The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1928-01-27
ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL EDU-
CATION
Continued from last week.
IL. TO WHAT FORMS OF ECONOMY DID
THE DECLINE OF SI.AvUpv lead?


The decline of saveholding economy was parti-
cularly manifest in the Roman Empire The enor-
nous progress reached by slaveholding economy
was bought at the price of the proltetarianizaton
(deprival of the means of production-the land) of
the free peasantry. In the Roman Empire, the
small landholder ruined on the one hand, be-
cause of the government obligation as for example
the military duties, which were beyond his
strength; and on the other hand as result of war
and hunger which drove him into lasting enslave-
ment and poverty The ruin of the peasantry was
fastened also by the development of large-scale
agriculture The big landowner using several
hundred slaves in agriculture supplied the mar
ket with large amount of cheap grain. Often
large quantities of grain were sent to Rome for
nothing by the vanquished peoples as tribute. Thus
the production of grain for sale became complete
~ Improbable for the small landowners.
On the other hand, decline in large-scale agr-
culture also began. The landowners, for whom the
CULTIVATION OF the latlfundias Qarge land possess
slons) by slave labor was becoming more and more
difficult on account of the insufficency of slaves
ana the low productivity of their labor naturally
began TO seek new methods of exploitation of their
lands AT first substitution of agriculture on the
laCiluhdlaS oy embarrassing took place. as a
oranch OF economy requiring small number of
slaves. But the decline of agricultural economy
did not stop at this. The fertility decreased, the
lleds were deserted, the collective working of the
land by slave labor no longer gave any stimulus
to the carrying-On of the economy These stimuli
had to be sought in the producers interest in the
results of his own labor
Under this necessity the government of the
Roman Empire tried to attract settlers to the de-
serted land, by giving them holdings under favor
able conditions in return for the payment of GER
tain dues and taxes. The private landholders also
adopted the same MEANS letting out their lands to
those who would agree to take it for certain dues
Thus arose the free colonsts-the class of small
landholders who carried on Independent farming or
government or privately-owned land for the pay
ment of certain dues
Side by side with the free colonies, the decline
of arge-scale agriculture led to the slave colonies
where the landholding lessees were slaves, whC
obtained the land for their use in exchange fol
tax in the form of a part of the products, o.
sometimes money, for the performance of
certain amount of labor on the owners farm Thu
the breakup of the large slaveholdng system O.
agriculture led to the individual cultivation of TIL
soil, which at first increases the productivity O
labor In comparison with the extremely low labo
of the slave.
But this form of petty economy of the colonist
also could not maintain its independence The re
quired labor of the colonists, especially of tn
former slaves and proletarians, in method and il
productivity could not, of course, be high. Tn
decreasing income from the land caused the land
owners to increase the dues of the colonists whic
transformed their labor almost exclusively int
work on the masters farm and condemned ther
to poverty stricken existence. Desertion fror
the land began to appear among the colonsts
Often revolts took place in the provinces TIL
maintenance of the army and the constant war
also fell with their whole weight upon the colon
lists Under such conditions the revival of agri
culture by means of the colonies could not tax
place. The slavehoding civilization and system O
economy had to finally depart from the historica
arena.
j Continued next week.