In most parts of central, eastern and southeastern Europe, feudalism
endured well into the twentieth century. It was entrenched in the legal
systems of the Ottoman Empire and of Czarist Russia. Elements of
feudalism survived in the mellifluous and prolix prose of the Habsburg
codices and patents. Most of the denizens of these moribund swathes of
Europe were farmers - only the profligate and parasitic members of a
distinct minority inhabited the cities. The present brobdignagian
agricultural sectors in countries as diverse as Poland and Macedonia
attest to this continuity of feudal practices.
Both manual labour and trade were derided in the Ancient World. This
derision was partially eroded during the Dark Ages. It survived only in
relation to trade and other "non-productive" financial activities and
even that not past the thirteenth century. Max Weber, in his opus, "The
City" (New York, MacMillan, 1958) described this mental shift of
paradigm thus: "The medieval citizen was on the way towards becoming an
economic man ... the ancient citizen was a political man".
What communism did to the lands it permeated was to freeze this early
feudal frame of mind of disdain towards "non-productive", "city-based"
vocations. Agricultural and industrial occupations were romantically
extolled.
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