The Agrarian Origins of Capitalism Cover Image

Agrarne początki kapitalizmu
The Agrarian Origins of Capitalism

Author(s): Ellen Meiksins Wood
Subject(s): Marxist economics, Economic history, Political economy
Published by: Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: capitalism; Meiksins Wood; political Marxism; history; market

Summary/Abstract: This article presents the underlying assumptions and main arguments of "political Marxism." The author shows how and why the beginning of capitalism should be primarily associated with the countryside and agriculture, and secondarily with the city and trade. The subordination of food production processes to the imperatives of capitalism determines capitalism’s revolutionary character. The main reason for that lies in the transformation of the processes responsible for the reproduction of the whole society and not only for the distribution or redistribution of surpluses.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 26
  • Page Range: 343-360
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Polish