Notes from A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, Part 1

A history of the world in seven cheap things, a guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the future of the Planet. Patel R, Moore JW. Verso 2018.

Moore and Patel argue that talking about the Antropocene suggests that the current situation of ecological destruction is simply a result of human nature, and thus immutable; deplorable, but unavoidable. They suggest the term Capitalocene, to denote that the way that in modern history since circa the 1400s the development of the Capitalist system is a fundamentally different development to those climatic events that occurred before, even if they were also driven by human activity. The Capitalocene draws attention to Capitalism not just as an economic system but also as a way of "organizing the relations between humans and the rest of nature."pp3

They frame their argument around the cheapening of "...seven cheap things: "Nature, money, work, care, food, energy and lives...cheapening is a set of strategies to control a wider web of life. "Things" become things through armies and clerics and accountants and print."pp3 This pays attention to the way that the process of Capitalist accumulation requires the drawing of boundaries, the creating of terms such as "things" and "cheap". They give the example of Chicken as a starting point. Chickens are nature commodified, a genetically manipulated bird whose very lifespan no longer serves life in nature, but is accelerated and turned monstrous through fattening in order to serve the human appetite for cheap flesh. They then follow the chicken through the production line, showing the undervalued (and sometimes prison slavery) work that processes chicken for our maws, drawing attention to the injuries sustained by the workers. Their continued employment then rests on the free care provided by families and communities, and they explore the way that this is produced. Etc. We will go through the chapters separately eventually.

Their history begins with the medieval warm period of 950-1250, a climatic anomaly with a steady warm climate and mild winters. This had led to the tripling of the European population to 70million over five centuries. Agricultural surplus led to the formation of towns, and 20% of the population worked outside agriculture by 1300. They note also that increasing populations allowed for expansionary projects for Christendom - the Crusades and the reconquest of Spain. Crusaders would conquer land and demand tribute, [presumably setting up the basis of cash economies which allowed for financialisation]. The other aspect of conquest was that of cultivation. By the 1300s agriculture took up a third of all European land use and had expanded through deforestation.

Enter the Great Famine of 1315-1322 which they take as ringing the deathknell for Feudalism. Feudalistic power relations meant that the land was controlled by Lords and worked by peasants. During the previous centuries, agricultural surpluses had seen population expanding with carrying capactiy, and reducing returns on the profitability of land along with gradual soil degeneration. Lords wanted cash crops or grain that could be easily stored, in order to increase their profits. This tends towards monocultures and the control of the lords means the peasantry is unable to adapt what they grow to changing climate. This creates fragile food systems. [In the background to this is the whole process of enclosure of the commons, and the attack on women, for which more in Federici]. Then, when devastating rains started in 1315 (possibly due to the eruption of a volcano in New Zealand) what followed was seven years of famine and a reduction of the European population by 20%.

This was one among many famines leading to malnutrition, weakening peasant immune systems. Urbanisation is increasing as peasants are driven from the land (by lords or because of hunger). Enter the plagues of that era, with the Black Death arriving in 1347, and the European population further decreases to something like half of its pre 1300s level.

"The aristocracy wanted a relatively high peasant population, to maintain its bargaining position: many peasants competing for land was better than many lords competing for peasants. But with the onset of the Black Death, webs of commerce and exchange didn't just transmit disease - they became vectors of mass insurrection. Almost overnight, peasant revolts ceased being local affairs and became large-scale threats to the feudal order. After 1347 these uprisings were synchronized - they were system-wide responses to an epochal crisis, a fundamental breakdown in feudalism's logic of power, production, and nature...The Black Death precipitated an unbearable strain on a system already stretched to the breaking point. Europe after the plague was a place of unrelenting class war".

Peasants demanded more freedom, restoration of rights, revocation of duties. The aristocracy responded with repression, legislating to keep labour cheap and attempts at reenserfment (which failed). Class struggle had the advantage and through multiple and enormous insurrections wages and living conditions improved for peasants and urban workers. In the rubble of the feudal system the ruling classes searched for new solutions.

Enter colonialism, in part 2.