Page 343 - 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. 343
peasant “economic industriousness” in slovenian ethnology (19th–20th centuries)
ties were in fact previously defined also as “home” or “house laboriousness”
(domača ali hišna delavnost, deriving from the German Hausfleiss), which
meant the kind of production of different things in the countryside that the
peasant or somebody else with or without the help of his family, made for
his own use. From these forms of home work domestic crafts developed,
which meant working for an income (Bogataj 1989, 3‒5). In this interpreta-
tion we may see a strong influence of the ethnological concentration upon
the rural society, which causes neglect of the urban reality where crafts
were present too (in Ljubljana for example) (Valenčič 1972), as well as Bo-
gataj’s preoccupation with heritage issues, much more than historical ones,
but which is comprehensible from the point of view of an ethnologist. Ac-
cording to Bogataj the more social differences in the countryside deepened,
the more farms divided, the more the production of crafts increased. Do-
mestic crafts for the majority of peasants meant survival, especially for the
so called “rural proletariat” – small tenants, cottagers, small and landless
peasants (kajžarji, bajtarji, gostači, mali kmetje). Domestic crafts ensured
additional income and improved or at least ensured the minimum living
standards for peasants. Whole villages, farms, families and territories have
oriented towards a single craft, for instance weaving in the Gorenjska re-
gion, the production of sieves in the village of Stražišče etc. (Bogataj 1989,
7‒8). In the 18th and 19th century the primary or traditional crafts can be dis-
tinguished from “systematically introduced” crafts with no link with tradi-
tion. The first ones were transmitted from generation to generation; the raw
material was at hand. The cases of this kind of crafts are pottery-making,
wooden ware (suha roba) producers, basket-weaving, nail making in Kro-
pa and horse-hair products in Stražišče etc. “Systematically introduced”
domestic crafts were introduced due to economic policy efforts especially
from the second half of 18th century, as for instance lace-making which was
purposely spread in Idrija from Holland to give poor miners‘ families ad-
ditional income or straw-hat production which spread from Italy and in-
tertwined with industry, similarly to the so called “work at home” (delo
na domu). Most of these products were meant for export for customers of
the privileged classes (Bogataj 1989, 8‒9; Sedej 1988–1990, 15). In the lat-
ter case we are speaking of a “proto-industrial” form of production organ-
isation (Kauf or Verlag-System, for which založništvo is the Slovenian eco-
nomic-historical term).
341
ties were in fact previously defined also as “home” or “house laboriousness”
(domača ali hišna delavnost, deriving from the German Hausfleiss), which
meant the kind of production of different things in the countryside that the
peasant or somebody else with or without the help of his family, made for
his own use. From these forms of home work domestic crafts developed,
which meant working for an income (Bogataj 1989, 3‒5). In this interpreta-
tion we may see a strong influence of the ethnological concentration upon
the rural society, which causes neglect of the urban reality where crafts
were present too (in Ljubljana for example) (Valenčič 1972), as well as Bo-
gataj’s preoccupation with heritage issues, much more than historical ones,
but which is comprehensible from the point of view of an ethnologist. Ac-
cording to Bogataj the more social differences in the countryside deepened,
the more farms divided, the more the production of crafts increased. Do-
mestic crafts for the majority of peasants meant survival, especially for the
so called “rural proletariat” – small tenants, cottagers, small and landless
peasants (kajžarji, bajtarji, gostači, mali kmetje). Domestic crafts ensured
additional income and improved or at least ensured the minimum living
standards for peasants. Whole villages, farms, families and territories have
oriented towards a single craft, for instance weaving in the Gorenjska re-
gion, the production of sieves in the village of Stražišče etc. (Bogataj 1989,
7‒8). In the 18th and 19th century the primary or traditional crafts can be dis-
tinguished from “systematically introduced” crafts with no link with tradi-
tion. The first ones were transmitted from generation to generation; the raw
material was at hand. The cases of this kind of crafts are pottery-making,
wooden ware (suha roba) producers, basket-weaving, nail making in Kro-
pa and horse-hair products in Stražišče etc. “Systematically introduced”
domestic crafts were introduced due to economic policy efforts especially
from the second half of 18th century, as for instance lace-making which was
purposely spread in Idrija from Holland to give poor miners‘ families ad-
ditional income or straw-hat production which spread from Italy and in-
tertwined with industry, similarly to the so called “work at home” (delo
na domu). Most of these products were meant for export for customers of
the privileged classes (Bogataj 1989, 8‒9; Sedej 1988–1990, 15). In the lat-
ter case we are speaking of a “proto-industrial” form of production organ-
isation (Kauf or Verlag-System, for which založništvo is the Slovenian eco-
nomic-historical term).
341
