• unfreeradical@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Marx identified feudalism as a system distinct from capitalism, separated historically by a transitory system called mercantilism.

    Mercantilism may be considered as a kind of proto-capitalism, because it entails the employer-employee relationship, but lacks the systemic consequences of capital accumulation, which depends on continuous growth enabled by the changes in production following the industrial revolution.

    Marx identified feudal and capitalist societies both as characterized by “class struggles”, that is, having multiple classes with mutually antagonistic interests, as had “all hitherto existing society”.