Studies on Pre-Capitalist Modes of Production

333 Pages·2015·3.366 MB·English

by  Laura da Graca, Andrea Zingarelli (eds.)

StudiesonPre-CapitalistModesofProduction
Historical Materialism
Book Series
EditorialBoard
SébastienBudgen(Paris)
SteveEdwards(London)
JuanGrigera(London)
MarcelvanderLinden(Amsterdam)
PeterThomas(London)
volume97
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hm
Studies on Pre-Capitalist
Modes of Production
Editedby
LauradaGraca
AndreaZingarelli
leiden | boston
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Studiesonpre-capitalistmodesofproduction/editedbyLauradaGraca,AndreaZingarelli.
pagescm.–(Historicalmaterialismbookseries,ISSN1570-1522;volume97)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-26369-7(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-26370-3(e-book)
1.Asiaticmodeofproduction.2.Production(Economictheory)3.Marxianeconomics.4.Economic
history.5.Economicanthropology.I.Graca,Laurada,editor.II.Zingarelli,AndreaPaula,editor.
HB97.5.S7852015
338.5–dc23
2015020636
Thispublicationhasbeentypesetinthemultilingual“Brill”typeface.Withover5,100characterscovering
Latin,ipa,Greek,andCyrillic,thistypefaceisespeciallysuitableforuseinthehumanities.Formore
information,pleaseseewww.brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn1570-1522
isbn978-90-04-26369-7(hardback)
isbn978-90-04-26370-3(e-book)
Copyright2015byKoninklijkeBrillnv,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
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Contents
Preface vii
ListofContributors x
IntroductiontoStudiesonPre-CapitalistModesofProduction:Debates,
ControversiesandLinesofArgument 1
LauradaGracaandAndreaZingarelli
1 AsiaticModeofProduction:ConsiderationsonAncientEgypt 27
AndreaZingarelli
2 TheSlaveRomanEconomyandthePlantationSystem 77
CarlosGarcíaMacGaw
3 OriginsoftheMedievalCraftsman 112
CarlosAstarita
4 PassagestoFeudalisminMedievalScandinavia 141
ChrisWickham
5 PeasantModeofProductionandtheEvolutionofClientelar
Relations 158
LauradaGraca
6 ModeofProduction,SocialAction,andHistoricalChange:Some
QuestionsandIssues 204
JohnHaldon
7 SimpleCommodityProductionandValueTheoryinLate
Feudalism 237
OctavioColombo
References 269
Index 309

Preface
Unitedbycommonconcerns,historiansfromArgentinaandGreatBritainhave
cometogetherforthiswork.Mindfulofinterpretation,anddrawingfromthe
works of classical social history by Karl Marx and Max Weber, the authors
shareconceptsandproblems:modesofproduction,socialformations,classes
and status groups are some of the categories they bring to bear in order to
elucidate the functioning, practices and transitions of pre-capitalist societ-
ies.
Thiscircumstantialgroupinghasitsownhistory.Letmebeginwiththelar-
gergroupofArgentinehistorians,carriersofatraditioninitiatedearlyinthe
twentieth century and centred on medieval history, which evolved from the
institutionalist positivism of Claudio Sánchez Albornoz to the social history
thatbeganwithJoséLuisRomeroaround1950.Studiesbyotherscholarsfol-
lowedsuit,notablytheworksofReynaPastoronmedievalCastileandLeón,of
TulioHalperínDonghiontherebellionofValencianmoriscosinmoderntimes,
andErnestoLaclau’sessaysonthemarketsandtheagrarianeconomyofthe
transition to capitalism. The pre-eminent scholar of ancient Eastern history
wasAbrahamRosenvasser,anEgyptologistwhodirectedarcheologicalexped-
itionsinNubiasponsoredbyunesco.Theforwardprogressionofthisknow-
ledgeofpre-capitalistsocietieswashinderedbysuccessivedictatorshipsand
theexilesandproscriptionstheyentailed.Itwasonlyafter1983thatdemocracy
offeredamorestableenvironment.Theauthorsfeaturedinthisbookreflectin
partthisevolution.
Fromitsinception,Argentinesocialhistoryfoundtwoessentialsourcesof
inspiration in the school of the Annales and in English Marxist historians,
amongothers.Atpresent,theFrenchinfluencehasbecomesomewhatdiluted,
while the heirs of Hobsbawm and Thompson have held on to that tradition.
Indeed, that ascendancy carries significant weight for those who persevere
inclassicsocialhistory,thatistosay,forthoseinterestedintherelationship
between past and present as illuminated by the analysis of economic and
politicalstructuresaswellasclasses,theirideologiesandtheirconflicts.This
explains the presence of Chris Wickham and John Haldon in this book, two
historians who absorbed this tradition directly from Rodney Hilton at the
UniversityofBirmingham.
The issues addressed by the Argentine scholars have been inspired to a
large extent by Wickham’s elaborations on peasant-based societies and Hal-
don’s studies on tributary societies. Proposing questions to be researched is
important but is far from being all in view of the disqualifying juncture we
viii preface
confront: one cannot comfortably pursue studies on classical social history
if it is repeatedly alleged that the preoccupation with modes of production
andtransitionsisoutdated.Yetsuchistheatmospherethathasbeencreated
by fashionable scholars, and it imposes upon us solitary navigations against
the tide. It is invaluably encouraging to know that great journeys of magel-
lanicproportionsthroughthegreatproblemsandcomparisonsofhistoryare
being undertaken from other harbours with greater historiographical visibil-
ity.
I would like to add two more points that are relevant to this discussion.
Firstly,inthisbookweespousethestraightforwardlanguagestyleadvocated
byMarxistEnglishhistoriansinoppositiontopositivisthistory.Forthem,this
syntaxwasaweaponinabattlethatFrenchMarxisthistoriansdidnotengage
in:fascinatedbythe Annales,FrenchMarxisthistorianssubmittedmeeklyto
phenomenological descriptions that never ceased to mesmerise them. Their
languagebecamefilledwithcircumlocutionsandeuphemismsinanattempt
to find, like the Scholastics, the nuance that would achieve concordance in
discordantpropositions.Bycontrast,EnglishMarxismpresentedhistoryand
commitmentwithoutambiguity:ifclassesstruggle,itiscalledclassstruggle,
andifacaliphextractssurplusesbyforce,itiscalledexploitation.Thisdirect
language that represents with clarity what is revealed by the analysis has
exertedahealthyinfluenceontheauthorsofthisbook.
ThesecondpointisthatthereceptionoftheargumentsputforthbyWick-
hamandHaldonwasnotdevoidofcriticisminArgentina.Theconceptswere
taken up, at times they were partially accepted, other times corrections and
changesweresuggestedandinotherinstancestheywereusedasspringboards
toventureotherpossibleanswers.Indeed,whenlookedatinperspective,the
picturedoesnotshowaone-wayflowofideasfromthecentre,thatistosay,
from the European nucleus into the Third World. The concept of tributary
modeofproduction–ofcrucialimportanceintheworksofHaldonandWick-
ham–waselaboratedintheperipherybySamirAminandlaterupdatedby
TurkishhistorianHalilBerktay.Englishhistorianstookituponceagain,and
from there the concept made its way back to the Third World. In 2004 the
tributarymodeofproductionwasdiscussedinthereview AnalesdeHistoria
Antigua, Medieval y Moderna, published by the University of Buenos Aires,
withcontributionsbysomeoftheauthorswhohaveworkedonthisbook.This
two-waystreetofintellectualexchangeisoneofthereasonswhytheconcept
issorich,becausebalanceddialoguecreatesthought.Thisbookreflectsthat
exchange. The pluralist, democratic and leftist approach, far removed from
thearistocraticelitismthathasstriventocolonise,remindsusthatscientific
thoughtandpoliticalideasgohandinhand.Wearedealingoncemorewiththe
preface ix
fundamentalsoftheclassicalsocialanalysisthatEricHobsbawndidinEngland
andJoséLuisRomerorecreatedinArgentina.
CarlosAstarita