A History of Economic Thought

216 Pages·1979·18.191 MB·English

by  Isaac Ilych Rubin

A History of
H. H. P y B M H
Economic Thought
MCTOPMJI. by
3 K 0 H 0 M M H E C K 0 R
Isaac Ilych Rubin
MblC/IM
Translated and edited by Donald Filtzei
K30AHHE TPETbS
co Bioporo aono^HEHHoro
Afterword
Poc/dapimatHHQio Ytewto Coatma
tonyu&HO 4 xanetmu jr*t6noto MCOOUM
9M tyso* by
Catherine Colliot-Thelene
LINKS
rOCyflAPCTBEHHOE H3^ATE^bCTBO
MOCKBA * 1 9 2 9 * /lEHHHfPAJl
Isaac Ilych Rubin was born in Russia in 1886 75
In 1905 he became an active participant in the
Russian revolutionary movement After the .^7/3
Bolshevik seizure of power he worked as a
professor of Marxist economics and in 1926
became research associate at the Marx-Engels
Institute In 1930 he was airested. An official
First published as htoriya ekonomicheskoi
Soviet philosopher wrote that: 'The followers
mydi (Gosizdat RSFSR) This translation
of Rubin and. the Menshevizing Idealists.
taken, with the permission of the New York
treated Marx's revolutionary method in the
Public Library, from a copy of the second
spirit.,, of Hegelianism The Communist
printing of the second, revised Russian edition
Party has smashed these trends alien to Marx-
(1929) in that library's possession
ism'. (Rosenthal, quoted by Rornan Rozdolsky
in The Making of Marx's Capital?) Rubin was
Ihis edition first published in 1979 by
imprisoned, accused of belonging to an organi-
Ink Links Ltd.,
zation that never existed, forced to 'confess' to
271, Kentish Town Road
participating in events that never took place,
London NW5 2JS
and finally removed from among the living
Translation by Don Filtzer
Between 1924 and 1930 Rubin completed
and published three books in addition to A © Ink Links, 1979
History of Economic Thought: Essays on
Afterword by Catherine Colliot-Ihelene
Marx's Theory of Value (published in English
World rights in all languages
by Black & Red, Detroit 1972), Contemporary
© Ink Links, 1979
Economists in the West, and an anthology:
Classics of Political Economy from the
Cover design by Laura Margolis
Seventeenth to the Mid-Nineteenth Century
The Frontispiece is taken from the
New York Public Library photocopy of the
1929 Russian edition of Rubin's book
No part of this book may be reproduced
without the permission of the publisher,
except for the quotation of brief passages for
criticism
ISBN 0906133 165 Cloth
ISBN 0906133 173 Paper
Typeset in Garamond by
Red Lion Setters,
22, Brownlow Mews, London WClN 2LA
Printed by Whitstable Litho Ltd ,
Millstrood Road, Whitstable, Kent
CONTENTS
Chapter Thirteen Social Classes 117
Chapter Fourteen The Net Product 124
Chapter Fifteen Quesnay's Tableau Economique . . 133
Page
Chapter Sixteen Economic Policy 140
Chapter Seventeen The Theoretical Legacy of the
Author's Preface to the Second Edition 9
Physiocrats 146
Part One
Part Three
Mercantilism and its Decline 17
Adam Smith 151
Chapter One The Age of Merchant Capital 19
Chapter Eighteen Industrial Capitalism in England
Chapter Two Merchant Capital and Mercantilist
during the Mid-Eighteenth-
Policy in England in the 16th and
Century 153
17th Centuries 27
Chapter Nineteen Adam Smith, the Man . .. 163
Chapter Three The General Features of
Chapter Twenty Smith's Social Philosophy 167
Mercantilist Literature 35
Chapter Twenty-One The Division of Labour 177
Chapter Tour The Early English Mercantilists 42
Chapter Twenty-Two The Theory of Value 186
Chapter Tive Mercantilist Doctrine at its Height:
Chapter Twenty-Three The Theory of Distribution 198 -
Thomas Mun 49
Chapter Twenty-Four The Theory of Capital and
Chapter Six The Reaction against Mercantilism:
Productive Labour 208
Dudley North 59
Chapter Seven The Evolution of the Theory of
Part Four
Value: William Petty 64
David Ricardo 219
Chapter Eight The Evolution of the T heory of
Money: David Hume 79
Chapter Twenty-Five The Industrial Revolution in
England 221
Part Two
Chapter Twenty-Six Ricardo'sBiography 231
The Physiocrats 89
Chapter Twenty-Seven The Philosophical and Methodo-
logical Bases of Ricardo's Theory . .. 235
Chapter Nine The Economic Situation in Mid-
Chapter Twenty-Eight The Theory of Value 248
Eighteenth-Century France 91
1. Labour Value 248
Chapter Ten The History of the Physiocratic
2. Capital and Surplus Value 255
School 101
3 Prices oj Production 260
Chapter Eleven The Social Philosophy of the
Chapter Twenty-Nine Ground Rent 271
Physiocrats 107
Chapter Thirty Wages and Profit 279
Chapter Twelve Large-scale and Small-scale
Agriculture Ill
PartFive
The Decline of the Classical School 289
Chapter Thirty/One Malthus and the Law of Population 291
Chapter Thirty-Two The Beginning of Vulgar
Economy—Say 301
Chapter Thirty-Three The Debates Surrounding the
Ricaidian Theory of Value 307
Chapter Thirty-Four The Wages Fund 313
Chapter Thirty-Five The Theory of Abstinence—Senior 320
Chapter Thirty-Six Harmony of Interests—Caiy
and Bastiat .. 326
Chapter Thirty-Seven Sismondi as a critic of Capitalism 335
Chapter Thirty-Bight The Utopian Socialists 346
Chapter Thirty-Nine The Twilight of the Classical
School—John Stuart Mill 351
Part Six
Conclusion: A Brief Review of the Coutse 363
Chapter Forty Brief Review of the Course 365
Afterword
By Catherine Colliot- Thelene 385
Name Index 433
Subject Index 437
Diagrams Quesnay's Description of the
cir culation of commodities
and of money 135
8 Editor's Preface
where Rubin is paraphrasing a particular author we have tried to retain
that author's own usage, whereas when translating Rubin's discussions
of these texts we have opted for the terminology accepted in modern
Editor's Preface usage: There are certain exceptions, eg, in the section on.Adam
Smith where we have replaced Smith's term 'commandable labour'
with the more modern 'purchasable labour' We have also followed
This English edition of Isaac Rubin's A History of Economic Thought the standard practice of not modernizing the spelling or syntax of the
has been prepared from the New York Public Library's copy of the passages quoted.
1929 reprinting of the second, revised Russian edition As the reader In a small number of cases we have deleted certain sentences or .
will learn from Rubin's Preface, the book is made up of a series of phrases in which Rubin is recapitulating a doctrine that he has already
lectures and was used as a university text The book must have been in discussed on several occasions These repetitive summaries, e g., of the
fairly general use, because the reprint of the second edition ran to Physiocrats' views,on productive labour or Smith's theory of profit,
5,000 copies The lectures were intended to be used alongside two whilst perhaps of value in maintaining the continuity of Rubin's class-
other texts, Marx's Theories of Surplus Value and an anthology com- room lectures, are a genuine obstacle to someone trying to read the
piled by Rubin of extracts from pre-Classical and Classical political text straight through In no case have we cut more than one or two
economy, Classics of Political Economy From the Seventeenth to the sentences at a time, and the sum of these elisions amounts to no more
Mid-Nineteenth Century [Klassikipoliticheskoi ekonomii ot XVII do than two or three printed pages: thus the reader need have no fear
sredwy XIX veka] (Gosizdat RSFSR, 1926) about whether she or he is receiving a genuine 'original edition'
Lhe design of Rubin's book has presented certain difficulties in Finally, I should like to acknowledge the assistance of the reference
translating and editing an English edition. Because it was to be used staff of the main library of the University of Glasgow and of the staff
together with the above-mentioned collection, A History of Economic of the Sidney Jones Library, University of Liverpool, who gave me
Thought contains no references for any of its quotations. Thus we have invaluable help in locating and using many of the original editions
had to go through the laborious task of tracking down the standard from which I had to take quotations. I should like also to thank Prof
English editions of the works of the many philosphers and economists DP O'Brien of the University of Durham and Prof Andrew S
from whom Rubin quotes In most cases this was relatively straight- Skinner of the Univeisity of Glasgow for their help in tracking down
forward; in others, such as the Physiocrats or Sismondi, whose works certain highly elusive passages Needless to say, all of these people are
are translated either only partially into English or not at all, we have blameless for any remaining shortcomings in this volume
on occasion had to be satisfied with re-translating Rubin's own Russian
rendering of the passages in question The reader will see from the Donald Piltzer
Editor's notes that these represent only a very small minority of the Birmingham, England
quotations, and that most passages are from the English original (in April 1979
the case of French authors, most quotes are either from the standard
English translation or have been translated directly from the French)
In editing the work we have provided copious notes directing the
reader to the original sources; very often we have also given quotations
fuller than those provided by Rubin, so as to allow the reader to gain a
better sense of the arguments of Petty, Smith, Ricardo, etc We have-
also used the notes to guide the reader to other secondary sources that
she or he might find useful and to explain historical and conceptual
references that might be unclear in the main text
As for the terminology used, we have in general followed this rule:
10 Author 'i Preface
contemporary economic conditions and an expression of the interests
of particular social classes and groups
While being thorough in tracing the influence of economic devel-
Author's Preface to the
opment and the changing forms of class struggle upon the general
direction of economic thought, we nevertheless must not lose sight of
Second Edition*
our other task Once we arrive at the more advanced stages of social
development, the systems constructed by economists no longer repre-
sent a loose aggregation of isolated practical demands and theoretical
propositions; instead, they appear as more or less logically coherent
I he study of the history of economic thought holds immense historical theoretical systems, whose separate parts are to a greater or lesser
and theoretical interest As a science it is closely tied, on the one hand, extent in harmony both with one another and with the overall
to the histoiy of economic development and the struggle between character of the ideology appropriate to a particular social class during
the classes and, on the other, to theoretical political economy a given historical epoch The Physiocratic system, for example, when
taken as a whole can only be correctly understood against the
From an historical point of view, economic doctrines and ideas can
background of socio-economic conditions in eighteenth-century
be seen to have been amongst the most important and influential
France and the struggles which these generated between different
forms of ideology As with other forms of ideology, the evolution of
social classes We cannot, however, limit ourselves to studying the
economic ideas depends directly upon the evolution of economic
social and economic toots of the Physiocrats' system We must
forms and the class struggle Economic ideas ate not born in a vacuum
examine the lattet as a system: as an organic totality of logically
Often they arise directly out of the stir and strife of social conflicts,
interconnected concepts and propositions The first thing we must
upon the battleground between different social classes. In these
uncover is the close connection between the Physiocrats' economic
circumstances, economists have acted as arms-bearers for these classes,
theory and their overall world view, especially their social philosophy
forging the ideological weapons needed to defend the interests of
(i e , their views on the nature of society, economy, and state)
particular social groups—often not concerning themselves any longer
Secondly—and this is where the most important of our tasks begins—
with developing their own work and giving it greater theoretical
we must reveal rhe logical connection which binds together the
foundation This was the lot that befell the economists of the
different pans of the system or, conversely, identify those places where
mercantilist period (16th and 17th centuries), who devoted countless
such connecrion is absent and the system contains logical contra-
topical pamphlets to the ardent defence of the interests of merchant
dictions
capital Yet even if we look at the Physiocrats and the economists of
the Classical school, whose works conform far more to the demands of
What makes an account of the history of economic thought
theoretical clarity and logical coherence, we have little difficulty in
particularly difficult is this two-sided nature of out task: the necessity
identifying the social and class forces behind the different currents of
to impart to the reader at one and the same time an exposition of both
economic thought. Though it occurs less openly and with greater
the historical conditions out of which the different economic doctrines
complexity, we still find that the requirements of economic policy
arose and developed, and their theoretical meaning, t e , of the
exert a powerful impact upon the orientation of economic ideas. In the
internal logical relationship of ideas We have tried to allocate
most abstract constructs of the Physiocrats or Ricardo—those that seem
sufficient space to the historical and theoretical parts of our exposition.
farthest removed from real life—we shall discover a reflection of
Each section of our book (with the exception of the first) is prefaced by
a general historical study which depicts the economic conditions and
class relations which were to find expression in the ideas put forward
I he present edition contains the following additions to the first edition of this work: 1)
by the economists concerned. However, we have allocated even greater
a concluding chapter Chapter Forty giving a brief review of the material covered; 2) a
name index; 3) a subject index, to make it easier to situate individual problems space to oui theoretical analysis of these doctrines, especially where, as
historically; 4) certain additions to the bibliography Other than the additional chapter in the sections devoted to Adam Smith and David Ricardo, we are
already referred to the text of the book has in no way been altered
Author't Preface 11 12 Author's Preface
dealing with gtandiose theoretical systems permeated by a single idea it, so as to prize out the valuable hidden kernel that went unnoticed at
In these sections our theoretical analysis has received first priority, ' first sight
since our main task was, in our view, to provide readers with a thread Marx's attentive and painstaking treatment of his forerunners is not
to guide chem through the complex and entangled maze of these to be taken as the whim of a dilettante, of an expert and connoisseur
economists' theoretical ideas in old economic writings. Its cause is far more profound and serious.
Without this type of detailed theoretical analysis no history of Ever since publication of his Theories of Surplus Value we have had
economic thought could ever perform the service we have the right to substantial access to the laboratory of Marx's thought and have
expect of it, namely to act as a faithful companion and guide glimpsed at first hand with what profound seriousness and intellectual
facilitating our study of the theory of political economy For we do not effort Marx carried out his study of those who had preceded him We
analyze the doctrines of Smith simply to gaze at a vivid page from the cannot(but admire and marvel at the tirelessness with which he tracked
history of social ideology, but because it permits us to gain a deeper down the twists and turns and the most subtle offshoots of the ideas of
understanding of theoretical problems Familiarity with Smith's the economists he was investigating We now know that the abun-
theories can provide the reader with one of the best introductions to a dance of brief remarks on Smith, Ricardo, and other economists which
more serious study of the problem of value, just as a knowledge of Marx scattered throughout the footnotes to Capital are the abbrevia-
Ricardo's theories facilitates the study of the problem of rent These ted, not to say parsimonious, resumes of the highly detailed—and on
are difficult problems: in theoretical political economy they stand occasion tiresome—researches contained in Theories of Surplus Value
before us in their full magnitude and in their most complicated and It is only in the light of the Theories that we can fully appreciate how
involved form; but for a reader acquainted with the historical process much these footnotes—made almost as if in passing—are an organic
through which they were built upon and acquired their complexity the part of the text of Capital, and how inseparable Marx saw the tasks of
difficulties are in large measure removed The ideas and problems of studying his predecessors and constructing his own system Every step
the early economists will be more easily understood by the reader if that permitted Marx to penetrate more deeply into the works of his
they are posed and formulated more simply; an analysis of the predecessors brought him closer to this construction And each success
contradictions so often encountered in their works (even of such gained in resolving this latter problem opened up to Marx new
intellectual giants as Smith and Ricardo) is of tremendous intellectual treasure chests of ideas which had lain buried in the long-known and
and pedagogical value. partly forgotten writings of past economists. In his own system Marx
made full use of the intellectual skills deployed by economists over the
If the knowledge of the histoiy of economic thought is on the whoie
preceding centuries; thanks to him the ideas and knowledge that his
essential for a deeper understanding of theoretical political economy,
forerunners had accumulated were brought together into a grand
this is all the more true when it comes to understanding Marx's
synthesis Here is why the study of the history of economic thought is
theoretical system Io construct his system Matx first laboriously and
so essential both to an elucidation of the historical background to
conscientiously studied a wealth of economic literature, itself the
Marx's economic system and to the acquisition of a more profound
product of the labours of several generations of English, French, and
understanding of his theory
Italian economists from the 17th to the mid-19th centuries Marx was
the leading expert of his time on the economic literature of the 17th
From what we have said, the reader can draw certain conclusions
and 18th centuries, and probably no one has surpassed him even to
about what method is most desirable for studying the history of
this day On the very first page of Capital the reader encounters the
economic thought In our view the most efficacious method is for the
names of the elders, Barbon and Locke . And at every step in his
reader to combine this study with a parallel study of theoretical
subsequent exposition, both in his text and in his footnotes, Marx
political economy. This does not mean that readers of A History of
stops to select with evident enjoyment a particularly valuable thought
Economic Thought can take up the book without first being familiar
that he has discovered in the early economists No matter how
with a general course in political economy Our book is intended for
rudimentarily or naively this idea may originally have been expressed,
those readers who, after taking an introductory course in political
Marx nonetheless gives it his full attention and diligently analyzes
economy, would like to acquire an understanding of the evolution of
Author 'i Preface 13 14 Author's Preface
basic economic ideas and at the same time undertake a more serious etc , the leader can then turn to those sections of Theories of Surplus
and detailed investigation into theoretical problems. For these readers value where Marx presents his own critical analysis of their views on
our book can serve both as a systematic course rn the history of these questions Readers will be well rewarded for the effort expended
economic thought and as an historical introduction to a more on a careful study of these critical remarks: they will learn to probe
thorough study of Marx's system.. One way in which the reader coulcl more deeply both into the works of these economists and into Marx's
familiarize himself simultaneously with the historical and theoretical own theoretical system
material would be as follows In the course of going through A History It remains for us to say a few words about the scope of the material
of Economic Thought the reader can mark off certain sections for more covered by our book We begin our account with the English
thorough study, e g. on how the labour theory of value evolved mercantilists of the 16th and 17th centuries, and conclude with the
through Petty, Smith, and Ricardo By dividing up the material mid-19th century, i e , with the petiod when Marx was in the process
according to specific problems, readers will immediately find them- of laying down the basis of his new economic doctrine, which
selves faced with the need to combine their historical study with a supplanted the classical theory of Smith and Ricardo Some historians
of economic ideas begin their account with the ancient philosophers
theoretical one. From Petty's first, brilliant sketches to the agonizing
(Plato, Aristotle), in whose work are to be found some penetrating
contradictions which Ricardo's ideas consistently came up against, the
reflections and observations on various economic problems But their
history of the labour theory of value is one of the gradual accumu-
economic considerations were themselves reflections of the slave
lation of problems and contradictions Readers can correctly understand
economy of antiquity, just as the writings of the medieval church
this process only if their own thought proceeds in parallel with the
reflected the feudal economy. We cannot include them in our book
historical exposition and critically analyzes and sutmounts those
since it is our task to provide the reader with an idea of how
problems and contradictions which in the course of history have
contemporary political economy—a science whose object of study is
confronted economists To conduct such a critical analysis successfully
capitalist economy—came into being and evolved. This science arose
the reader has no recourse but to turn to theoretical political economy.
and developed only with the appearance and development of its object
Readers will draw maximum benefit from their endeavors if, instead
of study, i e capitalist economy itself We therefore begin our account
of limiting themselves to reading and studying the present course,
with the age of mercantilism, the epoch when capitalism, in the
they turn directly to the works of the economists we are analyzing In
rudimentary form of merchant capital, first sprang into existence
our view, readers would draw particular advantage from familiarizing
themselves with the works of Smith and Ricardo, even if this is limited On the other hand, we do not see that it is possible to limit our
to only a few selected chapters * For those readers who would like to study any more narrowly than we have already done. There are
historians who take up their account from the era of the Physiocrats or
acquaint themselves more thoroughly and in greater detail with the
Adam Smith, when economic enquiry had already taken shape as
economic doctrines of Smith and Ricardo, Marx's most important
more or less coherent, finished theoretical systems But if we begin
predecessors, we would recommend that they order their studies as
from this point, when contemporary political economy had already
follows After studying those parts of our book devoted to Smith and
emerged in its essentially finished form, we will not have made
Ricardo, it is then necessary to become acquainted at the very least
accessible that critically important process through which this science
with the chapters of their works that we have already indicated
came into being Just as a complete understanding of the capitalist
Parallel to reading the chapters in Smith and Ricardo on value, wages,
economy is impossible without knowledge of the epoch of primitive
" We recommend that the reader refer to Chapters I V VI, VII, and VIII of Book One capitalist accumulation, so, too, there can be no proper comprehen-
of Smith's An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, and sion of the evolution of contemporary political economy without a
Chapters I II IV V and XX ofRicardo!s Principles of'Political Economy and Taxation.
general acquaintance with the economists of the mercantilist age This
{For the reader's convenience we have prepared a collection of extracts from the works of
the economists of the 17th to 19th centuries, entitled Ktassikipoliticheskoi ekonomit obviously does not mean that we can include all of the more or less
[Classics of Political Economy] (Gosizdat RSFSR 1926) The excerpts in this collection distinguished economists from that period in our course. Mercantilist
have been arranged in an order roughly corresponding to that in which we discuss the literature had no shortage of representatives populating the most
economists in the present work )
Author 'i Preface 15
diverse countries of Europe Our priority however was not comprehen-
siveness of material otherwise our book would inevitably have been dry
and condensed, overburdened with facts and boring for the reader To
avoid this we have limited the first section of the book in two respects:
Part One
first, we have included only the English mercantilist literature, as this
was the most developed and played the most important role in
preparing the way for the emergence of the Classical school; second,
Mercantilism and its Decline
we have chosen only those of the English mercantilists who most
clearly spoke for their particular historical age, in order to concentrate
as far as possible upon their specific contribution We have tried to
follow this same principle in the other sections of the book, concen-
trating our exposition only upon the most important themes Our
preference has been to limit our selection to the most prominent and
brilliant representatives of the different currents of economic thought,
and to accord them greater attention than is usually the case with
courses designed for a wider circle of readers. We hope that by limiting
the number of themes and analyzing each of them in greater detail we
will more readily arouse within the reader a lively interest in our
science
I I Rubin
20 Mercantilism and its decline
local market was limited, the craftsman knew in advance_the potential
CHAPTER ONE
volume of demand for hrs product, while the backward, static
technique of craft production allowed him to tailor the volume of
The Age of Merchant Capital
production to exactly what the market would beat The craftsmen of
each profession all belonged to a single union, or guild, whose strict
/rules permitted them to regulate production and to take whatever,
measures were necessary to eliminate competition—whether between \
The age of merchant capital (or early capitalism) covers the 16th and individual masters of a given guild or from persons who were not guild |
17th centuries This was an era of major transformations in the ^members This right to a monopoly over producing and selling within
economic life of Western Europe, with the extensive development of a given region was accorded only to members of the guild, who were
seafaring trade and the emerging predominance of commercial bound by the guild's strict code of rules: no master could arbitrarily
capital expand his output or take on more than the statutory number of
The economy of the later middle ages (the 12th to 15th" centuries) assistants and apprentices; he was obliged to turn out products of an
can be characterized as a town or regional economy.. Each town, agreed quality and to sell them only at an established price The
together with its surrounding agricultural district, comprised a single removal of competition meant that craftsmen could market their wares
economic region, within whose confines all exchange between town at high prices and be assured of a relatively prosperous existence, in
and countryside took place A substantial portion of what the peasants spite of the limited size of their sales.
produced went for their own consumption. A further part was given By the late middle ages there were already signs that the regional, or
over as quickrent to the feudal lord, and what meagre surpluses were town economy which we have just described was in a state of decline.
left were taken to the neighboring town for sale on market days.. Any However, it was not until the epoch of merchant capital (the 16th and
money received went to purchase goods fashioned by urban craftsmen 17th centuries) that the break up of the old regional economy and the
(textiles, metalwares, etc ) The lord received a quickrent—established transition to a more extensive national economy became in any way
by custom—from the peasant serfs who lived on his estates Over and wide-spread As we have seen, regional economy was based on a
above this, he also received the produce from his manor's own tillage, combination of the rural feudal demesne with the guild handicrafts in
which was worked by these same peasants doing compulsory labour the townsntwas"' therefore, only with the; "deco'm'posttron of bothof
service (the banhchina, or corvee) A large part of these products were
(cid:129)these'that the disihiegratioii ofj.he regional economy could occur In\
for the lord's own consumption, or for that of his innumerable
both' cases their decomposition was brought about by one and the
household servants and retainers Anything left over was.sold in the
same set of basic causes: the rapid development of a money economy,
town, so that the receipts could be used to buy either articles made by
the expansion of the market, and the growing strength of merchant
local craftsmen or luxuries brought in by traders from far away
capital
countries, primarily from the East What therefore distinguished rural
With the end of the crusades in the late middle ages trade expanded
feudal economy was its overwhelmingly natural character and the
between the countries of Western Europe and the East (the Levantine
feeble development of money exchange
trade) The European countries acquired, firstly, raw materials from
If the rural economy was organized around the feudal demesne, the the tropical countries (spices, dyestuffs, perfumes) and, secondly,
industry of the towns was organized into guild handicrafts where finished goods from rhe highly-developed Eastern craft industries (silk
production was carried out by Small master craftsmen Each master and cotton textiles, velvet, carpets, and the like) Such luxury articles,
owned the simple tools and instruments necessary for his trade, and imported into Europe from so far away, were very dear, arid were
worked personally in his own shop with the help of a small number of purchased overwhelmingly by the feudal aristocracy. In the main it was
assistants and apprentices His products were made either on special the Italian trading cities, Venice and Genoa, which carried on this
order from individual consumers or were held in stock for sale to local commerce with the East, dispatching their fleets across the Mediter-
ranean Sea to Constantinople, Asia Minor, and Egypt, where they
inhabitants, or peasants who had journeyed in to market Because the