ABSTRACT
The Asiatic mode of production was developed among peoples who thereby established political societies. Production within the villages was conducted primarily for the satisfaction of the immediate wants of the agricultural families and communities. The self-sustainment and isolation of the villages were founded on the combination of both agricultural and handicraft production within them, such as were required to maintain the village life in its traditional form. In the Asiatic mode of production, the sovereignty was subject to the same limitations of tradition and customary right as the villages. There is a widely held opinion that the Asiatic mode of production and the oriental despotism are connected social phenomena. The village community of the Asiatic mode of production, according to the theory, was the location of the transition of mankind, the bearer of the transition, from the undivided society to the society divided into classes and opposed within itself.
