This feudal legacy
of a brobdignagian agricultural sector in, for instance, Poland - now
hampers the EU accession talks.
Vassals were little freer than slaves. In comparison, burghers, the
inhabitants of the city, were liberated from the bondage of the feudal
labour contract. As a result, they were able to acquire private
possessions and the city acted as supreme guarantor of their property
rights. Urban centers relied on trading and economic might to obtain
and secure political autonomy.
John of Paris, arguably one of the first capitalist cities (at least
according to Braudel), wrote: "(The individual) had a right to property
which was not with impunity to be interfered with by superior authority
- because it was acquired by (his) own efforts" (in Georges Duby, "The
age of the Cathedrals: Art and Society, 980-1420, Chicago, Chicago
University Press, 1981). Max Weber, in his opus, "The City" (New York,
MacMillan, 1958) wrote optimistically about urbanization: "The medieval
citizen was on the way towards becoming an economic man ... the ancient
citizen was a political man".
But communism halted this process. It froze the early feudal frame of
mind of disdain and derision towards "non-productive", "city-based"
vocations. Agricultural and industrial occupations were romantically
extolled by communist parties everywhere.
Pages:
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57