Page 410 - 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. 410
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
markets – combined with agriculture along Norwegian and even Swed-
ish coasts could be mentioned. Regularly trading peasants existed in many
more areas.
Still, in Norway a diverse craftsmanship evolved comprising of wool-
len and later cotton textiles, wood products and blacksmith items. The area
around Oslo was the most important market (Rosander 1980, 32–8). In
Finland the market for wooden products was limited as peasants largely
manufactured the tools they needed themselves. In some areas (as in some
Swedish districts) millstones were produced and marketed around. Crafts-
manship was concentrated in Österbotten (see Map 17.3) and textile trades,
wool and later cotton was most important. It seems, however there was
not many signs of continuity, either in Norway nor in Finland from cot-
ton and wool domestic crafts into modern factory industry (which in the
Finnish case largely worked for the Russian market). In Norway on the oth-
er hand peasant shipbuilding had connections to later industrial wharfs,
while peasant sawmills in Finland in many ways connected to the large-
scale sawmill industry established during the Industrial Era. At large, how-
ever, proto-industries in these countries faced de-industrialisation (Isacson
and Magnusson 1987, 46–50).
As noted, there was, in many cases continuity between these pre-in-
dustrial activities and regional industrial structures in the 20th century,
while in other cases rather strong regional specialities faded out for various
reasons. Adopting the proto-industrialist concept implies analysing these
activities in their capacity or non-capacity to emerge into factory industry
and modern trades in the wake of the industrial breakthrough. This is rele-
vant of course, not least since many early factory industries and workshops
were strongly dependent on skills and craft traditions (Isacson and Mag-
nusson 1987, 116–33). Much points towards the conclusion that Braverman’s
deskilling hypothesis (Braverman 1974) was far from universally relevant in
mechanical industries far into the 20th century.
To that should be added that monetary incomes from marketed crafts
products and services allowed peasants to form part of a risen efficient de-
mand, both for colonial, new consumption goods, like coffee, tea, tobacco
and utensils needed to consume such stimulants, as well as imported tex-
tiles and domestically produced goods, not least handcrafted or, from the
1830s, factory made textiles. It may be interpreted as a somewhat belated
‘Consumer revolution’ (de Vries 2008; cf. for Sweden Ahlberger 1996 and
for Norway Hutchinson 2010).
408
markets – combined with agriculture along Norwegian and even Swed-
ish coasts could be mentioned. Regularly trading peasants existed in many
more areas.
Still, in Norway a diverse craftsmanship evolved comprising of wool-
len and later cotton textiles, wood products and blacksmith items. The area
around Oslo was the most important market (Rosander 1980, 32–8). In
Finland the market for wooden products was limited as peasants largely
manufactured the tools they needed themselves. In some areas (as in some
Swedish districts) millstones were produced and marketed around. Crafts-
manship was concentrated in Österbotten (see Map 17.3) and textile trades,
wool and later cotton was most important. It seems, however there was
not many signs of continuity, either in Norway nor in Finland from cot-
ton and wool domestic crafts into modern factory industry (which in the
Finnish case largely worked for the Russian market). In Norway on the oth-
er hand peasant shipbuilding had connections to later industrial wharfs,
while peasant sawmills in Finland in many ways connected to the large-
scale sawmill industry established during the Industrial Era. At large, how-
ever, proto-industries in these countries faced de-industrialisation (Isacson
and Magnusson 1987, 46–50).
As noted, there was, in many cases continuity between these pre-in-
dustrial activities and regional industrial structures in the 20th century,
while in other cases rather strong regional specialities faded out for various
reasons. Adopting the proto-industrialist concept implies analysing these
activities in their capacity or non-capacity to emerge into factory industry
and modern trades in the wake of the industrial breakthrough. This is rele-
vant of course, not least since many early factory industries and workshops
were strongly dependent on skills and craft traditions (Isacson and Mag-
nusson 1987, 116–33). Much points towards the conclusion that Braverman’s
deskilling hypothesis (Braverman 1974) was far from universally relevant in
mechanical industries far into the 20th century.
To that should be added that monetary incomes from marketed crafts
products and services allowed peasants to form part of a risen efficient de-
mand, both for colonial, new consumption goods, like coffee, tea, tobacco
and utensils needed to consume such stimulants, as well as imported tex-
tiles and domestically produced goods, not least handcrafted or, from the
1830s, factory made textiles. It may be interpreted as a somewhat belated
‘Consumer revolution’ (de Vries 2008; cf. for Sweden Ahlberger 1996 and
for Norway Hutchinson 2010).
408
