Page 24 - 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. 24
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
longs to the southern Alpine and Pre-alpine area, too). This does not imply
stating that all of the mentioned activities were evenly spread throughout
the western Slovenian lands, since local peculiarities, specificities and also
specialisations existed. Their presence, combination and role could more-
over vary in time, at the local level as well in the whole area, not least as a
response to the wider economic conjuncture or change. The single typolo-
gies should also be referred to different social strata within the rural pop-
ulation. Nevertheless it is reasonable to affirm that in the western Sloveni-
an area, being a much smaller region compared to the Southern Alps and
Western Europe, a vast majority of different extra-agrarian activities was
present among the peasant population. This means that their diversity, dif-
fusion and density were comparatively very high.
What prompted the Slovenian peasants toward what appears to have
been a general orientation towards the market? Their involvement in a mix-
ture of industrial, commercial and transport activities was undoubtedly a
necessity: for the majority of peasants the acquisition of extra-agricultur-
al income represented a strategy whereby they could both achieve a level
of subsistence and be able to pay their feudal, provincial, ecclesiastical and
state rents and dues. But the fact that it was a necessity does not yet neces-
sarily mean it was a passively-accepted solution, nor that it simply repre-
sented a way out of need.
At this point we must consider the fact that a large part of the peas-
ant holdings was small. The peasant society in pre-industrial Slovenia was
quite stratified and, most of all, at latest since the 16th century there was a
growing part of the peasant households which did not dispose of much
land, so that in the Early Modern centuries a growing majority of the hold-
ings was not large enough to grant the households a living from their own
land only. In fact, we may observe an increase in the foundation of agricul-
turally self-insufficient households, both as cottagers with little or no land
as well as through the progressive fragmentation of the older and larger
farm units.
Is it reasonable to think that through several centuries the peasants
drove the system towards their own economic ruin without taking any
measure, such as adjusting the age of marriage and the inheritance pat-
tern? Or we might more reasonably suppose that, on the contrary, the mul-
tiplication of households beyond the level of subsistence provided by land
indicates that the rural population counted on and exploited the possibility
of access to alternative activities? This means that the economic rationality
22
longs to the southern Alpine and Pre-alpine area, too). This does not imply
stating that all of the mentioned activities were evenly spread throughout
the western Slovenian lands, since local peculiarities, specificities and also
specialisations existed. Their presence, combination and role could more-
over vary in time, at the local level as well in the whole area, not least as a
response to the wider economic conjuncture or change. The single typolo-
gies should also be referred to different social strata within the rural pop-
ulation. Nevertheless it is reasonable to affirm that in the western Sloveni-
an area, being a much smaller region compared to the Southern Alps and
Western Europe, a vast majority of different extra-agrarian activities was
present among the peasant population. This means that their diversity, dif-
fusion and density were comparatively very high.
What prompted the Slovenian peasants toward what appears to have
been a general orientation towards the market? Their involvement in a mix-
ture of industrial, commercial and transport activities was undoubtedly a
necessity: for the majority of peasants the acquisition of extra-agricultur-
al income represented a strategy whereby they could both achieve a level
of subsistence and be able to pay their feudal, provincial, ecclesiastical and
state rents and dues. But the fact that it was a necessity does not yet neces-
sarily mean it was a passively-accepted solution, nor that it simply repre-
sented a way out of need.
At this point we must consider the fact that a large part of the peas-
ant holdings was small. The peasant society in pre-industrial Slovenia was
quite stratified and, most of all, at latest since the 16th century there was a
growing part of the peasant households which did not dispose of much
land, so that in the Early Modern centuries a growing majority of the hold-
ings was not large enough to grant the households a living from their own
land only. In fact, we may observe an increase in the foundation of agricul-
turally self-insufficient households, both as cottagers with little or no land
as well as through the progressive fragmentation of the older and larger
farm units.
Is it reasonable to think that through several centuries the peasants
drove the system towards their own economic ruin without taking any
measure, such as adjusting the age of marriage and the inheritance pat-
tern? Or we might more reasonably suppose that, on the contrary, the mul-
tiplication of households beyond the level of subsistence provided by land
indicates that the rural population counted on and exploited the possibility
of access to alternative activities? This means that the economic rationality
22
