ABSTRACT
An important final phase in the campaign against natural economy is
to separate industry from agriculture, to eradicate rural industries
altogether from peasant economy. Handicraft in its historical beginnings
was a subsidiary occupation, a mere appendage to agriculture in civilised
and settled societies. In medieval Europe it became gradually independ-
ent of the corvée farm and agriculture, it developed into specialised occu-
pations, i.e. production of commodities by urban guilds. In industrial
districts, production had progressed from home craft by way of primi-
tive manufacture to the capitalist factory of the staple industries, but in
the rural areas, under peasant economy, home crafts persisted as an
intrinsic part of agriculture. Every hour that could be spared from culti-
vating the soil was devoted to handicrafts which, as an auxiliary domes-
tic industry, played an important part in providing for personal needs.
