ABSTRACT
Maurice Dobb in 1963 argued that feudalism ended in England because of conflicting social relations between feudal lords and peasants: feudal exaction in the form of rents led to violent clashes with peasantry. The class struggle led to a change in production relations to allow the productive forces to grow. In 1976, Robert Brenner reopened the debate after studying the European transition more comprehensively and produced a much more rounded explanation within historical materialism. Brenner identified the development of private property rights and class differentiation as crucial moments that brought a resolution to the conflict. Private property rights, granted by the state, created incentives to lords to make improvements to their lands and enter clear contractual relations with the free peasantry leasing their lands. The agrarian production, accumulation and rural politic problematics have another dimension, namely the biophysical agro-ecological setting, which influences the assets, production process and class formation.
