Primitive accumulation is the "original sin" of capitalism: it is the question of how capitalism began.

Adam Smithbelieved that primitive accumulation was an intert and passive process: that capitalism began because some workers had to work harder, and because they worked harder, earned more money and thus began the process of capitalism. Adam Smith coined the term.

Marx however, believed (as expressed in Capital Vol. 1 that capitalism began through a violent process of expropriation and enclosure. In England, nobles enclosed on peasant lands, removing the peasantry from their lands and forcing them to become wage laborers, thus beginning the process of capitalism.

According to Capital Vol. 1, the worker was able to become a worker only after:

1. he was freed from the land

2. he was freed from the regime of guilds

3. he is robbed from his own means of production and all "guarantees of existence provided by feudal arrangements"

• tags :: marxismcapitalismhistorical materialism

• source :: cite:marx_capital Capital Vol. 1