Peasantry
(Redirected from Peasants)
The peasantry was the primary exploited class under the feudal mode of production. The peasantry possess their own means and instruments of production and commonly engage in small-scale agriculture. The peasant does not work for wages but instead is obliged to give up a portion of their produce to a feudal lord. As a result of the weakening of serfdom and the emergence of industrial capitalism, the peasantry gradually migrated to urban environments and developed into the proletariat.[1]
See also
References
- ↑ Frederick Engels (1847). The Principles of Communism, 8. "In what way do proletarians differ from serfs?".
"The serf possesses and uses an instrument of production, a piece of land, in exchange for which he gives up a part of his product or part of the services of his labor. The proletarian works with the instruments of production of another, for the account of this other, in exchange for a part of the product. The serf gives up, the proletarian receives. The serf has an assured existence, the proletarian has not. The serf is outside competition, the proletarian is in it. The serf liberates himself in one of three ways: either he runs away to the city and there becomes a handicraftsman; or, instead of products and services, he gives money to his lord and thereby becomes a free tenant; or he overthrows his feudal lord and himself becomes a property owner. In short, by one route or another, he gets into the owning class and enters into competition. The proletarian liberates himself by abolishing competition, private property, and all class differences."
