ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter we introduced the concept of feudal rent, in this chapter that concept will serve as the point of departure in the process of constructing a concept of the feudal mode of production (hereafter FMP). It may appear that our route in the construction of the concept of FMP is an easy one, that we may begin by assuming that feudal rent is the mode of appropriation of the surplus-product specific to the FMP and proceed by deducing the structure of that mode from the conditions of existence of this form of rent. Nothing could be further from the truth. The concept of feudal rent presented in the previous chapter is a limited one and if it is used as the starting point for a series of deductions the result can be nothing other than the inadequate conception of feudalism current in Marxist theory. It is by problematising the concept of feudal rent that its limitations, and the limitations of the current conception of feudalism, will become apparent.
