>>> Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 05/27/99 10:16AM >>I believe that the key to 
>unraveling this question is in the use
value/exchange value dichotomy. Before the introduction of large-scale
commodity production, cities were much more woven into their natural
environment. It is interesting to note--as Ellen Wood does in her article
in the MR issue on agriculture--that it was only England that contained a
modern capitalist city in the 1500 and 1600s. France had much smaller
cities and were much more knitted into the fabric of the countryside.
London, of course, provides the model for the modern urban center. France,
on the other hand, as George Comninel points out, did not really have an
urban bourgeoisie. There was no industrial class that was fighting to burst
through the fetters of feudal production. In reality, the landed gentry and
the untitled landowners cooperated to reshape the French state and form the
basis of modern political parties, divided along Liberal and Conservative
line.

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Charles: Interesting how the "bourgeoisie" got a French name. I guess the French were 
telling on the English.


Charles Brown



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