While it is often interesting to study particular concrete conditions, the two examples Justin takes to claim my proposition is "absolutely false" are rather exceptional.
I did not know that proletariat came from the word for offspring (proles) and implied people able only to reproduce. But when used early in the 20th century it meant labourers with nothing to sell but their labour(power) The proletariat of Rome were in a unique position in being able to live on the charity of the empire. As for England there were inded peculiar conditions in the breakup of the feudal system in the 14th century. They were also linked to the development of large scale wool production linked with merchant capital. This in turn was partly because of the accidental early development of a unified state system and legal system ensuring a degree of civil peace. We could resume an interesting debate about the details of this time, but they are exceptions which support rather than undermine my bald and perhaps tautologically correct assertion that broadly speaking - prior to capitalism there was no unemployment. That is absolutely true as a generalisation. This is not irrelevant to the issue of growing world inequality. Chris Burford At 28/06/02 15:44 -0400, you wrote: >Yes, these are the conditions that explain the 1349 Statute of Laborers, >which prohibited alms to able-bodied beggars; its immediate sequel, the >1351 Statute of Laborer, which placed a ceiling on wages and compelled >a "free laborer" to work for whoever wanted him; and 12th Richard II >(1388), that placed limits on the mobility of workers and demanded those >who did travel carry a letter stating their purpose, designation, and date >of return. These early British social welfare measures all reflect the >breakup of the old feudal system and the rise of labor for pay. > >Joel Blau > >na bujes wrote: > >>At 03:58 AM 06/28/2002 +0000, you wrote: >> >>>Absolutely false. In England, for example, in the 14th and 15th >>>centuries, vagabondage--landless migrant would-be workers--was a huge >>>social problem. In ancient Rome, there was the proletariat--a term that >>>meant "those whose only function is to breed." >> >> >>England: Late 14th century there was actually a labor shortage due to >>plague; 15th century is the birth of the enclosure movement, which >>enclosed some of the commons, taking away people's means to live: they >>migrated to the cities, where they were subject to increasingly harsh >>"poor laws." The situation in Rome was also an outcome of Rome as empire. >>None of this is to argue that Capitalism was responsible, but to argue >>that equally artificial conditions of privilege and immiseration obtained. >> >>Joanna
