Feudalism -> Capitalism

[Dolerite]

Could someone please explain to me the Marxist perspective of why this transition occurs?

[BobKKKindle$]

You can only understand this change in the context of Marx's views of history. For Marx, the material interaction of human beings lies at the heart of all social change and development and if we do not begin with this premise history cannot be understood in its totality. Marx's conception of production as the basis of all human existence contains two mutually dependent components. Firstly, Marx described the technology and resources that humans have at their disposal to control the external world as the “forces of production”, and argued that these forces expand through history once class divisions have emerged within society, as the ruling class invests surplus product instead of using it for immediate consumption. Secondly, and following on from this component, Marx contended that as this process of expansion takes place, changes in the way production is organized and the relationships humans have with each other also occur, and once the productive forces have expanded to a certain point, the relations of production, as these relationships are called, become fetters, and so further expansion cannot occur without a radical change in the relations of production, whereby an aspirant ruling class will take the place of the current ruling class, which Marx understood as a social revolution. In the specific context of feudalism, the feudal relations of production became fetters because serfdom tied peasants to the land and prevented them from moving to cities where they would have been able to provide a source of labour for the growing industrial sector. This is why the state, once it had fallen under the control of the bourgeoisie, abolished serfdom, and in some cases forced peasants off their private or common land so they had no choice but to move to the cities.

[ComradeOm]

One relevant and in-depth text would be Marx's Pre-Capitalist Economic Formations (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/precapitalist/ch01.htm) where he outlines the historical prerequisites for the emergence of capitalism. There's a particularly relevant section is in Part II - search for "capital implies money" and check out the following few paragraphs

As for the actual destruction of feudal relations, Marx elaborated on this in his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/epm/1st.htm#s3). Again, the most relevant few paragraphs can be found by searching for "domination of the earth"

[CommieCat]

I wouldn't recommend Marx's Pre-Capitalist Economic Formations, it isn't worth the read.

I would recommend reading Capital, Chapter 15: Machinery, which is peripherally related. This is one long chapter however.

I would HIGHLY recommend reading Capital Part VII, which specifically deals with the formation of the basis of capitalism; primitive accumulation and the genesis of the capitalist farmer. This has direct relevance to the transition from feudalism to capitalism, particularly focusing on England.

[Hit The North]

As a starting point I would heartily recommend the first section of the Communist Manifesto which is Marx and Engels' most concise and stylistically satisfying exposition of the emergence of capitalism from feudalism.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm

After that, check out the references provided by the comrades above.

[KC]

Marx and Engels covered this in some of their writings, but I still think the best work on the subject is From Feudalism to Capitalism: Marxian Theories of Class Struggle and Social Change by Claudio J. Katz. It's expensive (http://www.amazon.com/Feudalism-Capitalism-Theories-Contributions-Political/dp/0313264236/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234718812&sr=8-1), but if your local library or university library has it it's a definite read.

[cccplikai]

Required the use of Marx's historical materialism to understand ~

The progress of human society are productive forces and production relations as a result of conflicts caused by exercise，with the social productive forces improve,
he existing relations of production are no longer adapted to the development of productive forces, and even become hampered!Thus, under the intense conflict between the two,Capitalist production appear~Capitalism to replace feudalism