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History of the world economy - Polyak GB

11.2. The economy of England in the XVI-XVII centuries.

Causes of economic recovery

In the XVI century. And in the first half of the XVII century. Favorable conditions were created for the rapid economic development of England. The early abolition of serfdom and under the influence of the development of commodity-money relations, the completion of the replacement of the natural rent of money created conditions for accelerating the economic development of the country.

As a result of the Great geographical discoveries and the movement of world trade routes to the oceans, England was at the junction of world trade.

The growth of industry on the continent gave an incentive to increase the production of raw materials (wool) in England, where new manufactories were created. Their development was promoted by the fact that many specialists from the Netherlands, France and Germany who had emigrated because of the repressions of the Duke of Alba, revolutionary events, Huguenot wars, and the persecution of Lutherans moved to England.

In England, there have been shifts in the social structure - an industrial bourgeoisie has emerged, the so-called bourgeoisized nobility has emerged from the feudal class, becoming an ally of the capitalists. Absolutism - the defender of the interests of the new nobility through its policies promoted the development of capitalist relations, encouraged manufactory production, trade, shipping, the activities of trading companies.

Growth in industry

From the middle of the XVI century. England entered the manufacturing period of capitalism . Both centralized and scattered or decentralized manufactories grew up in the villages, since there was no deterrent influence of the shops.

Rapidly developing cloth production, and instead of wool abroad, woolen fabrics were exported in increasing quantities, which in the 60s of the 16th century. And accounted for 4/5 of the country's exports.

Metallurgy and metal-working successfully developed. The lack of iron was covered by his delivery from Sweden.

On the basis of manufactory production, shipbuilding, as well as fishing, developed. At the beginning of the XVII century. There was a cotton production, which was based on raw materials brought from the East. The production of glass, soap, and gunpowder also developed. Huguenots, immigrants from France, developed silk production.

Land deprivation of peasants. Agrarian revolution and its consequences

The development of the cloth manufactories of Flanders, and then of England, increased the demand for wool and increased its price. For the XVI century. The price of wool in England increased almost threefold. At the same time, as a result of the "price revolution", real wages declined, it became profitable to use hired labor in agriculture. All this led to the fact that capitalist sheep breeding provided high profits (incomes). The English feudal lords began to turn their arable land into pastures for sheep. Thus in England there was an agrarian revolution, a convention of arable land. Landlords appropriated communal lands, meadows and pastures, drove peasants from the ground. This process was called landless peasants. The lands taken from the peasants fenced in a palisade so that the peasants did not have access to them.

In connection with the Reformation, the feudal lords seized the church lands, and the peasants-the hereditary tenants of these lands-were exiled. It was the expropriation of the peasants - "sheep ate people". Monastic land ownership was taken into account, the lands taken from the Catholic monasteries were also made available for the development of capitalist sheep breeding.

From the middle of the XVI century. The fencing of the lands took place not only for pastures, but also for the production of agricultural products in general, which, due to the development of industry, demand increased strongly.

The policy of the British government regarding fencing has changed. Since the beginning of the enclosure (the end of the 15th century) for 150 years under the influence of the peasant masses it has adopted laws prohibiting the fencing and transformation of arable land into pastures. However, these laws remained on paper, and the feudal lords paid no attention to them.

In the XVII century. The government of England silently acknowledged fencing, and after the revolution of 1688, under the influence of the bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisified landlords, it even encouraged it-certificates of fencing passed through the parliament. In the XVIII century. 75% of the land has been converted to pasture.

Fencing did not meet the peasantry submissively. In 1536 in Lancashire and Yorkshire there were powerful uprisings of peasants. In 1549, the rebels in Norfolk, led by Robert Ket, demanded the cessation of fencing and the prohibition of the use of communal land by large landowners.

The immediate result of the agrarian revolution was the acceleration of the development of capitalism in the countryside, the growth of the productive forces of agriculture. There was a process of transition from a three-field system of farming to farming, the use of fertilizers and more advanced agricultural machinery, advanced methods in animal husbandry. As a result, the productivity of agricultural labor has increased and production has increased.

There was a capitalist farming . Enriched, bourgeoisized nobility, traders became large farmers. Small free farmers have disappeared. The last remnants of communal property were eliminated, the necessary reserves of labor for the developing large-scale industry were created.

The agrarian revolution formed an internal market for industrial capitalism. The cloth production mainly developed in rural areas, where raw materials and labor were cheaper and there was no shop regulation. For the English cloth industry, the scattered manufactory became characteristic . For the final manufacture of cloth, large centralized manufactories were also created.

The causes and consequences of the English bourgeois revolution

As a result of the growth of capitalist relations and peasant uprisings, serfdom in England was abolished in the 15th century. Barshchina rarely met. For the use of land landowners peasants paid a financial quitrent. To obtain land in the inheritance they had to pay money, give away cattle or food.

The feudal lodging was strong in the north and west of England, in backward areas, which hampered the development of agriculture. In the south, capitalism developed faster. Many landowners switched to the use of wage labor of farm laborers and produced marketable products to meet the demand of the population of cities.

The creation of new manufactories was associated with a number of difficulties. Medieval restrictive guild rules worked, and entrepreneurs had to bribe royal officials to obtain permission to open new manufactories.

The royal power set new taxes. The introduction of a monopoly on the production and sale of soap, wine, coal, iron caused an increase in the prices of goods. The discontent of the bourgeoisie and the entire population has grown.

Thus, the further growth of capitalist relations in England was hampered by medieval guild restrictions, the feudal exploitation of peasants, especially in the north and west of the country, by the arbitrariness of royal power. The bourgeoisie was powerless and politically. All these circumstances determined the bourgeois revolution in England. The unlimited power of the king, the rule of the feudal lords were eliminated. The power passed into the hands of the new nobility and the upper crust of the bourgeoisie. The obstacles to the capitalist development of the country were eliminated.

The English bourgeois revolution contributed to the development of agriculture and industry with the employment of hired labor. The cities grew. As a result of forced fencing sanctioned by the bourgeois parliament, the peasantry finally lost its land. In England, a new, capitalist system won .

England as a "classical" country of primitive accumulation of capital

An agrarian coup was prepared one of the preconditions for the development of capitalism - there was a market for hired labor. The second condition of capitalist production-the accumulation in the hands of the few monetary wealth and means of production necessary for the creation of capitalist enterprises-was created in the process of the initial accumulation of capital.

During this period, in England, there was a considerable amount of money wealth, which was looking for a sphere of profitable use. In the emergence of this wealth, an important role was played by the methods of the initial accumulation of capital, among which the most important were the colonial system, state debts, the tax system, protectionism.

In the XVII century. England began a struggle against the Dutch trade monopoly. The navigational act of 1651, directed against the mediation, that is, the Dutch trade, permitted the transportation between England and its colonies only by English courts or by the courts of those countries where the goods were manufactured.

Turned in the second half of the XVI century. The intense struggle between England and Holland for trade and colonial hegemony ended in the defeat of Holland.

No less acute was in the XVIII century. The struggle between England and France. England, having seized the most important colonies of France, became a world colonial power.

The colonial system played a huge role in enriching the English ruling classes. The establishment in 1600 of the British East India Company gave it a monopoly in trade with India and allowed it to receive 100-200% of profits. India's conquest of England began. In the XVIII century. The East India Company seized a number of territories in India and received the right to collect taxes from them. Until 1813, she had the exclusive right to trade with India and China.

Building of the East India Company in London

Having dominated India and monopolizing trade with China, the East India Company sold Indian opium at very high prices and bought Chinese silk, porcelain, etc. for a pittance.

In the XVI century. In England, the Moscow, Levantine, Moroccan, Estland, Guinean, West Indian trading companies were established. Trade with these countries gave a huge profit to English merchants.

In the initial accumulation of capital, a large role was played by the colonial system and the slave trade, which reached its peak in the 18th century. The slave trade and exploitation of slave labor on plantations have become significant sources of the initial accumulation of capital in England.

English sailors and merchants succeeded in smuggling, which was greatly facilitated by the "price revolution". The increased prices in Spain and Portugal made English goods competitive and cheaper. The British expanded the smuggling trade with the colonies of Spain and Portugal.

The system of public debt also played a big role in the initial accumulation of capital. To cover budget expenditures, the state took a loan from merchants and moneylenders at a high interest, of course also at the expense of taxpayers, and thus the bourgeoisie was enriched at the expense of the ruined small producers.

In the initial accumulation of capital an important role was played by the system of international credit. The British government and businessmen widely used foreign, especially Dutch capital, with an investment of which they received more profit than interest for credit.

The London Stock Exchange (opened in 1471)

In direct connection with the tax system, a system of protectionism developed. Import duties along with excises have become a significant source of government revenue. In addition, high customs duties protected the English market from the competition of foreign goods and created favorable conditions for the emergence of new manufactories.

The export premiums of the British bourgeoisie facilitated the seizure of foreign markets. England forcibly limited the development of industry in the colonial and dependent countries, forcing them to buy British industrial products, to be its agrarian and raw materials appendages.

Colonial expansion

England entered the arena of colonial conquests when Portugal and Spain already had extensive colonial possessions and Holland vigorously fought for their colonies.

Great geographical discoveries created favorable conditions for the trade and colonial expansion of England. During the discoveries, maritime shipping and foreign trade in England were poorly developed, although British sailors and merchants, with the help of the government, were looking for new trade bases and countries, carried out a number of expeditions in India and China.

From the second half of the XVI century. England took the path of colonial conquests. Ireland was the first to be conquered. In 1578, England captured the Bahamas. In 1578, the defeat of the "Invincible Armada" ended the struggle of England with Spain. At the end of the XVI century. England began the colonization of North America. At the beginning of the XVII century. The first English colony was created on the American continent - Virginia, and then New England, Nova Scotia, Carolina, Maryland, Guyana. New trading posts were established in the West Indies, in Africa (Gambia). The first trading post in India is Surat, then in Madras.