Moscow, Nauka Publ. 1984. 352 p.
A new book by Professor, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Senior researcher at the Institute of General History of the USSR Academy of Sciences E. V. Gutnova is devoted to the history of the Western European peasantry in the period of mature feudalism. The purpose of the author is to trace in detail how, on the scale of Western Europe, during the centuries-old evolution of the peasantry as a class, its class struggle developed, what were its organizational forms, objective and subjective tasks. A special place in the study is occupied by the problem of the development and peculiarities of public consciousness, the ideology of the medieval peasantry.
The publication of a book on such an important topic takes on special significance if we take into account that in non-Marxist Western European and American Medieval studies, anti-feudal peasant movements in the Middle Ages are usually not considered class struggles, but rather conservative, fruitless, and devoid of ideological orientation. This approach is refuted by all the material in the book, which is based on numerous sources, documentary and literary evidence, and a wide range of research by Soviet and foreign scientists.
The author resolves the question of the main source of class contradictions and their forms in a reasoned manner, and the general and specific propositions of K. Marx, F. Engels, and V. I. Lenin related to the problems of research are convincingly confirmed. The paper shows that the deep basis of peasant uprisings was the socio-economic and socio-political prerequisites that reflected the natural evolution of the feudal formation. The subjective aspirations of the peasants, as shown in the work, found expression in the programs and actions of the rebels: participants in large peasant uprisings sought to create more favorable conditions for independent farming while maintaining the feudal system. The demands for social upheaval found in movements associated with here ...
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