The document summarizes Karl Marx's view of the obstacles to the rise of capitalism and how they were overcome according to his work Capital Volume I. One obstacle was the economic structure of feudal society, which was overcome as elements of feudalism disintegrated. Another was the guild system, which people escaped from. As a result of these changes, people's means of production and guarantees under feudalism were taken away, harming many individuals. The rise of capitalism also involved the enslavement of workers and a change from feudal to capitalist exploitation. The disintegration of bands and monasteries pushed many into the proletariat while the theft of common lands increased the size of farms and the agricultural proletariat

1. Fatima Shaikh
September 30, 2009
Sociology 101A
Lie/Moodie
First Writing Assignment
Topic 3: The obstacles to the rise of capitalism and how they were surmounted
Karl Marx details the obstacles of the rise of capitalism and how they were
surmounted in his work Capital volume I. The capitalist era began in the sixteenth
century (Marx 876). The path of capitalism rising was a destructive process,
which harmed many individuals during its rise.
One obstacle to the rise of capitalism was the economic structure of feudal
society-as in how the worker was bound to the soil, and the system of being a
slave or serf to another person (Marx 875). Elements of capitalism were set free
by the disintegration of the elements of feudalism (Marx 875). Another obstacle
was the need to escape from “the regime of the guilds, their rules for apprentices
and journeymen and their restrictive labour regulations” (Marx 875). Without this,
people became vagabonds, beggars and robbers, another negative
consequence to individuals from the rise of capitalism. The rise of capitalism
resulted in men becoming sellers of their own labor only after their means of
production was taken away as well as the guarantees of their existence that the
feudal arrangements provided (Marx 875). The means of production being taken
away as well as the guarantees of their existence that feudalism provided were
two harmful things done to individuals as capitalism rose.

2. The harmful aspect of capitalism can be pointed out by how the starting
point of the development that gave rise to the wage-laborer and capitalist was the
enslavement of the worker (Marx 875). There was a change from feudal
exploitation to capitalist exploitation (Marx 875). The enslavement of the worker
was caused by the means of production being taken away from the worker.
What preceded the capitalist revolution took place in the last third of the
fifteenth century and the first few decades of the sixteenth (Marx 881). A lot of
free and “unattached” proletarians were pushed into the labor market by the
disintegration of the bands of feudal retainers (Marx 878). The disintegration of
the monasteries also pushed their inmates into the proletariat (Marx 881). The
systematic theft of communal property as well as the theft of state domains made
the large capital farms increase in size and increased the agricultural population
as a proletariat for the “needs of industry” (Marx 886). This step toward
capitalism was harmful to individuals because they were “dragged from their
accustomed mode of life” and could not adapt quickly to their new “condition”
(Marx 896). In large numbers these people turned into beggars, robbers and
vagabonds, partly “from inclination” but mostly because of the “force of their
circumstances”, a negative impact to individuals from capitalism (Marx 896). To
add to the rise of capitalism’s harmful effects, these vagabonds and paupers
were treated as ‘voluntary’ criminals by legislation that assumed that it was fully
in their control to go on working under the “old conditions that no longer existed”
(Marx 896). The vagabonds were whipped, branded and tortured by “grotesquely

3. terroristic” laws into accepting the “discipline necessary for the system of wage-
labor” (Marx 899).
In Karl Marx’s work Capital volume I it can be seen that the path of the rise
of capitalism was a destructive one for many individuals. This can be seen by
how the means of production was taken away from workers and the guarantees
of their existence that the feudal arrangements provided. The expropriation of the
agricultural population was another harmful effect of the rise of capitalism. This
population was also turned into beggars, robbers and vagabonds that were
prosecuted. Clearly the path to capitalism caused the suffering of many.