PODMIOTOWOŚĆ CHŁOPSTWA STAROPOLSKIEGO
SUBJECTIVITY OF THE OLD POLISH PEASANTRY

Summary/Abstract: There is still a widespread belief that the peasantry was an incapacitated and objectively treated element of the manori- al-serf system and, simultaneously, a brutally exploited victim of this system. The article proposes an analysis of the peasantry’s posi- tion based on the assumption of the exist- ence of the subjectivity of this most numer- ous social group. This subjectivity resulted, among other factors, from the labour mar- ket’s demand for labour, which required a certain flexibility on the part of the man- ors, but also from peasant activity in local markets. This activity interacted with the entrepreneurship and wealth of some peas- ants. This activity made peasant entrepre- neurship possible, and even enabled some to become wealthy. In this way, it is also pos- sible to understand their appearance in the municipal courts and their particular prom- inence and capacity to manage their own affairs in relation with other social estates in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

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