8.3. England

The causes of the rise of England. Great geographic discoveries contributed to the economic rise of England. If in medieval Europe, England occupied a modest place, then from the XV-XVI centuries. its economy is intensively decomposing feudalism and capitalist relations are developing rapidly. Trade routes have moved here, the demand for English wool has sharply increased on the European continent, prices for British cloth have increased, England has expanded exports. In this regard, it develops its own production of woolen fabrics, which since the XVI century. concentrates on capitalist manufactories. For the further development of capitalist production, large capital, raw materials and labor were required.

England is a classic country of primitive accumulation of capital. England solved this problem by a method that went down in history as the landlessness of the peasants, which formed the basis of the process of primitive accumulation of capital. According to Marx’s definition, the initial accumulation of capital is a historical process of forcibly separating the direct producer from the means of production, i.e. depriving a peasant or artisan of his petty private property and the approval of large capitalist private property. England turned out to be a country where capitalist relations quickly penetrated the countryside - the main stronghold of feudalism and, as a rule, more conservative than the city. The development of capitalism depended on the development of the village, which then provided the bulk of the output. In England, the heyday of manufactories coincided with the bourgeoisie village.

In the last third of the XV - the first quarter of the XVI centuries. in England there was an agrarian coup, the main manifestation of which was the violent expropriation of the peasant land community and the conversion of arable land — its transformation into pasture. As the demand for English wool increased, sheep breeding became more profitable for feudal landowners than farming. For the expansion of pastures and the maintenance of profitable sheep farming, landlords seized communal peasant lands, forcibly drove peasants from them, liquidated peasant farms, enclosed selected plots with a fence, and attached them to their master lands. Therefore, the process of landlessing of the peasants was also called "fencing". English feudal lords increased herds of sheep, bringing the number of their livestock to several tens of thousands. In this way, the British landowners provided for the accumulation of considerable capital and turned into a new, bourgeois nobility. Landlords themselves, as a rule, were not engaged in agriculture. They leased fenced lands to farmers - large herders, in whose farms hired labor was used, the farms were commodity, had a capitalist-entrepreneurial character, and farmers turned into large owners of capital.

The other side of the process of landlessing of peasants and the enrichment of the nobility is the loss by the peasants of any means of livelihood. Deprived of the land, forced to hire at the manufactory, they turned into wage-workers.

Thus, by landlessing the peasants, England solved a dual problem — she found an effective method of accumulating capital and created a labor market, providing industry with hired workers, i.e. created two necessary conditions for the development of capitalist production. That is why Marx recognized England as a classic country of primitive accumulation of capital.

Since not all landless peasants could immediately find work, crowds of vagrants and beggars roamed the country roads of England. Seeing in it the danger of social instability, the government of England adopted harsh laws against vagrancy, providing for the death penalty or slavery as punishment. In the first half of the XVI century. in England 72 thousand people were executed.

The enclosures received a new push in the 16th century. in the period of the Reformation, when the secularization of church lands was carried out, and the inhabitants of church estates remained beggars. Over three thousand Catholic monasteries were closed, their lands were confiscated in favor of the state. The state gave or sold these lands to new nobles for raising sheep. Constructions of monastic and church farms were used for the organization of capitalist manufactories. The process of expropriation of the peasants continued in England and in the seventeenth century.

As a result of the initial accumulation of capital, the ruined peasants, the monks of the abolished Catholic monasteries, the warriors of the feudal lords who were disbanded by the government became the main source of hired labor for the developing industry. The growth of manufactory production carried out in parallel with the initial accumulation of capital, was characterized by increased exploitation - the duration of the working day increased to 12-15 hours, female and child labor became widespread.

The process of primitive accumulation of capital in England created not only hired labor and capital, but also expanded the domestic market. The ravaged small producers were now forced to buy necessities on the market, which stimulated the development of production.

Sources of primitive accumulation of capital. Used in England and other sources of accumulation of capital. There was a system of public debt. Since the kingdom was constantly in need of considerable funds for waging wars, creating a navy, maintaining the army ”of the royal court, etc., the government borrowed them from usurers, merchants, debt entrepreneurs, at high interest rates, which provided creditors accumulated funds.

One of the methods was the system of protectionism - a trade policy of setting high customs duties on the import of finished products. She protected domestic production from foreign competition. The support of the national bourgeoisie was also manifested in the fact that export duties were reduced, the export of raw materials and food was prohibited. Thanks to the protectionist policy, the forming bourgeoisie was able to set high prices for its goods on the domestic market and thus accumulate significant sums.

Like Holland, England used colonial expansion as a source of primitive accumulation of capital. England began the colonial seizures in the XVI century., In the XVII century. it carries out colonial expansion in Central and North America, in India. Taking out gold and silver from there and leading unequal exchange (trade), as well as sea robbery (piracy), the metropolis was enriched. Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603) supported trade and shipping. In her reign was built a large navy.

Great profits brought England trade African slaves Negroes. In the slave trade, England occupied the first place, and unlike the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors, who “devoured” the loot, she directed the accumulated savings to the development of industry, i.e. used them productively.

England adhered to the policy of mercantilism, and therefore sought to achieve a positive trade balance, and this stimulated the development of export industries and shipping. The main articles of export for it were cloth and wool, which occupied in the XVII century. 90% of the total exports of the country.

The economic development of England on the eve of the bourgeois revolution. Natural and geographical conditions and wide foreign trade led to the expansion of shipbuilding. To provide this industry with building materials in the XVI century. A supplier was found - Russia, with which England establishes constant trade relations. Having built a significant commercial and navy, England during the Anglo-Spanish wars defeated the Spanish Invincible Armada (1588) and became one of the strongest European states.

England, like Holland, creates merchant companies, the government provides them with subsidies and privileges for the conduct of monopoly foreign trade in certain regions. These included the Moscow Company (1555), the African Company (1579), the Guinean Company (1588), and the Eastern Company (1579).

The intensive process of primitive accumulation of capital led to the acceleration of the development of industrial production in England and the differentiation of industries. In addition to cloth production and shipbuilding, it produces saltpeter, gunpowder, paper, sugar, smelts iron and iron, extracts coal, and produces a number of goods that it had to import before. In the XVI-XVII centuries. England is experiencing an industrial boom, which is sometimes called the "small industrial revolution."

Causes of the bourgeois revolution

The causes of the bourgeois revolution. However, the system of medieval relations in the first third of the XVII century. already seriously hampered the further development of England. Power in England was in the hands of the feudal nobility, whose interests were represented by the king. Especially absolutism became entrenched in England in the 16th century, when parliament was completely subjugated to the king, the royal power. The Privy Council and the extraordinary courts — the Star Chamber, the High Commission — operated. At the same time, the English king had no right to collect taxes without the permission of the parliament. And if war broke out, the king needed to convene a parliament to obtain permission for a lump sum tax and establish its size. At the end of the XVI century. the relationship between the king and parliament became aggravated because the English kings sought to strengthen absolutism, believing that power was given to the king by God and could not be tied by any earthly laws. In 1603, after the death of the childless Queen Elizabeth Tudor, the throne passed to Jacob I Stewart (1566-1625). Without the permission of the parliament, Jacob I began to collect old duties and introduce new ones, thus violating the established customs of the country. He defended shop restrictions, prohibited new inventions. The king’s foreign policy, which, contrary to the expectations of the struggle against Catholic Spain, England’s rival in the colonial colonies, had been seeking a union with her for ten years, caused dissatisfaction.

In 1625, after the death of Jacob I, the English throne was occupied by King Charles I (1600-1649). He also did not understand the need for change in English society and did not want even the slightest limitation of his power. Distrust of him increased when, against the wishes of English society, he married a French princess, a Catholic.

Therefore , puritanism became the ideological banner of the struggle of the revolutionary opposition to absolutism , and headed by its parliament. The English Parliament consisted of two chambers - the upper and the lower. The upper house of lords was a hereditary assembly of English nobility. She enjoyed the right of "veto". The lower house is more representative, but less notable. Electoral rights were used only by proprietors, so nobles sat in from the counties in the House of Commons. They could represent cities as well, since the latter were on the land of a noble and rich nobleman. The majority in the House of Commons were Puritans.

In 1628, Parliament protested the violation by Charles I of the Bill of Rights signed by him, which was the reason for the dissolution of parliament by the king. The next 11 years were the period of the personal government of Charles I. The new nobility, the dissident clergy were completely excluded from participation in public affairs, the persecution of puritans intensified, and censorship became hardened. Unrestricted trade in monopolies again, which caused price increases. The breakdown of trade and industry, the strengthening of emigration - the result of the policy of King Charles I. In the country, the population was starving and revolted, street riots began in the capital. In addition, Scotland declared war on England.

The course of the bourgeois revolution

The course of the bourgeois revolution. After repeated petitions to the king with demands for convening a parliament on November 3, 1640. The new parliament, which went down in history as the Long Parliament (did not differ for 12 years), met. These events marked the beginning of a revolution. The main driving forces of the English bourgeois revolution were the peasantry and the urban lower classes. The bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisie new nobility (gentry) exercised leadership.

During the period of revolution (1640-1649) two civil wars took place in England: in 1642-1646 and in 1648. between supporters of the Long Parliament and royalists - supporters of the king. Parliament was supported by merchants, entrepreneurs, the new nobility, farmers, craftsmen and apprentices of London and the southeastern counties. The old orders were defended by royalists - large landowners with peasants dependent on them, court officials, the English church.

Created by Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), the parliamentary army inflicted a decisive defeat on the royal army in the battles of Neysvi (1645) and in Peston (1648). Under pressure from the masses in 1649, the king was executed, and England was proclaimed a republic. The power turned out to be rich merchants, businessmen and the new nobility. Parliament became unicameral - all legislative power belonged to the House of Commons. The executive branch was formally handed over to the council, which was led by the military elite led by Cromwell, the Independents ¹ , who defeated the democratic movements of the Levellers ¹ (supporters of urban small owners) and diggers ² (spokesmen for the urban and rural poor), suppressed the Irish liberation struggle. and Scottish peoples. Peasant tenants did not receive the land, remained powerless under the rule of the Landland. The fencing acts now passed through parliament, i.e. acquired legislative force. The tithe was not canceled. The republic has done nothing with unemployment and high prices. The new nobles and the bourgeoisie, who needed to protect their property, supported the establishment of one-man and unlimited power, and in 1653 a military dictatorship was established in England — Cromwell’s protectorate. The power of the tread was much greater than that of the king before the revolution. Cromwell confirmed all the laws of the Long Parliament, protecting the interests of the new nobility and the bourgeoisie.

The Lord Protector’s foreign policy was beneficial to the English bourgeoisie. In 1654, Cromwell victoriously ended the war with Holland, England’s main rival in world maritime trade. Then he defeated Spain.

After the death of Cromwell (1658), the new nobility and the bourgeoisie sought to restore the monarchy, which would protect the new order established during the revolution. In 1660, the Stuarts dynasty was restored, and they agreed to recognize the main achievements of the revolution. The new king Charles II (1630-1685) signed a document confirming all the privileges of the new nobility and the bourgeoisie received during the revolution. Thus, now in England there was not an absolute monarchy, but the power obtained as a result of a compromise and the observance of the interests of the new nobility and the bourgeoisie. However, the monarchs violated their obligations, increasingly dissolving the parliament and showed a propensity for Catholicism. In 1688-1689 a coup d'état was carried out, which historians call the "glorious revolution." The English crown was handed over to the governor of Holland - Protestant Wilhelm III of Orange (1650-1702), married to the daughter of James II - Mary.

The results of the revolution. The crown was transferred on terms dictated by the Parliament, i.e. a regime of limited (constitutional) monarchy was established with a strong parliament, which secured the access of the bourgeoisie to state power. Thus the main goal of the revolution was achieved.

Among the most important outcomes of the English Revolution was the destruction of absolutism, a blow to feudal property, which in fact became bourgeois. The revolution proclaimed the freedom of trade and enterprise. Of exceptional importance was the adoption in 1651 of the Navigation Act, in accordance with which foreign trade could only be carried out on British ships or on ships of the country that produced the goods. The law undermined the intermediary trade and shipping of England’s strongest rival Holland. The political outcome of the revolution was the beginning of the formation of the rule of law in England, civil society. The ideas of the republican system, the people’s rule, the equality of all before the law that the revolution carried, influenced the history of other European states.