at not less than 200,000. Thc only remedy that I, a rcpuhlican on Princlplc. can suggest, is to restore the old state of serldonx, to make slevcs o all tllose wile arc

unable lo provide [or their ow11 subsislence." Edan, I. c., Book I., 611. I.. pp . 00-6L, says, "Thc dccrese of villcnagc seems necessarily to have hccn 1l1a ura of llic origin oi the poor. hfanlllact~~rcs and colnmerce arc lhe two parcllle oi our i~\tion,sl poov:' Eden,liLc oo\\v Xutcl\ rop\ib\ie;u, on yubiciglc, ens o nly ii) ILia: nol llle abqlitiqp 01villenage, bu1,thc ab@jtipaoi Lhp property of tho ~griculturallabourer in the soil mado hlin:? ptoletarioa, uud welitaally e patiper. In Franci, where-thempropriatlon was cffcctcd in anotller way, lllc ardam,t~aaccot h(ouline,;457r, aiid th\lcE&ct oi 1850, correspond to \l\e Englis b poor-laws. ' --.. . 1 Proicjsor Rogers, a1thon:b iormcrly Profcssor of Political Economy in the Ucrirersily of Oxford, the hotbed of Prolcstnnt orll~odoxy, in his prcftlcc to Lhe "Hislory or h~riculture" lays slrcss on Lhu fact of tlre paupcrisatioo of tho mass of the people by Lhe HeforruationB]LPIlOPRIATION OP AGRICULTURAL POPULATIOX 723 auts,thecountry clergy, who had lo marry their masters' cast-off niisl.rossos. About 1750, tho ycornanry had disappear~d,~ so 2nd lra~l, in Lllc last ducade of LLe 18111 cantllry, tllc last trace of Ll~e commun land of tllo egricultural lahourer. We loave on one side heru tl~a purely economic causes of the agricultural revolutiorl. Wu deal only with tho forcible means employed. After the restoration of the Stuarts, tho landed proprietors carriod, by legal means, an act of usurpation, effected ever!.!vl~ere on the Continent witllout any legal formality. They abolished 1.11~fe~ldal tonuro of land, i.e., they got rid of all its ohlig.,I t'ions 10 tllo Statu, "indcnlnilicd" the Stalo by taxw on LIID pasantry and the rest of tho mass of tho people, vindicated ior tbernsclws the rights of modern private property in estates to which lhey Iiod only a feudal title, and, finnlly, passod those laws of scttloment, which, mutatis mutandis, had the same eflect on the Lnglish agricultural labourer, as the edict of the Tartar Boris Godunof on tho Russian peasantry. The "glorious Revolution" brought into power, along with \,William of Orango, th e landlord and capitalist appropriators of su~plus-value. They inaugurated the new era by practising on a colossal scalo thefts of statelands, thefts that had been hitherto 1 managed more modestly. These estates were given awav. sold at a I rid~culnus figuro, or ovcn a~~nexed estates'by direct \ 10 scizuro?-All ihii 6oppXnehwiihbCt~3fQhtmr&er7ition of 8

' "A Letter to Sir T.C. Bunhu Bart., on the High Price of Provisions. IlY a SuKolk Ccntlcmsn." 1pswich,?i95. .4. Ercn thc fanatical advucnle of 1110 syslcm of large farms, the author 07 the "inquiry into the Conrrcaion bel\\-oen the Prescnl Price of Provisions:' London, 1773. p, 139, says: "I nos1 lomcnt the loss oi our yeomanry, Lhat set of men who really 1,cpl ,lp llle inde endencc of this nation; and sorry 1 am to see their lands no\v ill (Ir e llallds oflnonopolising Lords, tenanted out to sluali farrncrs, n-bo hold tbcir lcascs on sue11 conditions as lo he liltle beltcr tl~nnvnssnln IP~~Y n tn att~nd 'On Lhe privalemoral characlerof Lhis hour eois hero, among other Ihinp: "Tbe Iarpc rant of landsin irclsnd to ~adySrkney, in ,695, is a publie instance 01tlla8ing's affection, and the lady's influence...Lady 0rl;ncy's u~~rlc;iringofliccs nrc sapporcd to lbovc hccn-flr:da lahioruni ~rtirisl<:ria." [Ill tlho Sluallu hla~~~~scripl. Collcctiun, at tile UriLisll Aluseum, No. 4224. l.ha Alanuscript is cntilled: "Tho chnractcr and hcbaviour of King \Villiam, SUEdcrland, %LC.. as ropreserlted in Original Letters to the Duke of Shrewahury ir0111 Somers Bnlihr, Oxford, Sccrclnry Vcroon.ctc." It is in11 of curiosa. a "The ill~yal alienation of the Crown Esli~to~, parlly by sale and partly by gift, is a scar~dalous~l~aptcr in English llistory ... a gigantic iraud on thc nation." (F. W. Ncwman, Lecturcsos Pol~tlcal Economy." Londo~r. 1851. pp. 129. 130.) [For dctails as to how tl~e present large landoil proprietors of England eanle inlo Lhcir posscsjions SCL."Our Old Sobility. By &oliessc Oblige." I.ondoa, i87Y.-P. 8.1

CAPIT.4LIST PRODUCTION EXPROPRIATION OF AGRICULTURAL POPKLATION I I

726 CAP~TALISTPRODUCTION I EXPROPRIATION OB AGRICULTURAL POPULATIOS 727 and many other families \vho were cl~ieny employed and sup- usurpation of the co mmon lands and the revolution in agric~llportrd by tl~cm."' It \vi~s not o111y t.l~c 1e11d that lay wast.e, but tnre acco mpanying this, told so acutely on the agricl~llilral oIten land cllllivated citl~er in common or held under a definite labourers that , C~CIIaccording to Eden, 1,etwcon 17tj5 an11 1780, rent paid to tlie comn~unity, that ~vi~s thcir wages began to fall below the min imum, and to be suppleannexed by t.110 ncigl~bouriiig landlords under pretext ul c~~closurc. "I l~ave here in view mented by ofli cial poor-law relief. Their wages, he says. "\\ere i enclosures of open fields and lands already improved. It is acl~nowl- not more than enough for the absolute necessaries of life." ! edged by even the writers in defcnce of enclosures that tl~esc di- Let us hear for a moment a dofendor ofencIosures anrl an i nii~iisl~edvillages increase the monopolies of farms, raise tho opponent of Dr . Prico. "Nor is it a conscqllence that therc must prices of provisions, and produco depcpulation . . . and evcn be depopulation, b ecause men are not seen wasting their labour ! tl~c cnclosore of wast,e lands (as !lo\\. carricrl on) hears hard on in the open ficld. . . . If, by cnnverting the little farmers into a I the poor, by depriving tl~en~ of a part of t.l~cirsubsistence, aud body 01 nlcn who must work Ior otlrers, n~or(: laljo,rr ir prorl81ci:d. ', only goes to\\zards increasing Iarms already t~olarge."~ it is an advantage whic h the nation" (to which, of course, the "con- 1"When." sa!-s Dr. Price, "this land gets into the hands of a few grcal vcrtcd" ones do n ot be1ong)"should wish for. . . . the produce being Iarmers, the consequence nust be that the littlo farmers" grcater when their joi nt labours are employcrl on one farm, there (earlier designated by him "a multitude of little proprietors and will be a surp lus for manufactures, and by this mcans manutenants, who maintain themselves and families by the produco factures, one of th e mines of the nation, will increase, in proporof the grouud they occupy by sheep kept on a common, by pouC tion to the quantit y of corn produced,'" try, hogs, &c., and who therefore have little occasion to purchase The stoical p eace of mind with which the political economist any of the means of subsistence") "urill be converted into a body regards the mo st shameless violation of Lhe "sacred right.6 of of men who earn their subsistence by working for others, and who propcrty'l-aad. fh.0-gres8est acts of violence to persons, as =on \,:ill be under a necessity of going to market for all they want. ... as thcy ar e necessary to I~-the__fnunrtatj~_n_s of the capitalistic There \\.ill, perhaps, be more labour, because there will be more mode,0f.~raduc tion~~is~6h~~~ by Sir F. hi. ~=~~~t%Toist compulsion to it.. .. Tow~ls and manufactures will increase, and tory, to boot,T hewho e serles of thefts, outrages, Spopu-

because more will be driyen to them in quest of places and employ- Iar misery, t hat accompanied the forcible expropriation of the 1 : ment. This is Ll~c way in which the cngrossing of farmsnaturally people, from th e last third of the 15th to the end of the 18th cenoperates. And this is tho way in which, for many years, it has tury, lead him me rely to the comfortable conclusion: "The due 1 heell ncLunlly operating in this kingdom.""Ic sums op tl~e cITcct of rhc enclosures thus: "Upon tllo ~~~l~olc, tl~c circ~rnistnnces of tho lo\\.er rank3 01 men are altered in almost ovcry ruupcct Ior tho I, c . From little occupiers ol land, tiicy arc.rcJuced to tho I slate of (la\--!abourers and hirelings; and, at tho samc tinlo, their / 1 111 Iact, sltbsislcnc~ in that state has becomo i~iorc diITic111t.)~~ . ,.... ~. ~ ~ . Rcv. Addington: "In uir,' lnlo Ibo Reasons lor or agninsl Enclosing Oft!! Fields." London, 1771, pp. 37. 43 passinl. I)r, I\, Priccj I. yh, ;I. ii.,l. 155, I~orsl~~r, ICcnt. Pricc, ond Adtli~~glo~~, Jaorcs Anderson. sIOU e rco rind c0111parcd \\it11 Llle miserable pratlleol Syco~hant hIacCulloch in his cntalo~nu: "'rllc Lileraturco[ Polilical Eronomy,"-London. 1615. a Pricc, I. c.. p. 147. Pricc, I. c., p. 159. Wo ore rcnlinded of ancint Romc. "Tlle rich 11ad llossrssion oilhe .grealcr part 01 Ll~eundivided land. Tllcy trustd ill llra c~~l,Jitionsofthc lime, that these possessions $\fould not hc ngnin tul;crl lrozn tllenl, bought, (herclore, soole of tl~c pieces of lorl,l lying rlcar Llra!irs, and belollgillg to tile poor, with tl~o.~cqnii,scr~~~co ol tlicir o\\zn:.l.s,and looh sotiic

728 C.%PlTALIST PRODUCTION proportion_,bct\r.ocnarable land and pasture lia~llo be established. During the \'hole of the 14111 and the grealer pnrt of ll~c15111cellturj, lhere was one ncre of paslure to 2. 3, and even 4 of arable land. About the middle of Lhe 16111century ll~e proportion was changed of 2 acres of pasture to 2, later on, of 2 acres of pasture to one of arable, until at last ihe just proporlion of 3 acres of pnsturo to one of arable land was attained." In the 19th century, the very memory of the conncxion between the agricultural labourer and the communal property had, of course, vanished. To say nothing of more recent limes. have the agricultural population received a farlhiug of compensation for the 3,511,770 acres of common land which between 1601 and 1631 were stolen from them and by parliamenlary devices presonted to the lnndlords by the landlords? The last process of holes sale expropriation of 111s agricultural population from hhe soil is, finally, 1110 so-called clearing of estates, i.e., the sweeping men off Lliem. All the English methods hitherto considered culminalod in "clearing." As \ve saw in the picture of mode111 conditions given in a former chapler, where there are no more independent peasants to get rid of, tho "clearing" of cotlages begins; so lhat the agricultural labourers do not find on the soil cultivated by them even the spol necessary for their own housing. Bul what "clearing of eslobes" really and properly signifies, we learn only in tho promised lnnd of modern romance, the Highlands of Scotland. There the process is distinguished by its ~)~stematiccharacter, by the magnitude of the scale on Svhich it is carried oul a1 one. blow (in Ireland landlords have gtmc to the length of sweeping away several villages a1 once; in Scotland areas as large as German principalities are denlt with), finally by the peculiar form of properly, under which the cmbczzled lands were held. The Highlantl Cells were organised in C~IIIIS,C~CIIof whir11 was the owner ol the land on wl~ichil was settled. The reprosentalive of the clau. Its chief or "great man," was only iho titular own1.r of lhis properly, just as the Queen of Englnnd is 1110 titular owner of all the nalioual soil. When the English government s~~ccevdodin suppressing the i~~leslinewars of lhesc "gront men," and their constant incursions into the Lowland plains, the chiefs of the clans by no means gave up theirtime-honoured trnde as robbers; they only changed its for^^^. On their own authority i they transformed their nominal righl into a right of privale property, and as this brought them into collision with their clansmen, resolved to drive them out by open force. "A king of England mighti i EXPHOPRIATION OF AGRICULTURAL POPGLATIOS 7'29as well claim to drive his subjects into the sea." says Profc:;or Ncwrnan.l This revolution, which began in Scotland after tbc last rising of the followers of tlre Pretender, can be followed thrt,ugh ils first phnses i~rlhe wrilings of Sir James Sleuart2 and James Anderson.' In 1110 18th ccnlury the l~untud-outGaels were forbidden lo emigrate from the country, with a view to driving them by force lo Glasgow and other manufacturing lo\\ns.' As an example of the method5 obtaining in the 19th century, the "clearing" made by the Duchess of Sulberland \\.ill suflice here. This person, well instructed in economy, resolved, on entering upon her government, Lo ellecl a radical cure, and lo Lurn the whole country. \r.hose populalion had already been, by earlier processes of the like kind, reduced lo 15,000, into a sheep-walk. From 1814 to 1820 these 15,000 inhabitants, aboul3,OOO families, were systemalically bunt-

ed and rooted out. All their villages were deslroyed and burnt, -' 1. c.. p. 132.'Steuarl says: 'If you compare Lbe renl of these lands" (bc err oneouslyineludcs in this economic calegory Lhe Lribule of the La~kmenlo the clan chief)"with Lhc extent, il appears very smnll. If you compare it with the numbcrs led upon lbo farm, you will nnd LhaL an eslale in Lbe Highlands mainln~ns,perhaps. tcn limes as many eoplc as anolhcr of the same \-alua in agood an d furtilc province." (I. c.. voy. i., ch. xvi.. p. 104.) lnmes Auderson: "Observallons on tho hlcans of Exciling a Soirit-~~ ~~~..~ of Nntional Induslry, kc.," Edinbur h, 1777. -. In 18GO the people exproprialsf by force wcre exporled lo Canada under lalse prelences. Some fled lo the mounlains and neiglhouring islands. They6were followed by the police, came lo blol~swilh them and escaped. In lhe Hi hlands of Scotland," says Buchanan, Lhe commentator on Adom Smith, i884,"tiIe ancient slat0 olproparly is daily subrerled .... The landlord, wilhoul regnrd Lo Lhe hcredilar tenall1(a calegory used in error bcrel, now uIIers his lnnd to Lhe higllcsl biider, who, iI lje is an imprcvcr, i nSlatlLlY adools a nt?w svstnm nf r~~llivalion.Tllc land. formcrlv ovcrsr,rrad~ . ,---.--.--.-.. ~ .---wit11 6n1n11'tunants or labonrcrs, \\.as peoplcd iu pm1)ortiu11I; ~~S~I~UJ LICC, Lul ul~dcrtl~cnew syslcm of improved c~~lli\.alionand incrcas~:,lrcrlts, ltle largest IIOS.I~~IL'prodllcu is ohL~incdnl LIbe Ic~st~msiiblucxpansa: and 1l1cuic less llar~dsIIC~IIR,will1 llris view, removed, lijo populaliori is rcduccd, nor LO wllal Llle Land rill mainlnin, bul Lo wltat it \viLI employ. "Tbe disposies~cdle n anls cilllcr scclr a subsislcncc ir~Llle ncighlollrin loans" &c (Da11d DuctlaIsan: .'OLservaIionson, &c.,A. Sn~iril'sWcalll~o?h.uiiods~l?dirlh;;xIv, 1814. vol. iv., p. 144.) "Tllc Scotch grandccs dis usscsccd families a: llloy would ,rub up cuppicc-~ood,nnd lhey Lrauled vilfaius 1111Lhcir pcople rm lodiails hnrascd with Qild be.dsls do, in Lheirvengcar~cc,n jungle n.ilh liccr3...hlan is barlcrcd for a flccceor a carcase of mullun, nay, hcld chcapsr ....Why. llow nlucll worsc is il Limn Ihc ir8lc11llo11of Lhe hiuguls, who, wlicn Lhcy had broLcn inlo Lllc llorlhern provinccs of China, propused in council Lo exlerminale tllc i~ii~abitaols,and converl the land into pasture. This proposal msny Highland proprietors have offccled in Lllcir own counlry agalnsl Lheir own countrymcn." (Gcorgc Er~sor:"An Inquiry Conccrr~inglhc I'opulalion of Nalions." 1.01td.. 1818, pp. 215, 216.)

CAPITALIST PRODUCTION all their fields turned into pasturage. British soldiers enforced this eviction, and came to blows with the inhabitants. One old \vonian was burnt to death in the names of the hut, which she refused to leave. Thus this fine lady appropriated 794,000 acres of land that had from time immemorial belonged to the clan. She assigned to the expelled inhabitants about 6,000 acres on the sea-shore2 acres per family. The 6,000 acres had until this time lain waste, and brought in no income to tlieir owners. The Duchess, in the nobility of her heart, actually went so far as to let these at an average rent of 2s. 6d. per acre to the clansmen, wlio for centuries had shed their blood for her family. The whole of the stolen clanland she divided into 29 great sheep farms, each inhabited by a single family. for the most part imported English farm-servants. In the year 1835 the 15,000 Gaels werealready replaced by 131,000 sheep. The remnant of the aborigines flung on the sea-shore, tried to live by catching fish. They became amphibious and lived, as au Englisll author says, half on land andlialf on water, and wiLlial only half on both.' But tho brave Gaels must expiate yet more bitterly their idolatry, romantic and of the mountains, for tho "great men" of the clan. The smell of tlieir fish rose to 1.h~ noses of the grcat men. They scented some profit in it, and let the sea-shore to tho great fishmongers of London. For tlie second time the Gaels were hunted out. = But, finally, part of the sheep-walks are turned into deer preserves. Every one knows that there are no real forests in England. The deer in the parks of the great are demurely domestic cattle, fat as London aldermen. Scotland is therefore the last refuge of the "noble passion." "In tho Highlands," says Somers in 1848, "new forests are springing up like mushrooms. Here, on one side of Gaick. you have the new forest of Glenfeshie; and there on the other yo11 have tlie new forest of Ardverikie. ' allen 14e resenl Dochess oi Sulhcrland er~terlained hln. Bceclier Slowe, astlioress u!"IJncle Toni's Cabin," wilb great magnifiee~~cc is Lo~idol~ (p rllow her syg!pnllly lor LIte negro. slaves of llle A~naricao rcpuhlic-a sym. pathy Lli~t stia '~(ldelitly loi.got, wllb liar Icllo\v-nrislocrats, during the civil war, in whit\ every "noble" Englisli heort beat for tho slave-owner-l :' garc in the Nelc York Tribunc the lacLs about tho Sutbcrland slaves. (Epitor~iiscd in part by Carey in "The Slave Tmdc." I'hiladclphia, 1853, pp. 203, 204.) hIy article was reprinted in a Scotch newspaper, and led Lo a prclty p0lemic belweon tho latter nud the sycophanls ol the Suthcrlonds a l~ilcresling details on this flab trade will be found in Mr. David Urquharl's Porllolio, new series.- Nassau W. Senior, in his poslllumous wrk, al. ready qliolcd, terms "tlic proceedings iii Sutlicrlai~~lsl~ire

one of tlie niost beneficeti1 clearings since (he melnory of man:' (I. c.1 EXPROPRfATION OP AGRICULTURAL POPUL.AT1OS i31 In the same line yon have tho Black Mount, an inimense waste also recently erected. From east to west-from the neigbbourhood of Aberdeen to the crags of Oban-you have now a continuous line of forests; wvliile in other parts of the Highlands thero 1 are the new forests of Loch Archaig, Glengarry, Glenmoriston, I&c. Sheep were in troduced into glens which had been the seats of communities of small farmers; and the latter were driven to seek suhsisLcnce on coarser and more sterile tracks of soil. Now deer are supplanting sheep; and these are once more dispossessing the small tenants, who will necessarily bo driven down upon still coarser land and to more grinding penury. Deer-forests' and the people cannot co-exist. One or other of the two must yield. Let the forests be increased in number and extent during the next quarter of a century, as they have been in the last, and the Gaels will perish from their native soil. . . This movement among tlie Highland proprietors is with some a matter of nmhi~~~~~-.. ti011 . . . with some lovo of sport . . . while others, of a --A". roorc practical cast, follow the trndc in deer with an eve snlelv tn nmn~ ~ -~ .,.----.,.-y.",.". For it is a fact, that a mountain range laid out in forest is, in many cases, more profitablo to the proprietor than when lot as a sheep-walk. . . . .Tho huntsman who wants a deer-forest limits his offers by no other calculation than the extent of his purse.. .. Sufferings have been inflicted in the Highlands scarcely less severe tlian those occasioned by the policy of the Norman kings. Deer have received extended ranges, while men have been hunted lvithin a narrower aud still narrowcr circle. . . . One after one the liberties of the people have been cloven down. ...And the oppressions are daily on the increase. . . . The clearance and di5periion of the people is pursued by the proprietors as a settled principle, as an agricultural necessity, just as trees and brnshlvood are cleared from the wastes of America or Australia; and the operation goes on in a quiet, husincs-like way, &c."2 The deer-loresls of Scotland conlain nor, a singic Lrre. Thc sheep are drivc~ilroni, nnd Ll~cnLllo deer driven Lo, Lhe naked hills, and Lhen it is called a deer-loresl. No1 even Limber-planling and real fore51 culture. Robert Somers: "Letters Irom the Highlands: or Lhe I'amine of 1847.I.ondou, 1848, pp. 12-26 passini. Thcse lctlers originally appeared in TIe Tirtlrr. Tllu English cconomisls ol course explained Llie famine of Llle Gaels in 1847, by tlleir over-population. At all events, they "were pressinnon \heir luod-sopply." The "cleari~lgol eslnles," or as it is called in Gcrrnany,""~aueri i-

leqcn," occurred in Germany esl~ccially afler Lho 30 years' war, and led to pdasanl-revolts a latc as 1700 io l~urjachson.I1 oblaincd especially in East (;cr~nany.In rliost of LIIC t'russiaii pro\,lnccs, Frederick il.foc ilic first l ime seClllad rig111Or pl.operly for tllc [leas:ants. Aller Llze colirjncsl of Sil~siah c forced

CAPITALIST PRODUCTION BXPnoPnIATION OF AGRICULTURAL PO~~L.ATIOS 733 The spoliation of the church's property, the fraudulent alienation of the State domaina. the robbery of the common lands, the usurpation of feudal and clan property, and its transformation into modern private property under circumstances of reck-

CHAPTER xxvlli I. . . :\ ,'* , JBLOODF LEGISLAITON AQAINS'I' TEE EXPBOPlLlATED, ,iJ',j FROM THE END OF TEE 15TH CENTURY. i 1 POROINQ DOWN OF WAGES BY ADrY OF PAltLIAMENT The proletarlaL creaLed by the breaking up d the bands 01 ! . fcudal retainers and by the forcible expropriation of the people \ from the soil, this "free" proletariat could not possibly be absorbed by the nascent manufactures as tnst as it was. thrown upon f / !the ~vorld. -On the.&he.r band.-thesemen, suddenly dragged from ' I , theii -wonbed moda&+ifo; could not ~-as suddenly adapt them!1 :' sclvrs to the discipline of their new coiidition. They were turned en int~beggars, robbers,.vagabonds, partly, from 3-dination, cases fr5m-sties of circumstances. Hence at the end of 'the 15th and dtiring tliB ivllole of the 1Gtli century, ~hroughout \Vestern Europe a bloody legislation against vagaboudagc. 'rile fathers of the present working-class were chastised for their enforced t~ansfarmation.into sagabonds and paupers. Legislation trcated then1 as "volnntary" criminals, and assumcd that it depend( ed on thoir awn good \\,ill to go on working under the old condi1 tions that no ~&~er-existed;In England this legislation began under Henry VII.' ) Henry VIII. 1530: Beggars old and unable Lo work receiva 'i beggar's licence. On the other hand, whipping and i~nprisonment for sturdy vagabonds. They -arc 13-be'-tied to the cart-tail and whipped until~-the-%loob-~ams4~mntheir bodies, then to swear an oath-tdg6~6aClFtOtGir biriiiplplace-orto where they have lived the last three years and to "put themselves to labour." What grim irony1 In27 Henry VIII. the former statute is repeated, but strengthened with new clauses. For the second arrest for vagabondage the whipping is to be repeated and half the ear sliced on; but for LEGISLATION AGAINST THE EXPROPRIATED 735 the third relapse the olfcnder is to be executed as a hardened criminal and enemy of the common weal. Edward VI.: A statute of the first year of his reign, 1547, ordains that if anyone refuscs~h .lvork,. he-shall Be condcmnerl as a~sla~ o bas denounced hiin as an idler. The f "r to the

.rnastcr sha I fCi?h and such refuse meat as-Eihinks fit; He has the right- to force him to do any work, no matter how disgusting, with whip and chains. If thc slaw is absent a fortnigl~t, 11e is con~lcmncd to slavery for life and is Lo be branded on lorellcad or back a-ith thc lcttcr S; if he rnns away thricc, he is to hc executed as a Iclon. The mastcr can sell him, bequeath him, let him out on hirc as a slave, just as any other p~fs6nia~TCTbr~tt~~ If the slnvesattampt anything against thcGaZLEE,-ih~r~-~atso to be executed. Justices of the peace, on information, are to hunt thc rascals down. If it happens Lhat a vagabond has bee11 idling about for lhrec days, hc is to he taken to his birthplace, brandcd \\-it11 a rcdhot iron with the letter V on the breast and be set to \\,ark, in chains, in the streets or at some other labour. If the vagabond gives a false birthplace, he is then to become the slave for Life of this place, of its inhabitants, or its corporation, and to be branded with an S.All persons have the right to take away Llie children of the vagabonds and to keep them as apprcnticcs, the young men until the 24th year, the girls until thc 2Otl1. If thcy run awa)., thcy arc to become up to this age lhe slaves of their masters, who can put them in irons, whip them, kc., if they like. Every rnastcr may put an iron ring round thc ncck, arms or legs of his slave, bv which to know him more r:asily and to he more certain of him.' The last part of this statute provides, that certain poor people may be employed by a place or by persons. who arc willin to -+give them fool1 and drink anrl to linil then~ work. This k~nd u parish-slaves was kept up in England until far into the 19th century under the name of "roundsmcn." Elizabelli, 1572: Unlicensed beggars abovc 14 ).cars of age 4%; ar to be severely flogged and brandctl on the left ear unless ,. aomc onc \\.ill takc them into scrvicc for t\vo ycars; in case of n 1.e~ctitio11of tllc oflence, if they are over 18, ihk) arc tr~ be cxcc- ;,-? uted, unless some one mill take thcrn into scrvicc for t\vo years; The antllor of tl~e"Essay on 'Trade, elc.," 17iO. says. "in tlle rcig~rof Edward \'I. indeed tt..: En,~lislt seem to have set, in goad earnest, a60111encouragillg lnsnufaetures an2 cmploying tlif poor. This nc lrarnfroll~a icln.~rk-

ablc statute which runs thus: 'That all \.nuranls shall bc bmrrded. &c."'

CAPITALIST PRODUCTIOX LEGISLATION AGAINST TtIE EXPROPRlATED I but lor the !bird offence the!. are Lo he executed \vitl~o~~t mere! as felous. Si~nilar statutcs: 18Elizabeth, c. 13, nnd a~~otlicr of 1597.' James I: Any one wandcril~g about i111d bcggillg is declared a rogue and a vagabond. Justices of the peace in petty sessions are authorised to have them publicly whipped and for the first offence to imprison them for G montl~s, lor the second for 2 >-ears. Whilst in prison tlie) are to be whipped as much and as often as the justices of l.lle peace think fit. .. Incorrigible auil 1tange1.0~5 rogues are to be branded with an R on the lcft shnulder and set Lo hard labour, and if thcy arc caught begging again, to be executed without mercy. Tlicse statutcs, legally hinding until the beginning of the 18th century, tverc only repealed by 12 Anne, c. 23. Similar laws in France, where by the middle of the 17th century a kingdom of vagabonds (truonds) was established in 1 Thomas blare says in his "Utopia": "Thcriorc that on covclous and unsaliable corniaraunle and rcry lage of his nalivc conlrey maye co~npaso aboutc and illclose marl). lllousallrfakers of to~r~~ilc logelher wilhin one pale or bedgc, Ll~e husbandmen be lhrnsl owle o! thcir o\vne, or els rillher by coIIC~IICand iraudc, or by \.iolcnt oppression Lhey bcpul besydes il, or by wrollg 3alld iniuries thei beso wcried that thcy bc compelled Lo sell all: by one meane s, tllcrlorc, or hy other, eilher hy hooke or crookc lhey ~uuslc nccdes dcy;trlo nwaye, poore, selye, wrclcl~cd so~~lcs, wiucs. men, women, Ii~~sba~lds. iall~cilcsse children, widowcs, n,oi~~ll motl~crs\\.ilhtlleir yonge babes, nlbd ll~cira.holc houscl~old snlal in s~~hslancc, and im~clte in numbre, asl~usbandrye rcquirelb many baodes. Awaye thei Lrudgc. 1 say. owle oi their knowcn accttslomed Irouscs. fyndynge no place to rest0 in. All Llicir bousholdc stolfe. \vl;icll ir \.cry lillle \\.uo~.Ll,c, llrougltc it miplll \vcll nllidc ll>cs;~lc : yrl bccyrsge

Paris. Even at the beginning of Louis XVI.'s rcign (Ordinance of July 13th, 1777) every man in good Iioolth from 18 toEO).cars of age, if without means of subsistence and not practising a trade, is to he sent to the galleys. Of the same nature are the statute of Charles V. for the Netherlands (October. 15373, the first edict of the States and Towns of Holland (March 10, 1614), the "Plakaat" of the United Provinces (June 26, 1640), &c. Thus were the agricultural people, first from the soil, driven from their homes, turned and lhcn whipped, branded, tortured by laws ble, into tlle discipline necessary for the wage It is not enough that the conditions of labour are concentrated in a inass, in the sllape of capital, at tlie one pole of sucicty, while at the other are grouped masses of men, who haye nothing to sell but their labour-power. Neither is it enough Lhat they are compelled to sell it voluntaril)'. The advance of capitalist production develops a \\.orking-class, which by education, tradition, habit, looks upon the conditions of that mode of production as self-evident law of Nature. The organisation of the capitalist process of production, once fully developed, breaks do\~n all resistance. The constant generation of a relative surplus-population keeps the law of supply and demand of labour, and therefore keeps wages, in a rut that corresponds with the wants oi capital. The dull compulsion of economic relations completes the subjection of tha labourer to the capitalist. Direct force, outside economic conditions, is of course still used, but only exceptionally. In the ordinary run of things. the labourer can be IeLt to tl~e sn~l;tinelp thnnrte oslc, llrcy be conslmyncd Lo scll il lor n llri~~gnlira~~~l~ t."natural La\\rs of production," i.e., to his dependence on capilal, Atld \\-lien they hnus \\.andcred abrade Lyll that be spcnl. \\,bat calrt Urey t hen elr doc but slcalc, and then i~~sllg pardy be Irai~:c~l,orcls go about hcggyng. r\~dye1 lllcn also lhcy bc casle ill priso~r as \-agal,u~r~lder, because Ll~uygonbuutc and worke 1101: ~honi no nlall uyl sel a worlic thollgl~ l llci ncucr SO will\-noly profrc ~l~c~~~sclucs Tlromns LlrcrLo." Of Ll~csc poor fugili\vs oi\vl~on~ 31,.~;sip lltal 1l~r.ytwra lorccd lo tllicve. "7,200 gl.cn1 and petty tllicveswe rc pul lo dcalh."in llle rci n oi llctrry VIII. (Ilolinshcd, "Dcscriptionof Errsl,b~,d."\.~I I p lime, "rcqocs \vcre trussed ap apacc, and 186.) l~~f:lizal~ctlr'~ Il!;,l Lherr was no1 one ycar conrmonly \\herein three or lour hundred ~I,,I do\>uur~tlolld ealon IIQ by tbe gallo\\-us." (Slrypc's Annals oill~e Hcior ma~iol, and Estahlislrn~cnl or Relicion, and other I'arioos Occurrcnccs in 1110 1:1nrrrlr of England durine Qncen Elizaheti~'s llappy I\oi~o." Second~:d., li25.

\ 11.2.) .+ccordill: lo tltis saruc SLrype. in Somcrsclsl~ire,in one ycar. 40 pc rst:nj wcrc exccuted. 35 rohbers burnt in tl~e hand. 3i \vllifpr?,?nd 183 discllnrgud as "incorrigible ~agabonds." Kevcrtl~elcss, 11c is c oplnlcn that Lllis larpu !lumber of pri:cners does not comprise ere81 a fiilh of the nclual crinlinal;. lhsnks tc Lhc negligerice of Ll~e 'oqliccs and the foolislr compassioo of IIW people; ihc olller counlics olJ En,"land \vcrc 11o1bcltcr oil in this rerpccl than Somersctsl~ire, allilc some \vcrc c\.rib {verse. a dependence springing from, and guaranteed in perpetuitx by, the conditions of production themwlves. It is othorwisc during the l~istoric gcnosis of capitalist production. The bourgeoisie, a1 its rise, wants and uses tho powci of the state to "regulate" wages, i.e., to force them witbin tlle limits suitable for surplusvalue making, to lengtlien the working-day and to keep the labourer himself in thc normal degree of dependence. This is an essential element of the so-called primitive accumulation. The class of wage-labourers, \vhich arose in the latter half I I ol tlie 14th century formed then and in the lollo\.:ing cen1 tury only a very small part of the population, n.ell protected in its position by the indcycndent pensant proprieta:y in tl~s country and the guild-organisation in the to\\n. In country slid town master and workmen stood close together socially. Thr: subordination of labour to capitol was ouly formal-i.e., thr: mode

739 CAPITALIST PRODUCTION of production itself had as yct no spcciiic capitalistic character. Variable capital prepoi~deratcd grcntly over constant. The demand for wage-Labonr grew, therefore, rapidly with ovcry necuniulalio~~ of capital, \vl~ilst the suppl: of wage-lubo~rr follo\vc~l bul slowly. A large part of the national product, changed later into a fund of capitalist accumulation, then still c~rtercd illto the consumptionfund of the labourer. Legislation on wage-labour (from the first, aimed at the exploitation of the labotrrer and. as it advanced, always eqnally hostile to him),' is started in England by the Statute of Labourers, of Edward Ill., 1349. The ordinallee of 1350 in France. issued in tho name of Icing John, corresponds with it. English and French legislation run parallel and arc identical in purport. So fur as the labour-statutes aim at compulsory extension of the \\,orking-day. I do not return to them, as this poinl wns treated earlier (Chap. X.,Sectian 5). The Statute of Labourers was passed at llre urgent instance of the House of Comn~ons. A Tory says narvely: "Formerly ihe poor demanded such high wages as to thrcaten industry and wealth. Next, their wages are so low as to thrcaten industry and wealth equally and perhaps more, but in anotl~cr way."% A larifl of wages was fised by law for town and country, for piece-work and daywork. The agricultural labourers were to Iiiro lhemsclves out by tho year, the town ones "in open mnrkct." It was forbidden, under pail] of imprisonment, to pay higher wages than lhose fixed by ihe statute, but the taking of Irigher wages was more scvcrcly punished tlra~r tlre civina the111. [So also in Sections 18n~~d 19 of 1l1e Statute uf .lpprcntice; of ~liiabetb, Leo days' iniprisonmcnt is decreed for lrim that oavs t.he l~isl~er dnvs for him \vaecs. but t\ventv-one that receives' t6cm.l :\-statutelo 1360 increirscd tl~d penalties and autlioriscd the masters to estort Iahonr at. the legnl rate of \\ascs by corporal punishment. All c.ombin:ltions, contracts, oatlls, kc., by which lnnsons end carpenlers reciprocally bound themscl\ses, \\,ere declared null and void. Coalition of the labourers is !rciltetl i\s a lleinous crime from the 14th century to 1825, t.ho vsur of the repcll of tho la\vs against Trotles' Unions. The spirit bf the Stati~tc of Laboirrers of 1349 and of ils offsl~ools, comes out 1 "\\'lleucrcr tllc iegielalore attenlpts lo ~,e:ulatc llre dilkre~~ces belaccil mastcri and ll~cir wo~.lrnrcn, its counsellors nre always the masters." says .\.Smiii:. "l.'esprit dcs lois, c'cst la propril.t[.," says Linguct. "Sopliirn~s ol Frcc T~ade." By a Rarrister. i.ond., $650, 1,. 206. Ilc adds n~aliciuusly:"\\'c \velr ready el~or~gltto intcrrcru lor the employer, Cun oolhing no\\,he doll@ lor thc employed?"

LEGISLATION AGAINST THE EXPROPRIATED i39 clearly in the fact, lhat i~~dced a maximurnof wages is dictated by the State, but on no account a minimum. In lhe 18th century, the condition of the labourers had, as wo know, become rn11c11 worso. l'hc moncy wage rose, LuL not in proportion to the depreciation of money and the corresponding rise in the prices of commodities. Wages, therefore, in reality fell. Nevertheless, the la\rfs for keeping them d0s.n remained in force, togetl~er wit11 the car-clipping and branding of those "whom no one was willing to take into service." Dy the Statute of Apprcntices 5 Elizabctl~, c. 3, tlie justices of the peace were cmpo\vercd to fix certain wages and to modify them according to the tin~e of the year and the pricc of commotlities. James I. est~nded these regulations of Labour also to weavers, spinners, and all possible categories of \vorkcrs.' George 11. erlendcd the laws against conlitions of labourers to manufactures. In the manufacturing period par etcellence, the cnpitalisl mode of production had become suflicienlly strang to render legal regulation of wages as impracticable as il was unnecessary; bul lhe ruling classes \Isere unwilling in case of necessity to be without the weapons of the old arsenal. 1 Still, 8 George 11. forbatle a higher day's wage than 2s. iTd. for journeymen tailors in and around London, excepl in cases of general mourning; still, 13 George III., c. 68, gave the regulalion of tho wages of silk-weavers L(J the justices of thc pence; still, in 1706, il required lwo judgments of lhe higher courts to decide, whelhcr lhe mandates of justices of tho paace as to wages held good also for non-agricultural lnbourers; still, in 1795, an acl of ' From n clause ol Statute 2 lames 1.. c. C, we see tbnt certain cloth. makers took upon themselves to dictate, in Lheir capacity 01 joslicps 01 the pence, the ofricial Lorifl of \\.ascs in Llreir own sl~ops. In Germany, especial ly nller tho 'Thirty Years' \I1nr, slalulcs lor keeping down \\a:.ts ucru eer~trill . "The want ol servants and lahotlrcrs wns vcry LruuLlesomc lo the 1nndL.d pruprielors in 1110 d' opulaled clislricts. All villagcr~wrrr forbidden lo let roon is to singlo men anawomcn; all the laller were to be reported La the authori:iej nod casl into prison if thev were un!villin@ to become serranlq . orsen ii ttls. ~ --.. -. -.... ..," \rere employed at any ollrir work, such asUso!~ing sceds lor the peasants at daily wa c, or e\en blly~ng and selling coru (Imperial privilcues and sallctions lor (ilesia, ;..25.) ;or in the drcreesolt~~oiinall a \vl~alecer~tl~ry c,.rmsn

~ ~ polcnlates o biller cry goes up again andBguirl about IIICsickell and impcrlinen1 rabble that wilt no1 reconcile it5ell to its hard lot, will not be conter it ail11the legal vase; the individual landed proprietors are lortidden to pay more than Lhc Slate had RscdLy a tariff. And yet the coodilions 01 remice \\.ere a1 Limes better altcr tllc \\.or tlran 100 years later: the farm ecn-ants nf.. ~ ~ Silesia had. In 1652, nleat tn.ice a week. \vhilsl even in'our cenlury, dirtrici p arc known \~hcro they have it oniy three timesa year. Further, nagti alktr the \\,or werc highcr tl~an in tlie following ccl~lurg." (C. Freytag.)

740 CAPiTALlSC PllODUCTlON Parlianiciit oritercd that tlic wages of the Scotch niincrs should continue Lo be regolated by a statute of Elizabeth and iwo Scolcli acts of 1G61 and 1671. How completely in ihc meantime circumstances had cliangcd, is proved by an occurrcncc unheard-of bcforc ill the Englisl~ Lo\\-er IIousc. 111 that place, \\-licro fur iilorc tll;ul 1100 years laws had been made for the maximum, beyond which \\.ages absolutely must not rise, Whitbread in 1796 proposed a lcgal niinimi~m \\.ago for agricl~lturnl laboiircrs. Pit1 opposed lhis, bot conlesscd that the "conclition of tlie poor \+,as crucl." Finally, in 1813, tlic law for the regulation of wngcs wcre repealed. They werc an absurd nnomaly, since tlie capilalist ~.cgulalcd his factory by his private legislation, and could by the poor-rates mnkc up the wage of ihc agricnltural labourer to the indispensnblo minimum. The provisions of the labour statutes as Lo contracls bctwcen nlaster and workman, as to giving notice and lhc like, which only allow of a civil action against the contract-breaking masler, but on the contrary permit a criminal aclion against the contractbreaking workman, are to this hour (1873) in full force. The barbarous laws against Trades' Unions fell in 1825 before bhe llirealening bearing of the prolelarial. Despite ~liis, they fcll only iii parl. Certain beautifnl fragmcnts of tbeold statute vanisllcd only in1859. Finally, the act. of Parliament of June 29, 1871, made a prclcnce of removing the last traces of Lhis class of legislation by legal recognition of Trades' Unions. But an act of Parliament of the snme date (an act to amend the criminal law relating lo violence, llirenls, and niolestation), re-establishcd, in point of fact, the formcr state of things in a new shape. Dy this Pnrliamcntary cscamotage the means \vhicli the lahoursrs could use ill a strike or lock-out wcre wilhdrawn from the laws common lo all cilizens, and placed under exceptional penal legislation, the interprctalion of which fcll Lo tlie masters themselves in thcir capacily ns justices of the peace. Two >,ears earlier, tlic same Rousc of Commons and ihe same hlr. Gladslone in the \\-ell-known straightlor\!~ard fashion broilght in a bill for the abolition of all esceplional penal icgislation against the working-class. But this \\,as never allowed to go beyond the second reading, and the matter was lhus probraeled iintil at last the "great Liberal party," by an alliance wilh ihe Tories, found courage to turn agai~ist tl~e very prolctarint llinl had carried it into po~vcr. Not content wit11 this lreachery, the "greal Liberal party" allowed the English judges, evcr complaisant in the servicc of thc ruling classes, to dig up again lhe carlicr 1 la\\.s against "conspiracy," and to apply them Lo coalitions of labourI crs. \Ye scc that only agninst its will and under ilic pressure of the LEGISLATION AOAINST THE EXPROPRIATED i41 inasses did the English Parliament give up the laws againstSlrikes and Tradcs' U nions, after il had itself, for 500 years, l~clJ, with ~hamelcss egoism, the position of a permanent Tradcs' Union of the cnpitalisls against ihe lahourcrs. During llla very first storms of ll~erevolulioo, the I'rencb

bourgeoisie dared to lake away from lbe workers the righi of associalion bul just acquired. By a decree of June 14, ,1791, thoy declared all coalitiori of ihe worliers ns "an nltcmpt against liberty nnd Lhc dcclaralion of the rigl~ls of man." punishable by a finc of 500 livrcs, logether with deprivation of the rights of an active cilizcn for one year.' This law which, by means of State compulsion, confined the struggle between capital and labour within limils comforlablo for capital, has outlived revolutions and changcs of dynasties. Even the Reign of Tcrror lcft iL unlouched. It was but quite recently slruck out of the Penal Code. Nolhing is more cbaraclerisiic than llie prctexl for this boilrgeois coup d'dfaf. "Granting," says Chapelier, ihc reporter of the Sclect Commillee on this law, "that wages ought Lo be a little higher than ihey are, ... lhal they oughl lo be high enough for him LhaL rcccivcs hem, lo be free from that slate of absolute dcpcndencc ~hlc to the wan1 of Llie ncccssaries of life, and \rhich is almost that of slavery;" yet lhc workers must not he allowed to come to any understanding about lheir own inlerests, nor lo act in common and thereby lessen lheir "absolute dependence, which is almost that of slavcry;" because, forsooth, in doing lhis they injure '.the frocdom of tlicir cidcvanl masters, tbc prcscnt entrepreneurs," and bccansc a coalition againsl Lbc rluspotism ut the r/or,ndam m;~stcrs01 thc corporatiorrs is-glicss wllat!--is n rostoralion of I he corporations abolished by the French constilution.? Arlicle I. of Lhis law runs: "l.'an6antisscrnc1lL dc toulc espbcl! dc corporaliolis du mkne eta1 el prolcssion 4Lanl I'unr des bases fondarncnlales dr la constilution Iranraisc, it Cst dQfcrldu de les r6lablir de fait sous qntlqae prt teste et sous uclque fornle quc cc soit." ArLiclc I\'. declnres, lhal if '.dc=ci loycns altnc:l?s aux m6rncs profussions, arls ct rn6licrs prcnaienl ilcs dc.lih6 raliuus, fnisaic~lt clllre ellx des convc!llior~s tcndanles ih rulu::ur do coflc r.ri ou :I n'occordr~.cp'i un prix d6terrnini. Ic sccoors de lcur induslrie ou de Ieurs Imrnnx, les d~lcs d6lib0rations oL con\:cntioris ... scront d;clarJej inconsliInlion~iellcs, nllcntnloires 6 lo libcl.lf ct L Is declsrsliou dcs droitc de I'l~o!onle. 6.c.": fclony, Lhureforc, as in Lilt old lnl)o~~r-statules.("H6\.olu lions dc Paris," Paris, 1701. t. 111, p. 523.) a Uucl!cz ct Ilour: "IIisloiro I'arlcn~cnlairc," 1. I.,p. 19;.

No\\. that we have considered the forcihle creation of a class of outlawed proletarians, the bloody discipline that turned them into wage-labourers, the disgraceful action of the State which eniployed the police to accelerate the accumalation of capital by increasing the degree of exploitation of labour, the question remains: whence came the capitalists originally? For tho enprupriation of the agricultural population creates, directly, none hut great landed proprietors. As far, however, as concerns the genesis of the farmer, we can, so to say, put our hand on it, because it is a slow process evolving through many ceuturies. The serfs, as well as the free small proprietors, held land under very different tenures, and werb tllerefore emancipated under very dilFcrent ecollomic conditions. In England the first form of tho farlner is the bailiff, himself a serf. His position is similar to that of the old Roman piillicus, only in a more limited sphere of action. During the second llalf of the 14th century he is replaced by a farmer, whom the landlord provides with seed, cattle and implements. Hiscondition isnot very different from that of the peasant. Only hc exploits more wage-labour. Soon he becomes a mbtayer, a haltfarmer. He advances one part of the agricultural stock, the landlord tl~e otller. Tlle two divide the total product in proportions deter milled b! contract. This form quickly disappears in England, to givc place to the farmer propcr, who makes his own capital bveed by employing wage-labourers, and pays a part of the surplus-product, in moncy or in kind, to the landlord as rent. So long, during the 15th century, as the independent peasant and the farm-lahourer working for llirnself as wcll as for wages, enriched themselves by their o\vu lahour, the circ~~u~stances I of the farmer, and his GENESlS OF THE CAPLTALIST FARMER 743 field of production, were equally mediocre. The agricultural revolution which commenced in tho last third of the 15th century, and continued during almost the whole of the 16th (excepting, however, its last decade), enriched him just as speedily as it impoverished the mass of the agricultural people.' \ The usurpation of the common lands allowed him to augment greatly hisstock of cattle, almost willlout cost, whilst the!. yielded him a richer supply of manure for Llic Lillagc of the soil. To this, was added in the 16th century, a very important element. At that time the contracts for farms ran for a long time, often for 00 >-ears. The pmgressive tall in the value of Lho precious metals, an11 thorefore of money, brought the farmers golden fruit. Apart from all the other circumstances discussed ahove, it lowered wages. A portion of the latter was now added to tlie profitsof 1hl:farm. The continuous rise in tho price of corn, wool, meat, in a word of all agricultural produce, swelled the money capital of the farmer witllout an). action on his part, whilst the rent he paid (being calculated on the old value of money) diminishod in reality.=

' Harrison in his "Deseri lion oi En land:' says "allhough peradventure ioure ounds of old rent %e improvef to fortis, townrd tile end of his tern>,if he \avo not six Or Scven yeares rent lieng hy him, flflie or a hundred pounds, yet will 1l1c farmer Lhinke his gaines veric small." On the influence of lbe deprecialion of money In the ifith cenl~~ry, oa the diffcre~~l classes of society, see "A Compendious or Rriele Examinalion of Curlayno Ordinary Complninlv of Divers 1.11 our Countryman in Lk1ese uur Days:' By W. S., Ce~~llo~nan. (I.ondoll 1581.)Tile diolopuo lorrn of tt~ir work led puuplu lor a Ion6 lime Lo uscril,e iL Lo Slgnkespoarc, &!id even in li5 1, il was published under 111s name. Its author is Wilvam Slafford. In one place the knight reasons as follows: "linlqht: You, my neighbour, lllehusbandman, you hlaislkr Jlercer, and you Goodman Cooper, will1 olhcr nrlificcrs, may save yourselves melely well. For as much as all Llrlngs are dcarsr Lhantlay were, so much do you al.ise in tbe pryce of your wares and occupations that ye sell aga ne But we hare notl~i~tg lo sell whereby we migbt advance ye prlce there of. 1; ccunler\.;rilc lhose LllinEs Lhat ws must buy agayne." In nraolher place the knighlasks LI,C doeror: "1 pray you, what be those sorts that ye mcane. And lirsl.ol tltosr llla t yc tlrlnlrc sl~uold hove no losse thert:hy?-Doclor: 1 moan all ltio,~tho1 lire by buying and selling, for as llley buy deaw, lhoy scli Lheicaflcr. Kni~.ltt: Whal is the ncxl sort that yesay would %in hy it? D.~ctor: Marry, nli iucl; a5 have lakings of fearmes in lbeir omne manurance [culliralion] at Ll~r old rent, lor wbere they pay after tha olde rate they sell after the ncil-a-Lhat is. llley paye for lbeire lande good clrcape, and sell all things g~0eing tl~ereof dcare. ICnight: What sorte is that which, ye ayde should hare ereater lujje hereby. than these men had profit? Doctor: It is all noblemen, geitla~nen, end all olhcr that live eithcr by a slinted rent or slypcnd, or do i,r,t nlallurc ~cul\i.valionl the ground, or doe occ~~py no huy~ug and selling."

CAPITALIST PRODUCTION -:I rJ Thus they grew rich at the lheir landlords. No wonder of the 1Gth century, had a sidering the circumstanc~s CFIAPTER XXX REACTION OF THE AGlLICUL'l'Ul1AL REVOLCTION OX INDUSI'BY. CILEA'ITON OF THE 1IUBE-EARKET FOH INDUSTRIAL CAPITAL In his "Notiorts dc Philosoplric Nalorcllc." Paris, 1838. * A @"in1lhal Sir Jarnos Slcuarl cnlpllssiscs. expense both of llieir lebourers and therefore, that England, aL the end class of capitalist farmers, rich, conof the time.

'! 741; C1l'I'PALIST PRODUCTION dcpenJent upon home agvicullure. They were transformed into an element of constant capital. Suppose, e.g., a part of the Westphalian peasants, who, at the time of Frederick II., all span flax. forcibly expropriated and hunted from tlte soil; and the other part that remained, turned into day-labourers of large farmers. At the same time arise large establishments for flax-spinning and weaving, in which the men "set free" now work for wages. The flax looks exactly as before. Not a fibre of it is cltaugcd, but anew social soul has popped into i1.s body. It forms now a part of the constant capital of the master manufacturer. Formerly divided among a number of small producers, who cultivated it themselves and \\-it11 titeir families sp~tn it in retail fashion, it is now concentrated in the hand of one capitalist, who sets others to spin and weave it for him. The extra labour expended in flax-spinuing realised itself formerly in oxtra incomo to numerous peasant families, or maybe, in Frederick 11,'s time, in taxes pour le roi de Prusse. It realises itself now in profit for a few capitalists. The spindles ,.I and looms, formerly scattered over tho face of the country, are i now crowded tag$ba .in-afq-great labour-ba~r*clts, together : wit11 thelabourers and the raw mi6e'rlal:And _spindles, looms, raw maCePid;~~uc-tmnsf~~med~r~m iudependenl mean5 ~ot existence for the sp~~~s_ad..weawrs. into means for commanding them'and sucki~~out does not perof them unpaid labour."One ceive,~Ghih-iuokitFat~ihelTrgC~'man~tfactoriesand the large farms, that they have originat,ed from the tlirowing into one of many sn~all centres uf production, and have been built up hy the espropriation of many small independent producers. Nevertheless, Lhe popular intoition was not at fault. In the time of Mirabeau, the lion of tltc Rcvolution, tlrcgroat manufactories were still called manufactures rhunies, n~orkshops thrown inlo one, as we speak of felds thrown into one. Saps Mirabeau: "We arc only paying attention to the grand manufactories, in which l~untlreils of nlcn work under a dircclor and whirl, are co~nrnonly called ma~+nfaclures re'unies. Tltose where a very large number of labourers work, each separately and on KIS own account, arc hardly considered; they aro placed at an infinite distance from the others. This is a great error, as the latter alone make a really imijortant object of national prosperity. . .The large workshop I "Ju perrnettrai,.' says the capitalist, "que vous ayez l'honneur de me ser\.it.,h co~ldilion que vous me don~~czle peu q~tivous resle pour in peine ue ; ~fprends de vous coffiruanJcr." (1. 1. Rousseau: "Discours sur 1'Economie $0-

1 litique?) I . , 1-~LL ,+ -/>L'L< -:&..2~;. 2'REACTION OF THE AORICULTURAL REYOLUTIOS (manufacturo rirunie) *,I! ~nrich.p~Qig&lgroneor two entrepreneurs, but.th6~~~w~iH~nly be journeymen, paid more or less, and will not have any share in-iliCsucEeis 51 the undertaking. In the discrctc workshop (manufacture &park), on tho crmtrary,.i no ono will become rich, hut~n;~ny_lahourers~~ll.be_e.omfortahle; , the saving and the industrio'us will lii.?iGG-6amass a liiile-c%ftal, to put bya little for a birth of a child, for an illness, for them selves or their belongings. The number of saving and industrious labourers will increase, because they will see in good conduct, in activity, a means of essentially bettoring their condition, and not of obtaining a small rise of wages that can never hc of any importance for tltc IIILU~C, and vhosc sole_ result is to place men in the posltign to live a little ___ betik-iTut o~Ti6?ma5j;to-ita y... The large workshops, undertaktngs of~F~M~fivTiL8p~s6iii~ who pay labourers from day to day to work tor their gain, may he able to put these private individuals at theirease, but they viill never be an object worth the attention of governments. Discrete workshops,forthe most part combined with cultivationof smallholdings. are the on1 free oqes!' The expropriation aud eviction of a part +of the agrlcu tural population not only set free for industrial capital, the labourers, their means of subsistence, and material for labour; it also created the home-market. In fact, the events that transformed the small peasants into wage-laboorers, and their means of subsistence and of labonr into material elements of capital, created, at the same time, n homemarket for the latter. Formerly, the peasant family prodilced the

means of subsistence and the raw materials, which they themselves, for tho most part, consunled. These raw materials and meanv nf subsistcnco have now bocumu commodities; Ll~c large farurersulls them, he finds his market in manufactores. Yarn, linen, coarse woollen stnns-things whose raw materials l~arl lleen within thc rcacll of every peasant f;tmily, l~ail hcc~t spllri an11 v:ovi!n l,y it for ils own use-worc now Lranvforrned into articles of rnanufacture, to which the country districts at oncc served for markets. The many scattored customers, whom stray artisans until no\? had found in the numerous slnall prorluceis workingon their own account, concentrate the~nselves no\\. into one groat markel 'hiirabeau. I. c., t. Ill., pp. 20-109passim. That .\lirabe:u considers the separatc \\-orlishops more economical ar~dproducti>.e thau ihc .'combined:, and secs in tl~c lnttcr mcreiy arlificial exotics under government cultivation. is cxplal~~ed by Lllc poritiott at (Ilat time of a great part 01 tLa coniinc~>tbl manufactures.

CAPITALIST PRODUCTION REACTION OF THEAGRICULTURAL REVOLUTIOX .provided for by industrial capital. Thus, l~nud in liaud with the population, a nd completes the separation between agr~culture rpropriation of the self-supporting peasnuts, with their sepnra- and rural domes tic industry, whose roots-spinning and vieavfrom their ~~~of-pm~u~~io~~,g~~~t~iii.bEsCr~ction &QQ --. of rural ing-it tears up.' It therefore also, for the first tinre, comqu ers domest~c idustijr,-the procesv of soporntion botwoen mnnufncLure and agriculture. And only tho destruction of rural dumestio industry can give the internal market of a country that extension and conutence which the capitalist mode of production cequires. Still the manufacturing period, properly so cnlled, does not-succeed in carrying out this transformalion rndicnlly and completely. It will be remembered that manufacture, properly so culled. conquers but partially tho domnin of rintionnl production, and always rests on the handicrafts of the town and the domestic industry of the rural districts as its ultimato basis. If it destroys these in one form, in particular branches, at certain points, it calls them up again elsewhere, prepbtu--e &iw~t&inpoint. It produces, there illagaryiK-while. following the cultiva~~~f~~tfe~ry calline their chief occupat~on~ustri~-t~-t~ts the %Ti% they-selt-to manu~--dktty;-~ar-thmughJhe medic&-uf-tiiiFchants. Thili~sone, though not tho chief, cause of a.phenomenon which, at fmt, puzzles the student of English history. From the last third 01 the 15th century he finds continually complaints, only interrupted at certain intervals, about theencroachment of capitalist farming in the country districts, and the progressive destruction of the peasantry. On the other hand, he always finds this peasantry up again, although in diminishcdpumber, and always The chief -reason isiEngland is at one of corn, at another chiefly a breeder of cattle, in alternate periods, and with these the extent of peasant cultivation fluctuales. Modern Industry alone, and finally, supplies, in+b@~the lasting basis ok capitalistjc agriculture. expropija_Les r~lly_~g~~u~~a~~ity of the agriculturnl ~ ~ 1"Twenty pounds ol wool convertad unobtrusively into the yearly cloth-

in801 a ispourer's family by its ownindustryin the intewnls 01 other work&I\!$ but bring it lo market, send it Lo the lactory, tbe~rce to mab;$s,no S~QV; llle broker, thence to lhc dealer, and you will have great commercial operatiom, and nomirlnl capital engaged lo the aluounlof twenty times its value .... The .*-orliiu ci-s is thus emerjed Lo supporL a wetcbod (aclory populalion. 8-.-and a parajitica stop keeping class, and n fictitious cummercinl, mo~~elary, financial system. (David Urquhart. I. c., p. 120.) Cromwell's time forms an exception. So long as the Republic lasted. the mars of the En lish eople ol all grades rose 11om the degradatiou inlo n-hich Lhey Lad sun1 un&r the Tudors. for industrial capital tho entire home-rnark~t.~ Tuckellisaware thal the modern woollen industry has sprun ailh the introduction 01 rnachinery.f~om manulacture proper and from the f~structionpl~raland domesic indlrrt3m?&~.~q~x~~e invent~onor gods, and the occupptivYolherws~a+the loum, tae, the di?ta!Lol~@b_rB~kFiinii.You,sevetZhi d~slaE-and Lhe plou h, the spindle and thc yoke, an yuget Iactorrosand poor-houses, credit anfpanics. two hosllle nalioas, agricu turaland commercial." (David Urquhart. I. c., p. 122.) Bul now comes Carey, and cries out upon England surolyrnryith unrcosuu, that !t kI!Y~~KLK!~LQ~KQC~~~GIIT~$~~~-~~&~ ;qricp~~~i~~~on, wl~oscgl~ufaclu~r~s~~ that in t k~England.-He~rctc~~ds 1s aay Turhev has tieen ruined; Liecause 'lbc owners nnd occupants oni~6avc~fi~'v~i-6e~'<p~1mitled by England Lo stren@honLkcmseivcs by the larm~tiou~i that natural alliance between the plou h and lhcloom, the hammer and the harrow:: ('The Slave Trade," p. 125:f~~cordin~ to him, Urduhirl himjell is one of the

chief a ents in the ruin 01 Turkey, where he had made Frcc2rade_pro qauda ~n the knglish inter=stlTtest of it is the& Carey, &great Ftusopbik by &he way, wants to prevent the process of separation by thaL.k:bj:~.-s~slelp ?f prole clion which accelerates it.' . ~ Philanlhro ic En lish economisls, like hiill, Hogers, Goldwin Smith, Pawcett, kc.. an!liberafmanufacturers like John Bright bCo., ark the Er.9 lish la~ldad pro rietors, as God asked Caiu alter Ahel. \Vhere are our thausands of freclrofbcrs one? But whcrc do vou con~cfrom, tldcn? From the dulruclion ol those frce~oldurs. Why doo't you ask lurtl~w, where arc tlla LndepeudsnL wsauerj, spluncri, and artisans guuc?

CHAPTER XXXl GENESIS OF Tim IND[IS'I1ItIAI~ CAI'I'l'AIdf4T The genesis of the industrial capitalist did not proceed in such a gradual way as that of the farmer. Doubtless many small guild-mnslers, and yet n~orc independent sniall nrtisens, or ovcn wage-labourers, transformed themselves into small capitalists, and (by gradually exteuding exploitation of wage-labour and corrzsponding accumulation) into full-blown capitalists. In tho ,infancy of capitalist production, things often happened as in the ,? infancy of ruedimval towns, where tho question, which of the . , 8 lescaped serfs should be master and which servnnt w_as in great . ' 1a;ter date ofiheizfli'ght. The snail's \part decided_.hy4haaarlier_o_r ._-pace-oftfG'method corresponied in no wise with the commercial requirements~of the-new. world-mnrket that the great discoveries of the Zfid of the 15th century created. But the middle ages had handed- doh two distinct forms of capital, which mature in the most different economic social formations, and which, hefore the era of the capitalist mode of production, nro considered as capitalquand rn6me-usurer's capital and merchant's capital. "At present, all tie-&-pgwslir5ttinto' the possession of the capitalist ...he pays t.he lnndowner his rent, the !~bourer his wages, the tax nnd tithe gatherer their claims, and keeps a large, indeed the largest, and a continually augmentiiig share, of the annual produce of lnbour for himself. The capitalist 'may now be said to be the first owner of all the wealth of thecom,,m~nitylPDUgh Do law hns ~pnfcrredsn-him theright to this property :-?:this &-heen offected hy,Jlte.._taking3t:i6terest on capita;-:; .and-E<aot 5 littlo~curibusthat all the law-givers of Eul,ope endeav0iired-t-o-prevent-tlii~hy slatute~,Viz., StatUtes against usury.. ...The power of the capitalist over all the -~. . . ..~ ~ ~ ~ . . ~ 1 lnduslrialhere in conlradistinclion to o~icultural.111 the "cnlrgociC" sonre the faruler is nn indurlrial capihlist as nlucll as the ulanalacLurCr. ' 'The Nalural and Arlificial Rights of Property Contrasled." I.ond., 1832, pp. 9g99. Author of tho anonynlous work: "Tb.Hndpkin?' Even as lale as 179 4. the small clotlt-makers 01 1.eeds sent a depulation to I'arliamcnt, will1 a pelilion lor a law to lorbid any merchanl [tom be-

Comillg a manulncturer. (Dr. Aikin, 1. c.)

C.\I'LT:\LIST I'IiODI:CTlOl\i William ill:-~~lo~i~~~io~~Popular History and Cl~ristiauity: A of the TR~ ~ ~~~ of the pialivus~ by the Europeans~ ill all Lhcir Colonies." I~ondo,l,:s~s,,,. 9. ontllc trcat~ncnt of Ll~c do~cs thcre is a good conl~ilaCliarlcs c ~ ~ dc la LPgislatioo." 3n1c id. Brurelles. ~ ~ ~ ~ , lS37. .-~~~il~ n,us~sllldy in dctail, to scc what t~lc bourgcoisio mal(ci This sllhjcct labourc r, \\.),crcvcr it can, witllout rcstrainl, nlodel Lhc wol+d itselland ' In Llle YCar 1866 more than a million ttindus died ol hunper in the alter its own image. = .rhomas stamford late Livut.Gov. of that island: "The Hi=- ruyirlcr 01 Orissa alonc. Nercrll~cless. Ihc atleolpt was to cnricll the fndinn Lrcasury by the price at which Ll~e r~eevssnries of lile were sold to lory ol J;!va." Lolad.. 1Sli. LllU sttlrvinp [raoltle.

CAPlTALIST PRODUCTLON -.. --.-----GENESIS OF TllB INI)US'I'IIIA~ C,~PI'II\LI~L. IasL sllilling advanced. Grnduolly it bccumu iao\.itahly the roc':p. tacle of the mclallic hoard oi the country, and the centre of gravity of all comu~iercial credit. What offact was produced on their conlernporaries i)y lho sudden uprising of lhis bmod of bsnkocrats, Ruanciers, rool.icrs, llrol~c!rs, sloek-jobbers, kc., is provud by f.ha writings of that tirrie, s,[:., by ' Ilolin~hrokl;'~. With tho natioxal debt aruro nu international credit systelri, which often conceels one of the sources of primitive accunulation in this or that people. Thus t.he villainies of the Venetian ' '31 lua Tartares inondaient I'Europe ailjourd'hui; il faudrait b.en d:, ulfairei pour leur l'airi: tntur~drece que c'esl qu'ult ilnn,rciar parl;li o.;ca ' klu~~lusquiuu,"Espril dc; lair:' I.iv.. p. 33, ed. hndics, t76.J.

7Cfi CAPITALIST PllODUCTlON thieving system formed one of tho secret bases of tho capital' \vcalth of Holland to \\,horn Venice in her decadence lcnt large sulns of mo~il?y. So also was it witli Hollnnd an11 Ellglan~l. By the beginning of tho 18th century the Dutcll nlanufacturcs wcre far outstripped. Holland had ceased to be the nation prcponderant in coiillnercc and industry. One of its mnin liues of business, therefore, from 1701-1776, is tho lending out of enormous r amounts of capital, especially to its great rival England. Tllc same thing is going on to-day between England and the Unitcd States. A great deal of capital, aliich appears to-day in the United States without any certificate of birth, was yestrrday, in England. the canitalised blmhhhildren. -.'% the national debt finds its support in the pu blic revenue, which must cover the yearly payments for interest, &c., the modern system of taxation was the necessary complement ol the system of national loans. The loans enable the governmelit to meet extraordinary expenses, without the tax-payers feeling it immediately, but they necessitate, as a consequence, increased taxes. On the otlier hand, the raising of taxation caused by the accumulation of debts contracted one alter another, compels the government always to llavo recourse to new loans for new extraordinary expenses. Modern fiscality, whose pivot is formed by taxes on the most ncccssary means of subsistcnco (thereby increasing their price), tli~is contains within itself the germ of automatic progression. Over-taxation is not an incident. but rather a principle. In Holland, theroforo, whero this system was first inaugurated, the great patriot, De Witt, has in his "Maxims". estolled it as the best system for making the wage-labourer submissive, frugal, industrious, and overburdened with labour. The destructive influence that it exercises on the condition of the wagelabourer concerns 11s less llowever, here, than the forcible expropriation. resulting from it, of peasants, artisans, and in a word, all clements of the lower middle-class. On this there are not two opinions, even among the bourgeois economists. Its expropriating efficacy is still furtlier heightened by tho system of protection, which forms onc of its integral parts. Tlie great part that the public debt, and the fiscal system corresponding with it, has played in tlic capitalisation of wealth and the expropriation of the masses, has led niany wrlters, like Cobbctt, Douhledap and othcrs, to seek in this, incorrectl!-, tlic lundainental cause of the nlisery of the modern peoples. Tlie system of protection \\.as an artificial nieniis oi tnanufacturing manufactnrers, of e:;!)roprialing independc~~tlabourers, of GENESIS OF THE IXDUSTRIAL C.\PITALIST iS7 capitalising the national means of production and sabsistence. :?i forcibly abbreviating the transition from the rnemli;cval ta thd modern mode of production. Tho European states tore on,: another to pieces about tho patcnt of tl~is invcntion, and, oncc elltered into tho service of the surplus-value makers, did not merely lay under contribution in the pursuit of this purpose their awn

people, indirectly through protective duties, directly through export premiums. They also forcibly rooted out, in their (I?pendent countries, all industry, as, e.g., Englnnd did with tho Irish woollen manufacture. On the continent of Europe, altor Colbert's example, the process was much simplified. Ths primitive industrial capital, here, came in part directly out of t!le state treasury. "Why," cries Mirabeau, "\vhy go so far to seek tlic cause of the manufacturing glory of Saxony before the war? 180,000,000 of debts contracted by the s~vereigns!"~ Colonial systom, public debts, heavy taxes, protection.commercial wars. kc., these children of the true manuIacturing period, incraaso gigantically during the infancy of hIodern Industry. The birth of the latter is heralded by a great slaughter of the innocents. Like the royal navy, the factories were recruited by means of the press-gang. Blase as Sir F. M.Eden is as to the horrors of the expropriation of the agricultural population from the soil, from the last third of the 15th century to his own time; with all the solf-satisfaction with which he rejoices in this process, "essential" for establishing capitalistic agriculture and "the due proportion between arable and pasture land" -he does not sho~. however, the same economic insight in respect to tlienecessity nf child-stealing and child-slavery for the transformation of manufacturing exploitation into factory exploitation, and tbe establishment of the "true relation" between capital and labour-power. He says: "It may, perhaps, be worthy the attention of tht public to consider, whether any manufacture, which, in order to he carried on successfully, requires that cottages and workhouses should be ransacked for poor children; that they should be employed by turns during the greater part of the night and robbed of that rest which, though indispensable to all, is most required by the young; and that numbers of both sexes, of different ages and dispositions, should be collected together in such a manner that the contagion of examplecannot but lead to prolligac). and debauchery; will add to the sum of individual or national felicity?"'

"111 the counties of Dcrbyshire, Nottinghamsl~iro, and more particularly in Lancashire," says Fielden, "the nowlyinvented n~achinery \\,as used in large factories built on the sides of stren~ns capable of turning the water-wl~eel. 'I'housa~~ds of hands wore suddenly required in these places, remote from towns; and Lancasl~ire, in particular, being, till then, comparatively thinly populated and hnrren, a popnlntion was all that sllc now wanted. Tl~e sn~all and i~i~nble fil~gurs of littlo children bci~lg by very far the most in request, thecustom instantly sprang up of procuring apprentices from the different parish workhonses of London, Birmingham, and clsewl~ere. Many, many thousands of these little, hapless creatures \\.ere sent down into the north, being from the age of 7 to ths age of 13 or 14 years old. The custom was for the master to clolhe his apprentices and to feed and lodge them in an "apprtnlice house" near the factory; overseers were appoinled to see to the crorlrs, whosa i~rterest it was to worlc the children i to lhe utmost, because their pay was in proportion to the quantity of \r.ork that they could exact. Cruelty was, of course, the consequence. . . . 111 many of the manufacturing districts, but palticularly, I am afraid, in tlie guilty county to which I belong 1 [Lancasl~ire] .heart-renfiing practised , c~e&ie~e,_qlost were opon tJ~c.unalfcndiug aud .friendless crcn~!!!.~s \vho \\.ere thus consigned-la-th~&a~gcq~mastc<nli~nnfg~turcrs; tllay wero harassed to ~!le_b~&n~~~~~~x{ess of labo~~r . ..wc~.floggd>tl.ercd and tortured ill the most exyiti~&~&~~en~cnt 01cyuelly; . . . lhey \rare?biiGEnJme~afiG3-tothe bono \;;hi6-ii~ged to their worlc 11nd . . . oven in sollie i~istauces . ..werehh!cn Ls~wmmit suicidu .. . The beaul.iI111 i~~~rl run~antic valleys of Derl~ysl~iro, Not' tingha'mshire and Lancashire, secluded from the public eyo, becan~e the dismal solitudes of torture, and of many a murder. iThe profits of id%iuf~c[urEiS-n~erecabrmous:butthis only wl~elted With lhe tlevelol~ment of capitalist prutluction during the man~~faclurineperiod, the public opinion ~.iEurope llad IJSI lhc last remnant of sllame and c~)nscicnce. Tlrc nations braggzd cynically of every infamy that scrvc~l thum as u nli:un.i to capitalistic accumulation. Head, e.g., the naive ;\nnals of Commerce of tha worthy .4. Anderson. IIere it is trun~peted forth as a triunipl~ of Euglisll statecraft that at the Pcace of Ltrecht, England

cxtorlu~l fror~r tl~r: Spaniarlls I)?. Ll~u Aricnto l'rosty t11c privilcgt of being all~\\~ed t,o ply the negru-trade, unti! then onls carried on between Africa and the Englisl~ \Vest Indics, bc2ween Africa and Spanish America as well. England thereby acquired the riahl of supplying Spanish America until 1743 ~ith4.800 negroes parly. This threw, at the same time, an official cloak over British smuggling. Liverpool waxed fat on the slave-trade. This \\.as itsmethod of primitive accumulation. And, even to the present da!-, Liverpoo! "respectability" is the Pindar of the slave-trade \vliich-compare the work of Aikin [I7951 already quoted-'.has coincided with that spirit of bold advanture ivhicli has chaiactcrised the lradc of Liverpool and rapidly carried it to its present state of prosperity; has occasioned vast employment for shipping an,! sailors, and greally augmented the demand for tile manufacture. of the country" (p. 339). Liverpool employed in the slave-trade, in 1730, 15 ships; in 1751, 53; in 1760, 74; in 1550, 96; and in 1792, 132. Wliilst the cotton industry inlroduced child-slevrry ir England, it gave in the United Statcs a stimulus to the mansformation of tho earlier, more or less patriarchal slavery, into a system of conlmarcial oxploil.ntion. In lact, 1.h~ vciled :larcr:. of ?dell," 1705. Vol. 11. Wl~enthcsleala-enxine tranp!an!ed tl~e Iacto;.ias Iror !, the conntry ?.alcrlal!s lo tlae middle 01 towns. Llhr: .'a?2i!c.!!iioui" c,irp:u i-~;i. \ I .an m~Bllent thnt-spemed to ~ecnre ufacturer~~~~oo~~~e..~ ..I to tlle<~~e+ro~1~~_v~~_an~ )m!t;?y.egan l?os%>!ity;.qf tho pcactimoi adrat is te~~~~n~gl~~~fklng!,that is, Pavi~ig lired-mtst .af_I!ands,by ~yo&i~~t.h~.~o!!ghout.i~h~ day, Ll~ey ' had an_other..s~t. ready -to go.on \vorkipg throughout the nigl~l.; the dn).-set gctt)!!g i!~to.L!!C beds tl~at ~l!ehgjgl!~.-sct had jtlst quilLed, an&TCfke~r turu.ag2in;.the night-set gettiiig into-the. bells thai tti~<~-sst gui! tedn~~li~l~o.r_n+gI,It-is a -common~iraditiun : In ~anciis%irc, .~l~al..t!!o II.c_iIs rzecer gel cold,"' \ -. ..~ .~ ~. .. ~. 1 lolin Ficlh!l,, I. e., 1q1. 5, li.(ran ilw i!:lrli,!l. illla~nies of tlla lacl ory sys. Lcm, cl. Dr. .tikiu (1795) I. c., p. 213, and (;ishort~c: "Enquiry illlo LLr 1)u lies

th~._apyg~jtethat it ..-.-.-..- ue maker lour~d lllc child-malerial ready lo iti -irsnd, rr.i:buul hint lurc~cl -shoul~lavesatis~~~;~~:th~~~~~oj~tl~~.. man-Lo reek slavcs lrom tlie \vorkhouscs . \Yl~en Sir R. ['eel (ia:l~er ol tho'-minis. ter 01 plausibility"), brought in his blll lor liie protec:io!r of children. in 1815, brancis ilorner, lumen 01 lhc Bullion Conmillee and ir#lirr.?.!e frir~:d of Ricardo, said in the Ilouse olCommo~~s: "I1 is nutorious. Iha! ailb a hackrupt's cncc:s, n gang, il he rni'Tlrl use tlic \vurd. di ti!i.ie cllildr~,i:lrad :at,! put up to sale, and wcre adverzscd publicly as part ol lhe p!m)pcr~y..A most slrociu~~s inslance had hccn hrnu[,;llt hciorc Llle I2ourt oi tii~w:'' t!cncl~ti.~l years belore, in wlricl~ a numLcr ol Lherc buys, apprciiiiccil h:? a paris12 in Lon. don to orle rnsn~~laeturrr, had been lrar.slt.~ri.cl Lo anu~1ii.r. ald i~ad t::e t, found by some Litne~olcnt prrsons in aslale of absoliile famine. Ano!hv; caic more horrible hadcome tol~isk;!o!vled~enhilc on a(['?,rlianieiliary) Cornrniitie ... lhat ,101 nlarlp yuars ago, all agreerncnt laad Otcn n:dc bclwecr~a I ondin paria11nrld a 1,ancaihirc rnan~llacturr!~., i: rlipuIaltd, lI:vL vlili LY wl~ici~ \r;, every 20 soulid cllildre;l one idiot skould Lr takeii."

CAl'lTALIST l'lIODU(;TIOIC 01 lllc n;~gi.-s-orlivrs ill l:~~ropc ncrclcd, for ils pcdcst;rl, slavc~y i'ure and sinrplc ii~ l11~ nc~vI\~OIIO.' ! CnAPTER XXXII \\'l~a~ does the primitive accumulation of capital, i.e., its historlcal genesis, resolve itself into? In so far ns it is not immediate transformation of slaves and serfs into tuage-labouren, ard therefore a mcro change of form, it only means the expropriation of the ilnnrediate producers, i.e., the dissolution of privalr property hased on the labour of its o\r7nor. Private propert!., as the antithesis to social, collective property. exisle only \\-here I.he means of labour and the external conditions of labour belong to private individuals. But according as lllcrc pri\.ale individuals are labourers or not labourers. private property hsi a difltrent character. The nurnhcrlasi sltarl;:s: lhal ir a1 f!r:t sight presents, correspond to the intcrn~sdizte singes iyin;: bet\vecn these two cxtl.c;rnes. The ppivalc propc:iy of llic Inboa;.rr in his rncnns of prodliction is tho fol~rldat.i(~n of pnl.1.: ir\rJur.!r:., whether agricullurnl, mauofacluring; ur both: @?it? indu=:r), again, is an essential condition for the derelopnient sf social production an11 1,: thr: frc~. indiviilllality of thc 1abouri.r I~in~sclf. Of coarse, Il~isllctty illode of prodllcI.ion c:iisls :~I~cluri.?;:r slavcrp, serf don^, and other slatcs (I: dr-pc!~denc~:. Uut I!. [lourishas, it lcts loosc itc \\hole cnc-gy, it ;~l!;tin~ ils adequate clas:ical form; only r e !he labouror it 1: pi.i:.atc GI-VE~: of his 0n.n rncans of la!~o~~rsat ill? ridasa~.t ia aclioi~ bx hin~s~ll: of the lsnrl \\.hichIiE c.\~,l~i~atcs oi ik:. i3.i LIT(. a~:ic:tn \:!ii:l.. ._--. -_L... ." ~ 11s llantlles as a t'~rtuoso. This rnorlioi prodicii;,!~ prr-525.

means of production, so also it excludes co-operatlon. division of labour within each separate process of production, the control over, and tho prodnctive ap lication of the forces of Nature by society, and the Lee dovelopmeut of the social productive powers. It is compatible only with a system of production, an11 a society, moving within narrow and more cr loss primitiva bounds. To perpetuate it woold he, as Pecqt~c~lr cerriglilly says, "to dcoree u!~irerval mediocrity." At. a ' 1tain,stage of develop~nent it briugs forth the matoria(agoncies fo~ rneiEXW t6r3eX%iibne!v its o\vn pa~ionssprin~ ujin the bosom of so~llt the oldsocial ornanisation fetters them and kceps tlreu~ down. It must bo annihilated; it is annihilated. Its annihilation, the.tiian-01 thi%na~vraua~~sed and scattered means of production into socially concentrated ones, of the pigmy property of the many into the huge property of the few, tho expropriation of the great mass of the people from the soil, fro>--&e-u~uTisGni, and its own feet, then the further socialisation of labour and further transformation of tho land and other means of production iuto socially exploited and, therefore, common means of production, as well as the furthor expropriation of privale proprietors, tak~s a new form. That which is now to be expropriated is no longer t.he labourer working for himself, but the capitalist exploiting many labourers. This expropriation is accomplished by the action of the immanent laws of capitalistic productibn itself, by tho cent~alisation of capital. One capitalist.@iy~ilIs many. Hand in hand with this centralisabien,.aLthis expr0pii?~tnnn~mn~ capitalists by few, develop, on an ever-exten ing scalt, the cc operative form of tho labour-process. the conscious tecbuical application of scienco, the methodical cultivation of the soil, the transformation of the instruments of labour into instruments of labour only usable in common, the economising of all means ?f production by their use as the means of productionof combines, socialised labour, the entanglement of all peoples in tha net of tho ~vorld-market, and with this, the international chsracter of tho capitalistic r8gime. Along \vith the const.lntly diminishins fro~~e-~o~~M~n~g~~~i!!:,~.~~~@ion oflh.mxssSilkpe~lcforms the prelude to thy!!igt~r.y gf capi~-. . t+lt comprises a series Cf-6rcible mctbods, of which we have passed in review only those that have been epoch-making as met,hods of the primitive accuinulation of capital. The expropriatiou of the i~~~n~ediato was producers accon~plisbed \\.it11 merciless Vand~liem, and nnder lllc stin~ulus of passions t.11~ n~ost in-

fILi~s, i s o r ti pettiest, tl!e most meanly orli~ I ous. Sclf-ear~~od private property, that is based, so to szy, on tho fusir.g togethrr of tho isolated, indepcnd~nt laboori~~~i!~di-:iclanl his is \vi:l~ tl~c ro~~diiio:is oi Laboor, supple:~tcd by cai)italistic private prJperty, which rosls .,>I ;~sploilntin;l of fhc ~tomi~~aliy labour of otlrcrs, i.e., ~11 lrcc nqe-l~tbuo;.' As silo11 as this process of Lmn.forn1atio11 has soflicisntly dr. composed the old socict!. from lop lo Ilobton~, as soon' as tho Iabuururs arr turncd into prolclari;u~s, tl~rir mesns of 13b011rinto capital, as soon as t!?e capit.;ilist ~nodc of production stands ~II. 1 "Kouj solulnes dans une coltdilio~~Lout-i;falt nou\.ello de la so. ciste...nous 1e11do11s s&pnrer toulc espbce dc proprill6 d'nvec toute espbce de Lra~aii." (Qismoudi: "XOUVC~UXI'ri~~cipes~'ECOII.Polit:' t. 11.. y. 434.) number of tho magnates of capital. \\.l~o usurp aud mono;iolis? al! advantages of this process of transformation, g:c\vs the n12ss of misery, oppression, slavery, degradalion, exploitation; .but with this too grows the revolt of the working-class, a class alrva!-s increasing in numbers, and disciplined, united, organised by the very mechanism of the process of capitalis? prod~ction itself. The monopoly of capital b9comcs a fetter upon the mode of p-oduction, which has sprung up and flourished along with, and under it. Centralisation of the means of production and $ilcialisation ci labour at last reach a point where they become incompatible with their capitalist integument. Thus integument is burst asundcr. The knoll of cnl~italist lrrivato property souuds. Tho expropriatoia are expropriated. Tho capitnlist mode gf..nppropriation, the result of the capitalist mode of ,_ppo~~c~i~nrod. ~apjtaligtprivate property. This is the first negation of indiv_idualptivateproperly,asfomded on thFf5bbuigf @~:~~riGtoi. But capitalist production begets, with the inexorability of a law of Nature, its oxn negation. It is the negation of negation. This does not re-establish private property for the producer, but gives him individual property based on the acquisitions of the capitalist era: i.e., on co-operation and the possession in common of the land and of the means of producliou.

I The iransforlnation of scattcrcd privatc propcrty, arising \ irom individual labour, into capitalist private property is, natI ! nrally, a process, incompambly more protrnctcd, violent, and .j diflicult, lhan the transformntion of capitalistic privatc Drop- ! ert,y, alreedy practically resting on socialised production, into socialiccd propcity. In the former case, \ve had the expropriation of tho mass of the pcople hy a few us\~rpcrs; in the lattcr. \ve have \.lie expropriation of a fen usurpers by tho mass of the people.' *~. -' 'l'ltu advance of industry. rftose involnnlary prornotcr In the hoorgeoisic, rrplnces lheisolaliorl of llle labourers, due Lo compelition, by Lheir / re\-olulionnry CorubinsLion, due to association. The developn~enL 01 hlodern Industry. Iherclore, cuts lrom under irs feel. the very lo~~ndalion on w!~iclv the bonrpoisiv produces and appropriales products. What Lhe bour;wo~sto:. ll~rrclore, produces, above ell, are ils own ave-diggers. 11s tall and lhc vir.. Lory of the prr;!ctariat are cqrlally incvita bae... 01 all Lhe classes, tllal s lar~ml lace to lace will, the bourpeoisie lo-dny, tlic proietariaL nlooe is a n?ally rc l.0. lulionary elass. Tl~e other clnrres pcrish and disappear in Llle lace ol Alodern I~ldustry. the prolrtnriat is ilr special and essential producl ,.. Tllc lower n ~id~lle-clasws.1111. smnll rnnnulnclt~rcrs. I he shopkcepcrs. lhc arLisnn. 1l1cpens allt, ,111tlnec firllt arainct tht. hotsrgroisie. lo save lro111 cxtir~clion Lllcir er islrnrc as lvacliouc ot illc middle-ciass ... they arc niactionary. lor LI1;y tuy Lo rol l hack the nllrel 01 h~slory. Karl llarx tlnrl Fricdrich Engcls. Rlnnitvl;L dor Kommunisli5rl~cn I'nrlci." \.ondon. 184%. pll. !). 11. CHAPTER SSSllI TliE BIOnEllN 'L'IIEOKT OF COl,~?i~~.\qy)y Political Economy confuses on principle two very dill.trcntkinds of private on t he producers' ..-~sWY&>~ICS~S o\vn labour, t c other on bhe enl~loyment of the labour of otllcK .ri-E@that Lhc lattc~o~--~~e~-~~i<i~~csis --.

-. oE~tho~riner,b;ltabso~ui<rows on& tomh~l~,J~\\'es~crn, Enrope, the home of Polilical Economy, theroca~of accumulation is more or less accomplished. Here the'Zp~alis regime has citlier directly conquered the \\-hole domain of nationa production, or, whero econolnic conditions are lcss dcvcloped, it, at Icast, indircctly controls those strata of society \\.hich, though belonging to the antiquated mode of production, continue to exist side by side with it in gradual decay. To this reedy-made \vorlcl of capital, tho political cconoinist applies thc notions of law and of property inherited froma pre-capitalistic !vorld wiih all the morc anxious zoal and all the greater nnction, the more loudly the facts cry out in t,hc facc of his ideology. It is other\visc in the colonic;. There the capitalist regime everywhere comes into collision Ivith the resistance of thc prorluccr, wllo, as o!vncr of his 011-n conditions of iahoor, cmploys !.hat laboor to enrich himself, inslrnd oi the cepilelist. Tho contradielion of t.llcac two diamctric311v opposeri c!conomic systcnrs, rnn~~ifosts in a strogglc itsclt hero pra~ticall:~ bctv~eon thcm. Wllcrc tltc cnpitnlist~l~as at his Lack ihc po\r,er of the n~other-coitntry, hc tries to clear out of his way 11). force, the modes of production and appropriat,ion, based on tllc indepcnilbnt labour of thc producer. Tllc samc intcrcst, \\.hich compels the 5)-cophailt of capital, bhe political cconomict, in the mother-coontr!., to proclaim tl~r, tbooretical it1ontil.y of thc capilali.?~ nrorle of prmrlr~cliiin 1vitl1 its contmr!., tl~atSam:? irltc?cst com1;els him in til,: cu!oni~:. to mnlic a clean breast ol it, and to proclaim alr,ud LLI: antsg~nis:~: I \Ye Lreal llcrc of rcal Colonics, virgin soils, colcnis.:d b:. tree immlFants. The Unitcd Statcs arc, spcalrin: cconomicall?, rlill onlr a Colon!- "I Eul-opc. hides, to Ll~is calcgor) he!o~l"Iio such old F!etr(;iti.<fiiss thos:. i ll whicl~Lhc aholilion of slarcry lras c~rnp1eli:ly illtcicd LLCci,i!:~;r cj~diti~x ij.

76G CAPITALIST PnODUCTlON of \he two modes of production. To this end he proves how the : development of the social productive powor of lahow, co-operaLion, division of labonr, uso of machinery on a large scalc, kc.. are in~possible wilhout the esproprintion of tlle labourers, aud the corresponding transforlnation of their means of production ! ;: i '1 I /i i THE YODBRK ?IIEORP OP COLC:<:3.A'CiO\; iEi ------. --.--For the undi>rs:andil~g of thc ft~lLowir!g ~liscu\.c:ii:s ci' \\'ahflcld, two prclin~inary remarks: UTe kno\r. that :he !nca of production nnd y~~lrsistcnce, whilc they remain thc pl..ijj?r:v r~fthc imhedis iYT~occ~., not ;,I, arc capital. 'R-ccomeei\pit onQ3 e. time s anccs ~n~te~Tvc!TtKIZGrhC saeks for artilicial means to ensure the povcrty of tho people. llere his apologetic armour crumblos off,hit by hit, like rotten touchrvood. It is the great merit of E. G. Wakefield to have discovered, not anything new about the Co1onios.l but to have discovered in the Colonies the truth as to tho conditions of capitalist pro~\ucliou in tho mot.hcr-connbry. As tho systen~ of protoelion nt its origing attempted to manofacture capitalists artificially in Lbe ~not.llor-country, so fVakeficld's colonisation theory, which England tried for a Limo to enforce by Acts of Parliament, atlen~j~tcd of wage-workers in the Colonies. to eficct l,ho n~a~~ufacturo l'his he calls "~).slematic colonisation." Firs1 of all, Wakefield discovered that in t.he Colonies, prop-rty in moaey. means of snlsistence, machinos, and other rnedzls of production, does not as ye1 stamp o man as n capitalist if l,l~crc be wn~lting tlie correlative-tho wage-worker, the other mnn wllo is compelled to sell himself of his own free-will. He discovered that capital is not a thing, but a social relation between persons, ostallishcd by tho instrumentality of things. hlr. Peel, i~o moans, took with him from England to Swan River, West hostmlia. means of subsistence and of production to tho amount of 5?50,000. Rfr. Peel had tho foresight to bring with him, besides,

3,000 persons of Lhe working-class, men, women, and children. Once arrived at his destination. "Mr. Peel was left without a servant to make his bed or fetch him water from the river."' Unhappy 111. Peol who provided for everytliing except the export of llnglish modes of production to Swan River! 1 \\'al<efiuld's lew glimpses on the subject of hlodero Colonisation are lullg or~ticigaled by liiralcau Plre. Lhe yl\ysiocrat, and even lnuch earlier by E~~mlisb ceoaomists. Later, il became a temporary necessity in the lnternntio~lili compelilirc jrruagls. Uut, \vl~utt.vorits niolive, the cansuqacncas remaill 1110 silulc . ' 'A oegro is a ocgro. In cerlain eircumslance~ ba becomes a slave. A mule is a lnacbinc for ~pinuing catLou. Only under curtain CircumsLonces docs it bccotue capital. Outside Lhsse circumstances, il is no rn gold is intrin:iczliy murley. or sugar is ll~eprico of sugar cial relalion ol prodt>cLiiltl. I1 is a l~islorical relntio~l ol a . o i l I ill ' \ lIlr. Z Nu. SGT,. April 7. 1S48.) I E.G \\'a\:cfiuld: "l!nglat~d ard America," voi. ii., p. ad. into capital. In the interest of the so-called national wealth, he cis 5nm~~~.-f i~t 8 Eeav-lecLlon this capitalist soul of 1 cirs IS so inXiEiXtT)TeTdZr;7R the llesd of the political economist, to their material subcia~:ce, Lhat 11e christensthe-~~e++xaru!rozrlhy are ils exact opposite. Thus iu it with WaKet~o:ri. Fbrli~er: the split,tinguif the means cf production into thc: intliridudl praperty of m;tny indopcnrlcnt lnl)o!~rcrs, working on 1ht:iu r,wn aecount, he calls equal division of capital. It is wit11 lhu l,oliLical i ~?cor~omist as with the feudal juriat. The latter stuck on Lo pure monotary relations the labels supplie~l by foudpl Lax. "If," says Wakcfi~ld, "all tho rncmhers of ti12 soci!:Ly are rapposed to possess equal portions of capital . . . no lnan \\.auld have a motive for accc~m~~lating us. more capital tilan he coulr! with his own hands. This is to somc extent :he case in ncn Amorican settlements, wl~erc a passion for owning Ian11 pruvenls the cxistcncc of a class of labo~~rers as for hi~c." SO Irln~, thercforc, the laboilver call accumulate for himsclf-and t!ris hc can do -, so long as he remains possessor of his means of production-, capitaliccum~~lation .;. and the capitalistic mode oh&ction

a?cimeible. 'The class of wage-labourers, essential to these. is want~ngxow, thcn, in old Europe, was Lhe expropriation of the labourer from his conditions of labour, i.e., Lhe co-existence of capital and wago-lahour, brought about? By a social contract of a quite original kind. "Mankind have adopted a . . . simple contrivancc for promoting the accl~mulatio~~ of capital," whicl~, of course, since the time of Arlam, floated in their imagination an the sole and Anal end of their exislpncc: "they have dividcil themselves int.0 owners of capital and owners of labour . . . .This division was the result of concert andcombinnLion."2 Inone \\.otd: the mass of mankind cxpropriatcd itself in hono~rr of tllc "accumulation of capital." Now, one wonld think, that this instinct of self-ilcnying fanaticism would give itself lull fling especially in the Colonies, tvl~ere alol~e exist the men 2nd c~~ndiiionsthat could turn a social cont.raet from a dream LO a reality. 9ui 1r.h:-, thcn, should "systematic colonisation" be called in to replace its opposite, spontnneous, unregulated coloi~isaii~l?? Dut-hilt' I c. . 17. I. c., vol. I., p. 18.