04-10-2026, 05:26 PM
The Birth of Capitalism
A giant from the northern coasts of France
struck with a club the giant sat on the shining
cliffs of Dover, stomped on his slumped-over back,
and shouted "Now I'm lord of all this land!"
Wiping away the brains about the knot
of wood he used for a weapon, he drew a knife
and started to skin and butcher the corpse beneath him,
passing the ribs for braising and loins for frying
to his hungriest of peers---to himself leaving,
beside the nutritious offal, the foremost right
to settle any disputes that should arise
between his peers and the corpse's former dependents
kept somewhat free as labor-selling tenants.
Thus started a vicious cycle: with all this work
vended for mere subsistence and laws too rigid
to license overt exploitation, the emphasis shifted
to making the land more productive, to feeding the city
where workshops and factories sprang, to birthing a world
where markets could supplant both laws and lords.
A giant from the northern coasts of France
struck with a club the giant sat on the shining
cliffs of Dover, stomped on his slumped-over back,
and shouted "Now I'm lord of all this land!"
Wiping away the brains about the knot
of wood he used for a weapon, he drew a knife
and started to skin and butcher the corpse beneath him,
passing the ribs for braising and loins for frying
to his hungriest of peers---to himself leaving,
beside the nutritious offal, the foremost right
to settle any disputes that should arise
between his peers and the corpse's former dependents
kept somewhat free as labor-selling tenants.
Thus started a vicious cycle: with all this work
vended for mere subsistence and laws too rigid
to license overt exploitation, the emphasis shifted
to making the land more productive, to feeding the city
where workshops and factories sprang, to birthing a world
where markets could supplant both laws and lords.