Course Name - CC6: Rise of the Modern west- I

Course Instructor – Oyndrila Sarkar

Name: Raina Islam

UG 2, 3rd Semester

Class Roll No: 42

Registration No: 18106260043

Topic: The Transition Debate

1
In this assignment my subject of work is the 'Transition Debate' (the Transition from feudalism
to capitalism). The question of what led to the fall of feudalism and the rise of capitalism is one
of the liveliest academic debates in recent times. It is commonly referred to as the ‘Transition
debate’. Here for this assignment my focus is on this thing that, what were the main causes that
led to the transition from feudalism to capitalism? And in that context I mainly focus on Maurice
Dobb, Paul Sweezy, and Michael M. Postan and Robert Brenner’s debate.
British Marxist economist Maurice Dobb talks about the end of feudalism in the context of the
Transition debate. Maurice Dobb's 'Studies in the development of capitalism' was published in
1947. In that book Maurice Dobb explain 'the Marxist debate over the western patterns of
transition from feudalism to capitalism and this debate developed in the early 1950's round the
journal science and society'.1 Rodney Hilton, Christopher Hill, Paul Sweezy, another Marxist
economist and Japanese economist Takahasi gave their own review. The debate primarily
focused on two points- firstly, serfdom was the centre of mass of the feudal economy. ‘Growth
of money economy led to an intensification of serfdom as there is evidence that it was the cause
of the feudal decline’,2 Secondly, the feudal mode collapsed as a result of an contradiction in the
feudal relations of production.3
‘Dobb defines feudalism as being 'virtually identical' with what we usually mean by serfdom’.4
In the tenth century when the European economy became almost agricultural, feudal power
established control over agricultural fields and agricultural resources. As a result, the peasants,
willingly or under the pressure of landlords, were turned into ‘serf’. Serfs, who were living in a
Manor, were considered as an inseparable part of land. As a result, though landlords had no right
on serf but they could legally force them to plow their demesne. Following this land-based
system (Serfdom), the feudal economy developed. In this system, what was produced in each
manor would have been fully used in manor itself. ‘Production was just for the immediate need
of the household or village- community and not for market’.5 The technology, used for
production was very low level, ‘in which the instrument of production are simple and generally

1
Meenaxi Phukan, Rise of The Modern West : Social and Economic History of Early Moddern Europe (Delhi:
Macmillan India limited, 1998), p.430
2
Paul Sweezy, “A Critique”, in The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, By Rodney Hilton (New York,
Science and Society, 1963), p.4
3
Phukan, Rise of The Modern West, p.430
4
Paul Sweezy, “A Critique”, in The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, By Rodney Hilton (New York,
Science and Society, 1963), p.1
5
Ibid., p.2

2
inexpensive’.6 As a result, the manor’s productivity did not increase proportionally, although the
population increased slowly.7 So, overall such an economy was called ‘economy of no outlet’.
While most of the materials commonly used in manor manufactured in manor, not everything
was produced in manor, some daily pursuits had to be brought in from outside the manor, like-
Salt (which was found only in the coastal areas), spices etc. The merchants used to provide such
products to the manor. These merchants usually came from a nearby city area that was outside
the circle of the feudal lord. In exchange of products, which was not available in manor,
merchants meet the needs of the town’s people with grain and food or merchandise from the
manor. At the end of the 11th century, with the resurgence of European trade, these merchants
transported imported goods (like-Spice, Silk, Muslin, Incenses etc.) from all over Asia to almost
everywhere in Europe. Even things from one end of Europe (such as animals in Northern
Europe, animal skin, French Wine) continue to reach other markets.8
Dobb was reluctant to admit that the feudal structure had collapsed as the economy gained its
outlets due to opening of the commercial horizon. He directly rejected the role of the trade as the
exclusive and invariable solvent of feudalism.9 According to him, as trade horizons unfold,
merchants begin to bring in new and valuable products from outside the manor. Demand of
feudal lords arises for these products, and to meet that demand, feudal lords continue to impose
additional taxes on the people. Impose of Additional taxes has different consequence in Western
and Eastern Europe. Sometimes, in Western Europe due to additional taxes, serfs were forced to
flee Manor, many hide in the jungle, and others flee to nearby cities. ‘Under feudal low, if a
landowner escaped and was able to cover on year, he would be freed from slavery’.10 The
tendency to flee the Manor in Western Europe became high; in these circumstances the feudal
lords began to ask for cash in lieu of the rent of grain to meet their increased demand. It is called
as ‘commutation of rent’.11 According to Dobb, commutation of rent was the main cause for the
decline of feudalism. After that feudal lord had no more control over production, there only
purpose was to collect rent in cash. According to Dobb, Internal contradiction led to the collapse
of feudalism in Western Europe, because there were high number of cities as a result serfs had
6
Ibid.
7
Bhaskar Chakraborty, Subhas ranjan Chakraborty and Kinshuk Chattopadhyay, Europe er
Jugantor/Transformation of Europe (Kolkata: Naba Bharati Prakashani, 2005), p.25
8
Ibid.
9
Phukan, Rise of The Modern West: Social and Economic History of Early Moddern Europe , p.430
10
Chakraborty, Chakraborty, and Chattopadhyay, Europe Er Jugantor, p.25
11
Ibid.

3
alternative of manor life. On the other side, because of the relatively small number of cities in
Eastern Europe, there was no special option outside the manor in front of the people. As a result,
there were no tendency of people to escape in order to settle the internal contradiction of demand
and production in Eastern Europe, and no commutation of rent.12

US economist Paul Sweezy does not accept the ‘internal contradiction’ theory of Dobb. In
Sweezy’s view, the expansion of trade in the European economy was one of the driving forces
behind the end of feudalism. Sweezy criticized Dobb’s statement in the article ‘Feudalism: A
critique’ in the journal ‘Science and society’ in 1950. He finds the link between the decline of the
feudal economy with the trade revolution of Europe, beginning in the 11th century and in view of
this he raises his theory of ‘commercialization’. According to sweezy, by the end of the 11 th
century, as Mediterranean and Northern sea trade increased individually, urban life in Western
Europe began to grow in tandem. Due to Crusades, the Western European presence on the
Eastern side of the Mediterranean continued to increase.13 As a result, in one side the importance
of Mediterranean trade increased on the European Economy and in other side growing Christian
spirit at the center of the Crusades is helping to foster internal communication between Christian
Europe, and thus economy increased in large scale. Italian merchants at the forefront of
Mediterranean trade are entering Western and Eastern Europe with commodities from
Mediterranean Asia and Africa. By the middle of the 12th century, many new cities flourished in
Western Europe or many of the decayed cities revived in the centre of this European trade route.
According to Sweezy the process of urbanization in 12th and 13th century was one of the major
causes for the decline of feudalism.14 As the urban life in Western Europe becomes more active,
the demand and purchasing power of the city dwellers is increasing proportionally. As a result,
the demand for agricultural product was increased, which supply came from the feudal Manor.15
While feudal lords are pressuring the people to raise the rent they deserved to meet the demand
for new products and started to ‘commutation of rent’, at the same time the process of
‘commutation of rent’ was also effective due to increasing demand in the urban areas for the
agricultural products (grain, vegetables etc.) of Manor. The serf who failed to meet the increased

12
Ibid., p.26.
13
Phukan, Rise of The Modern West : Social and Economic History of Early Moddern Europe, p.430
14
Paul Sweezy, “A Critique”, in The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, By Rodney Hilton (New York,
Science and Society, 1963), pp.7-12
15
Ibid., pp.7-12

4
demand of the landlord had an option to flee from the Manor and get a city life. As a result
population became increased day by day in city and due to the deprivation of labor force, the
revived European industrial sector continued to grow. On the other hand, due to the flight of the
serfs from the Manor feudalism stated to decline, and finally in 13th and 14th century the
feudalism system declined.16 When feudalism declined in Western Europe in the 15th and 16th
century, in Eastern Europe feudalism became more powerful and in order to explain this, Sweezy
used the theory of ‘commercialization’ again. According to him Eastern Europe had a marginal
position in the Mediterranean and inter-European trade. As a result urbanization increased in
Western Europe and for the same cause in Eastern Europe, there was no urbanization and also no
alternative possibility was presented to the serfs.17
Maichael M. Postan, who was the contemporary historians of Dobb and Sweezy did not accept
the views of both Dobb and Sweezy. According to Postan, ‘internal contradiction’ was not the
main cause for decline of feudalism. He also showed his demographic theory that the problems
of feudalism were not rooted in his structure. According to Postan population in the 12th-13th
century increasing highly, therefore the price of food also became so high. As a result the
agrarian class started to depend more on feudal lords.18 The economic situation in the 12th-13th
century was in favor of the feudal lord, who enjoyed the control of the land in terms of labor
force and comparative demand of land. As a result feudal exploitation became very high, and
land slavery reaches its worst levels. Postan gives his demographic theory to explain the end of
the feudalism in 14th-15th century. As a result of the pressure on agricultural land, European
population began to decline drastically in the fourteenth century due to drought, epidemics etc.
According to Postan it creates exactly opposite situation of the 12th-13th century. As the number
of agriculturist decreases, the demand for labor tends to be higher than supply of labor. Felling
feared to lose the labor force for cultivating the land; the feudal lords reduced the rate of rent. In
that situation commutation of rent was started and thus the feudal economy declined.19

British Marxist historian Robert Brenner was one of the most important contributors of the
Transition debate. Robert Brenner published "Agrarian Class Structure and Economic

16
Paul Sweezy, “A Critique”, in The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, By Rodney Hilton (New York,
Science and Society, 1963), pp.7-12
17
Chakraborty, Chakraborty, and Chattopadhyay, Europe Er Jugantor, pp.26-27
18
Ibid., p.28
19
Ibid.

5
Development in Pre-Industrial Europe" in Past and Present in 1976. In this article he totally
disagreed the theory of ‘Commercialization’ and ‘productivity’. In discussing the theory of
commercialization, Breener showed that the trade revolution increased the demand for Eastern
European feudal lords, as did Western Europe. So, the field of ‘commutation of rent’ was
present; trade was not that much low in Eastern Europe that Urbanization would not have been
possible. In that point Breener questioned it, why has Eastern Europe not changed much like
Western Europe? In terms of demographics, Breener’s question is more direct- in the 12th-13th
century population increased in both side of Europe (Eastern Europe and Western Europe) and in
the 14th-15th century both population declined; then what was the causes for two different
consequence of this incident? According to Breener, proponents of the transition debate, both the
Marxist (Dobb, Sweezy), and non-Marxist (Postan) have ignored politics by prioritizing the
economy.20 In Western Europe, even in the era of feudalism, there was a legal presence of state
power in the Roman and Carolingian political traditions. So at the pinnacle of feudalism, in
Western Europe (mainly, France, England, German empire, Netherlands) the conflict between
royal power and the royal family intensified. The royal power is eager to confront the royal
family somewhere as a feudal superior (in France) or as a ruling by divine right (the Holy Roman
Empire under German rules). In both cases, the king had to increase his military power to
counter the military power of elite and only peasants can do that. Hence, the royal power, like the
feudal power, sought to establish dominance over the agrarian community and one of the ways to
establish the sovereignty of the monarchy was to restrict the power of the feudal lord through the
enactment of royal laws. For this reason, even in the worst time of serfdom in Western Europe,
landowners had at least some rights which the feudal lords could not violate.21 The combined
pressure of the royal power and the people forced the feudal lords to accept it, in this context;
Western Europe saw the commutation of rent, decline of serfdom and end of feudalism. On the
other hand, in Eastern Europe except Roman Imperialism there was nothing special about state
power. Due to the weakness of the monarchy in Eastern Europe, the burden of overall security
was left to the feudal power. As a result the merchants had to depend on feudal power in this
area. When in Western Europe direct contact and dealing of agriculturalists with merchants were
carried out freely, at the same time in Eastern Europe feudal classes controlled the trading

20
Phukan, Rise of The Modern West : Social and Economic History of Early Moddern Europe, p.431
21
Chakraborty, Chakraborty, and Chattopadhyay, Europe Er Jugantor, pp.29-30

6
connection between agriculturalists and merchants. As a result, in 13th-14th- century where in
Western Europe feudalism was declined but at that time in Eastern Europe feudalism became
more powerful.22
There were many different views of many historians. For Dobb, the definition of feudalism has 2
key aspects (force of labor, form of exploitation) whereas for Sweezy it was the objective of
production that was of importance. Dobb called feudalism as a dynamic mode of production to
which Sweezy disagreed and instead called it a static mode of production. The debate was also
on the matter of causes whether external (Sweezy) or internal (Dobb) factors led to this
transition. In other side Breener(1976) believed class struggle to be the cause rather than
developments in the forces of production as being the determinants of various historical
developments in the countries of the late medieval and early modern Europe. Though, different
historians and economists (Dobb, Sweezy, Breener etc.) had their own views regarding the
decline of feudalism, but all the proponents agree that the fall of feudalism accelerated in the 14th
century. This debate still remains unsolved and with every new discovery it is again open for
debate among the historians.

22
Ibid., pp.29-30

7
Bibliography:
1. Phukan, Meenaxi. Rise of the Modern West: Social and Economic History of Early
Moddern Europe. Delhi: Macmillan India limited, 1998.
2. Chakraborty, Bhaskar, Subhas Ranjan Chakraborty,and kinshuk Chattopadhyay. Europe
er Jugantor/Transformation of Europe. Kolkata: Naba Bharati Prakashani, 2005.
3. Sweezy, Paul. “A Critique”, in The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism. By Rodney
Hilton, 1-12. New York, Science and Society, 1963.
4. https://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2010/01/brenner-debate-revisited.html.