Page 399 - 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. 399
pluriactivity, proto-industrialisation or integrated peasant economy?
Moreover, peasants did trade, illegally or not. They were allowed to
freely deliver grain and other foodstuffs to Falun, where once Europe’s larg-
est copper mine was situated. Gradually in the late 18th century they were
allowed to bring their own output, and on commission their neighbours’
output to towns and this opened the scope both for more combination of
agriculture and trades and for the growth in some regions of more or less
specialised peasant tradesmen. Step by step internal trade and craft trades
were liberalised in a long series of reforms from 1775 to 1864, but while
this process of breaking up the privileges was going on, i.e. when trade
rights were re-negotiated, bitter political fights were carried out in parlia-
ment between members of the freeholder’s peasant estate and representa-
tives of certain town burghers (Åmark 1915; Ericsson 1970; Utterström 1957:
II; Lindström 1923).
Usually the liberal trade reforms have been interpreted as crucial for
the vital 19th century development of the country. It is reasonable that such
institutional change was important (Lindberg 2002), but according to an-
other interpretation the increasingly liberalised trade policies, particular-
ly at the beginning, were effects of the activities and arguments of the peas-
antry. Thus their activities (and activities of other entrepreneurs) triggered
institutional change. Towns and burghers were simply not able to fill the
task, to provide the trade services a slowly expanding economy. Moreover,
overall expansion was not clearly in their interest, since they gained from a
monopoly status (Utterström 1957, 53; Morell 1982, 38–43).
In this chapter I intend to briefly describe the spread of non-agricul-
tural market related activities of Scandinavian (especially Swedish) peas-
ants and interpret these activities using the concepts of proto-industry and
integrated peasant economy.
1. The emergence of a regional division of labour:
Pluriactivity, proto-industry or integrated peasant economy?
Peasants in many areas of Scandinavia were engaged in crafts, trade and
transport services on a market basis quite early, but data on this flourishes
particularly more from the second half of the 18th century. For example, in
publications from the 1940s Eli F. Heckscher vividly described the expansi-
on of domestic craftsmanship among peasants in certain regions, and that
such activities expanded in the 18th century and fulfilled the need of coarser
textiles and manufactured items, which the regulated privileged ‘mercan-
tilist’ town production according to him totally failed to accomplish (Hec-
397
Moreover, peasants did trade, illegally or not. They were allowed to
freely deliver grain and other foodstuffs to Falun, where once Europe’s larg-
est copper mine was situated. Gradually in the late 18th century they were
allowed to bring their own output, and on commission their neighbours’
output to towns and this opened the scope both for more combination of
agriculture and trades and for the growth in some regions of more or less
specialised peasant tradesmen. Step by step internal trade and craft trades
were liberalised in a long series of reforms from 1775 to 1864, but while
this process of breaking up the privileges was going on, i.e. when trade
rights were re-negotiated, bitter political fights were carried out in parlia-
ment between members of the freeholder’s peasant estate and representa-
tives of certain town burghers (Åmark 1915; Ericsson 1970; Utterström 1957:
II; Lindström 1923).
Usually the liberal trade reforms have been interpreted as crucial for
the vital 19th century development of the country. It is reasonable that such
institutional change was important (Lindberg 2002), but according to an-
other interpretation the increasingly liberalised trade policies, particular-
ly at the beginning, were effects of the activities and arguments of the peas-
antry. Thus their activities (and activities of other entrepreneurs) triggered
institutional change. Towns and burghers were simply not able to fill the
task, to provide the trade services a slowly expanding economy. Moreover,
overall expansion was not clearly in their interest, since they gained from a
monopoly status (Utterström 1957, 53; Morell 1982, 38–43).
In this chapter I intend to briefly describe the spread of non-agricul-
tural market related activities of Scandinavian (especially Swedish) peas-
ants and interpret these activities using the concepts of proto-industry and
integrated peasant economy.
1. The emergence of a regional division of labour:
Pluriactivity, proto-industry or integrated peasant economy?
Peasants in many areas of Scandinavia were engaged in crafts, trade and
transport services on a market basis quite early, but data on this flourishes
particularly more from the second half of the 18th century. For example, in
publications from the 1940s Eli F. Heckscher vividly described the expansi-
on of domestic craftsmanship among peasants in certain regions, and that
such activities expanded in the 18th century and fulfilled the need of coarser
textiles and manufactured items, which the regulated privileged ‘mercan-
tilist’ town production according to him totally failed to accomplish (Hec-
397
