Page 23 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 23
the integrated peasant economy as a concept in progress
the activities referred to by Gauro Coppola when discussing the “integrated
economy” of the population in the Italian (southern) Alps, with those men-
tioned by Jan de Vries in addressing rural “industriousness” in western Eu-
rope (Coppola 1991; de Vries 2008, 71–121, 169). The activities are grouped
by economic sector, and the resulting list is checked based on historical ev-
idence from western Slovenia (Table 1.4).
Table 1.4: Economic activities providing income to peasants: Western Europe, Italian Alps
and (Early Modern) western Slovenia compared
Sector Activity Western Slovenia
PRIMARY Agricultural specialisation rare
Intensification of cultivation (no fallow, mixed-crop-
SECONDARY ping, …) ✓
TERTIARY Wage day-labour in agriculture
Extension/intensification of breeding ✓
Intensification of forest exploitation (through primary ✓
sector activities, but also secondary and tertiary)
Extension of cultivated land (reclamation of commons ✓
and woods)
Transformation of primary resources/products (e.g. wine, ✓
cheese, meat products; charcoal, lime)
Rural crafts ✓
Domestic, putting-out system (proto-industry)
“Centred” industries (manufactures, mining, …) ✓
Migrant/mobile craftsmen (e.g. bricklayers, …) ✓
Wage labour in the industrial sector ✓
Services in the field of long and medium distance trade ?
Transport of other people’s products and goods on short ✓
to medium distance ✓
Trafficking with own products and goods on short to me-
dium distance ✓
Peddling
Smuggling ✓
✓
✓
Source: Panjek 2015a.
Already with a first look at Table 1.4 it is possible to acknowledge that
most of the activities mentioned at a western European and southern Al-
pine level, were present in the western Slovenian area as well (which be-
21
the activities referred to by Gauro Coppola when discussing the “integrated
economy” of the population in the Italian (southern) Alps, with those men-
tioned by Jan de Vries in addressing rural “industriousness” in western Eu-
rope (Coppola 1991; de Vries 2008, 71–121, 169). The activities are grouped
by economic sector, and the resulting list is checked based on historical ev-
idence from western Slovenia (Table 1.4).
Table 1.4: Economic activities providing income to peasants: Western Europe, Italian Alps
and (Early Modern) western Slovenia compared
Sector Activity Western Slovenia
PRIMARY Agricultural specialisation rare
Intensification of cultivation (no fallow, mixed-crop-
SECONDARY ping, …) ✓
TERTIARY Wage day-labour in agriculture
Extension/intensification of breeding ✓
Intensification of forest exploitation (through primary ✓
sector activities, but also secondary and tertiary)
Extension of cultivated land (reclamation of commons ✓
and woods)
Transformation of primary resources/products (e.g. wine, ✓
cheese, meat products; charcoal, lime)
Rural crafts ✓
Domestic, putting-out system (proto-industry)
“Centred” industries (manufactures, mining, …) ✓
Migrant/mobile craftsmen (e.g. bricklayers, …) ✓
Wage labour in the industrial sector ✓
Services in the field of long and medium distance trade ?
Transport of other people’s products and goods on short ✓
to medium distance ✓
Trafficking with own products and goods on short to me-
dium distance ✓
Peddling
Smuggling ✓
✓
✓
Source: Panjek 2015a.
Already with a first look at Table 1.4 it is possible to acknowledge that
most of the activities mentioned at a western European and southern Al-
pine level, were present in the western Slovenian area as well (which be-
21
