How to evaluate the prosperity of feudal society

For a long time, people's opinions are varied. The so-called "oriental absolutism" and "stagnation theory" have appeared in the west. Even researchers who don't agree with this view can't seem to get rid of the influence of Eurocentrism completely, or think that only the feudal system in western Europe is a "pure" feudal society. Today, there is still a saying in ancient China that feudalism was never completed. Eurocentrism and its influence have always existed. Classical writers of Marxism-Leninism generally only mentioned "serfdom" or "serfdom in the Middle Ages" when they specifically discussed the feudal society, a stage of human historical development, and rarely mentioned the landlord economy in China. As we all know, this is due to historical reasons, and Marx, Engels and Lenin had limited understanding of China at that time. When discussing China's landlord economy and feudal society, we should not only pay attention to some specific expositions of Marxist-Leninist classic writers on China's feudal society, but also make a new exploration of China's landlord economy and feudal society under the guidance of the basic principles of historical materialism they founded and the historical reality of China. Historical materialism holds that the change of human history is based on the development and change of social economy in the final analysis and is determined by the development process of social economic form. The development of socio-economic form is not only a natural historical process, but also presents different stages of development. The different stages of social development from low to high in human history are fundamentally determined by the different stages of social and economic development. As far as the whole socio-economic form of a certain era is concerned, there are several stages of development. The different stages of social and economic development in a certain era are also the fundamental reasons that determine the whole stage of social development in that era. The feudal social and economic form is characterized by the incomplete possession of the means of production and producers by the feudal owners. Land rent possession is an economic form to realize land ownership. The evolution of feudal land rent has three forms in turn: labor land rent, product land rent and currency land rent. Labor land rent is its primary stage, product land rent is its development stage, and monetary land rent is its final form and its disintegration form. The different forms of feudal land rent also reflect the different development stages of feudal society. Labor land rent is the basic feature of serfdom economy. It is "based on the underdevelopment of all social labor productivity and the primitiveness of labor mode itself". Land rent for products is the basic feature of landlord economy. Marx pointed out: "From an economic point of view, the transformation of labor land rent into product land rent has not changed the essence of land rent. ..... The premise of product land rent is that the direct producer has a high degree of civilization, which makes his labor and the whole society at a higher stage of development. " Volume III, page 895). The economic form of feudal society in western Europe is mainly labor rent, namely serfdom. The economic form of feudal society in China was mainly product rent, that is, landlord economy. According to the Marxist theoretical analysis of the economic form of feudal society, especially the form of land rent, we should draw the conclusion that the feudal society in China, which is dominated by product landlord system, is at a higher stage of development than the feudal society in Western Europe, which is dominated by labor land rent, that is, serfdom. On the question of how to be familiar with China's landlord economy and feudal society, we should pay attention to it: Marx pointed out: "The same economic base-the same according to the main conditions-can show infinite variation and degree difference in phenomenon due to countless different experiences, natural conditions, ethnic relations and various historical influences from the outside world, and these variations and degree differences can only be understood by analyzing the facts provided by these experiences." . Due to historical traditions, natural conditions, ethnic relations and other factors, the contemporary history of China and Western Europe in feudal times showed great differences and degrees, each with its own characteristics. Therefore, the research should focus on exploring the historical characteristics of China. Marx's analysis of three forms of feudal land rent is the guiding ideology for us to understand the feudal social and economic forms in detail. It is pointed out that the premise of product land rent is that the direct producer has a high civilized state, so his labor and the whole society are in a high development stage, which is of great significance to judge the landlord economy and feudal society in China. The theory that China's landlord economy and feudal society are the advanced development stages of the feudal era not only has its theoretical basis, but also can be confirmed by the basic historical facts of China's feudal society. The landlord economy in China is basically the product of the natural development of social economy. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, due to the use of ironware, the promotion of Niu Geng and the private development of land, a new social and economic system was produced on the basis of the improvement of productivity, the change of production relations and the change of social and economic development. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the landlord class established its dominant position in the whole country through a series of political changes and class struggles. Since then, the feudal society in China, which was dominated by the landlord economy, has developed to a higher level in economy, politics, culture and other aspects, forming a unique and very mature system. China's landlord economy and feudal society have higher labor productivity. Agricultural labor productivity that exceeds the individual needs of workers is the foundation of all societies. Generally speaking, what exploiters extract from the exploited can only be the surplus value of workers. How much the exploiters generally extract from the exploited in a certain era should not be regarded as the result of the benevolent government or tyranny of the rulers, but as a reflection of the labor productivity at that time. Mencius said, "Pay 50 yuan, the Yin people help 70 yuan, and the Zhou people pay 100 mu, which is actually one yuan." It can be seen that the mining rate in summer, Shang and Zhou is generally around 10%. Since the establishment of the landlord system economy in Qin and Han Dynasties, it has generally been said that "the tiller has land, depending on his tax", that is, the exploitation rate is around 50%. These are two basic historical facts recognized by people in the history of China. Although the absolute value produced by the comparison of these two historical materials is not necessarily accurate, other factors should be considered, but it undoubtedly clearly reflects that the labor productivity of the landlord economy era is much higher than that of the previous era. China's feudal society was dominated by grain-growing agriculture, while Western Europe's feudal era was a mixed economy of agriculture and animal husbandry. "Compared with Chinese and western agricultural economies, China's grain planting agriculture is an economic form with a development level much higher than that of western Europe's mixed agriculture and animal husbandry. China's grain planting agriculture is highly labor-intensive and advanced intensive agriculture, while Western Europe's mixed agriculture and animal husbandry is an original agriculture with backward production technology, which lags far behind China's intensive agriculture in the stage of agricultural development. " China's landlord system economy has relatively reduced the super-economic compulsion on workers. The producer's enthusiasm has improved.

The landlord system economy is dominated by tenant farmers who operate independently on the land. "What drives direct producers is the power of various relations, not direct coercion, but law, not whip"; "Compared with labor rent, producers have more room for activities to win time for surplus labor. The product of this labor, like the product that meets his most essential needs, belongs to him. This form will also make the economic situation of each direct producer more different. The independent operation of producers will inevitably bring some kind of competition mechanism, thus improving the enthusiasm of producers. Historical records at that time also fully confirmed this point: "Today, farmers leave early and return late because they are better than those who plow crops and trees. Why not? He said, "He thinks that if you are strong, you will be rich; If you are not strong, you are poor; Strong is full; If you are not strong, you will be hungry and you will not be tired. " . Under the landlord system economy, China feudal society formed a unique social and economic system, such as land sale, equal division of scholars, and taking scholars in imperial examinations. The implementation of these systems gave the landlord economy greater flexibility and mobility, which made the hierarchical boundaries of feudal society not very strict. China feudal society promised to buy and sell land. Although the nature of land sale in feudal society is different from that in capitalist society, it reflects the oppression of feudal countries, the exploitation of landlords and the bankruptcy of small farmers, but the land sale weakens the strict hierarchy of land ownership in feudal times and breaks the rigid state of land ownership. It endows land with mobility, makes it enter the circulation field, and makes it possible for the rich to annex land through land sale. Therefore, in feudal society, some people can obtain land through economic means without enjoying feudal privileges, which provides conditions for the emergence and development of civilian landlords. Land sales accelerated polarization. Mainly accelerated the bankruptcy of small farmers. Land sales are also carried out between landlords. The frequent transfer of land has also accelerated the bankruptcy of some landlords. When some landlords went bankrupt, other new landlords emerged by selling land. The sale of land has created conditions for ordinary landlords to continue to renew their rents. In addition, the development of land sale has played a great role in the disintegration of state-owned land such as official land, accelerated the transformation of official land into private land, and expanded the development of land privatization. The landlord economy is based on the independent small-scale peasant economy. The system of sharing students equally is a decentralized and independent management mode of small-scale peasant economy, which is more suitable for feudal times than the eldest son inheritance system, and has played a huge positive role in the development of China landlord economy and even the whole feudal social economy. After Sui and Tang Dynasties, the implementation of the scientific system broke the monopoly of aristocratic families on feudal bureaucrats, and feudal bureaucrats were no longer monopolized by a certain class of the landlord class. The imperial examination system greatly weakened the strict hierarchical boundaries of feudal society, which was conducive to the renewal of feudal state bureaucrats and the development of ordinary landlords. The feudal society in China implemented the systems of land sale, equal division of scholars and taking scholars through imperial examinations, which created conditions for mutual transformation among members of different classes in feudal society. It makes the members of the landlord class not inherit and change naturally like the landlord economy, but often some landlords go bankrupt and others come into being, forming a self-renewal mechanism. At the same time, it also shows that the hierarchical boundaries of China feudal society are not very strict. The hierarchical boundaries are relatively vague and not rigid. Compared with the feudal society of feudal lords in western Europe, it is by no means a lifeless society, but a vibrant society. Generally speaking, the private ownership of feudal land is expanding and developing, and the bondage of feudal land relations is weakening or even loosening. The centralization of absolutism is a feature of China's landlord economy and feudal society. Its appearance did not begin with the unification of the Qin Dynasty. Gu made a specific textual research on the historical facts of abolishing feudalism and setting up counties in various countries during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and pointed out: "The situation must be consolidated. Although Qin wants to be retro, it can't be sealed. " It is the need for the landlord economy to establish political rule; It is the product of the struggle against enfeoffment in China's history. Compared with the feudal system of landlord economy, the centralization of landlord economy is a new stage of historical development and a progress of human history. In "general chaos, kingship is a factor of progress". Although Western Europe was in a state of feudal separatism for a long time in the Middle Ages, after13rd century, some countries also established autocratic centralization of authority. Its appearance has historical inevitability. "It is not a saint's intention, but also a potential." The autocratic centralization system had a great influence and function on the feudal society in China. After the Qin Dynasty, although there were divisions in the history of China, unity was the dominant system. It is a vital guarantee for China to maintain a unified, multi-ethnic and powerful country for a long time and prevent secession. Centralized power is based on local power reduction. Generally, landlords in feudal society in China did not directly master the administrative judicial power, so that their personal control over farmers was relatively weakened. Centralization of authority, a feudal society in China, played an active role in restraining the excessive expansion of big landlords, stabilizing the small-scale peasant economy, adjusting the land policy and reforming the tax system. Of course, the feudal country's consistent policy of attaching importance to agriculture and restraining business, and the supremacy of imperial power led to the emperor's abuse of power to implement tyranny, ideological and cultural autocratic rule and so on. , had a negative effect and influence on the feudal society in China, and the autocratic centralized system obviously had duality. In terms of ideology and culture, in the period of great social changes in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, that is, the emergence of China's landlord economy and feudal society, there was a lively situation of "a hundred schools of thought contend", which was a glorious chapter in the history of human thought development. The essence of various schools of thought is dazzling up to now, and it will always be the precious wealth of all mankind's ideology and culture. Later, Confucianism, which dominated the feudal society in China for a long time, also had its progressive side and democratic elements. Western Europe "only knew one ideology in the Middle Ages, that is, religion and theology" and "monks were the representatives of feudal ideology in the Middle Ages"; However, the ideological and cultural mainstream of feudal society in China has long been free from the domination of religion and theology, and they are obviously at different stages of development. In a word, China's landlord economy and feudal society are highly developed and mature, with brilliant chapters in economy, politics, ideology and culture, and a high level of material civilization and spiritual civilization, which has been at the forefront of the world for a long time in history. In the feudal era, China not only had a highly developed landlord economy, but also, as Marx said, "the whole society was at a higher stage of development". However, during the transformation of human society from feudal era to capitalist era, China's landlord economy and feudal society obviously fell behind. How should this be explained? Every great epoch change in human history is a dialectical development of its own history. The new social and economic system can only be produced on the basis of the old society and can only be established on the basis of eliminating the old system. The disintegration of the old system is the premise of the establishment of the new system. Marx said: "The economic structure of capitalist society is produced from the economic structure of feudal society. The disintegration of the latter liberated the elements of the former. "As far as a mature social and economic system is concerned, it may create conditions for the emergence of a new system, and at the same time it is difficult to disintegrate because of its maturity, which will inevitably become a huge obstacle to the establishment of a new system. This was the case with the landlord economy and feudal society in China. It is precisely because of its long-term high development, mature and stable structure that it is very difficult to disintegrate, which has become a fundamental reason for the obvious backwardness of China's landlord economy and feudal society since modern times. The solid structure of China's landlord economy and feudal society is first manifested in the production structure of individual small farmers' natural economy, which is the foundation of the landlord economy. A certain degree of independent small-scale peasant economy is the foundation of tenancy system, that is, landlord system. The decentralized individual small-scale peasant economy with one household as the production unit is the most basic form of production structure in China feudal society. The small-scale peasant economy is characterized by the close combination of small-scale agriculture and cottage industry, with men plowing and women weaving and self-sufficiency. The production structure of this natural economy is so solid that the products produced by foreign capitalism will be defeated for a long time after modern times. The flexibility and mobility of the landlord economy itself also make it resilient and inclusive, so that the landlord economy and feudal system can last for a long time, persist stubbornly and be difficult to disintegrate. China's landlord economy and feudal society formed a unique social and economic system, such as the above-mentioned land sale, per capita share of scholars, imperial examinations, etc., which played a positive role in the development of landlord economy and the prosperity of feudal society, but in terms of the transformation to modern times, they all had negative effects and functions that could not be underestimated. Land is allowed to be bought and sold, and the imperial examination has made businessmen invest more in real estate or turn to their careers. The trinity of landlords, businessmen and bureaucrats contained each other, which greatly weakened the impact and disintegration of industrial and commercial development on feudal economy. The equal distribution of all the scholars makes the property disperse constantly, which is obviously not conducive to the accumulation and concentration of capital. The long-term national policy of authoritarian centralization, such as attaching importance to agriculture and restraining commerce, attaching importance to ethics and neglecting science and technology, has formed a single agricultural economic structure that is not conducive to the germination and development of capitalism, and the productivity level has not developed greatly for a long time; Its autocratic imprisonment of ideology and culture greatly suppressed the growth of democratic thoughts, and even made the enlightenment thoughts die out in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and so on. In short, the root causes of the backwardness of China's landlord economy and feudal society after entering modern times must also be found from their own aspects; But we can't simply think that China's feudal society has always been backward. Since the birth of the feudal society in western Europe, the modern capitalist system has been developing and growing, and has achieved great success in the world. In the feudal society of China, although some factors of modernization sprouted in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was great resistance in the process of modernization, and the steps were quite difficult. Thus, there is a view that, as far as feudalism is concerned, only European feudalism is a typical feudal system of human society, while China feudalism is backward and immature. Because of the success of the latter stage, it is considered that the former stage is also the most successful, and everything else is denied. Or think that advanced things can only be produced from the most advanced places. In this way, the advanced will always be advanced and the backward will always be backward. This is a metaphysical view. In fact, the feudal society dominated by the landlord economy in China was in an advanced position for a long historical period, which was actually a higher development stage of the feudal era. The fundamental reason for its backwardness after modern times is the result of its very mature and highly developed transformation to the opposite side. The publication of human history is full of dialectics.