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2 Modern usage 3 Related articles |
Serfs provided most of the labor in feudal society. Although serfdom is most associated with the Middle Ages, in eastern European countries like Prussia, Austria, Poland and Russia, rulers strengthened serfdom in the seventeenth century, so that noble estates could produce more grain for the newly profitable export market. In many of these contrires, serfdom was abolished during the Napoleonic invasions of the early nineteenth century. But Russia retained the practice until February 19, 1861. Parts of Europe, including much of Scandinavia, never adopted feudal instutions, including serfdom.
Traditionally, the term for a peasant of the epoch of feudalism in Imperial Russia, krepostnoi krestyanin, is translated as serf. However a Russian landowner eventually had gained an unlimited ownership over Russian serfs, including the right to sell and even to assign marriages, so in fact they had eventually become slaves.
The roots of serfdom in Russia are traced to Ivan IV of Russia, who introduced the first laws that restricted the mobility of peasants.
The word serf re-appeared in the late 20th century to refer to a wage slave working in a capitalist business enterprise. Note one memorable coinage: the noun Microserf, which refers to employees of Microsoft Corporation, with the connotation that they become tied to that corporation, instead of the land, and work long and hard for the benefit of their masters. (See for example the novel Microserfs by Douglas Coupland.) When owners sell companies, modern serfs (or at least the jobs they perform) may get "sold" along with the companies for which they work in a sense that the price of the company may significantly depend on its "brainpower", rather than on its property (material or intellectual).
This kind of serfdom is also enforced by modern means of bondage in form of shares and stock options: it is not uncommon that the right of their realization is conditional on prolonged employment with the company.
Debt bondage -- Fiefdom -- Pronoia
History of serfdom
Serfs in Imperial Russia
Modern usage
Related articles