Re: Re: the mita

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Mercantilism = Code of Hammurabi = Kelly Girls? Maybe Andre G. Frank is
right about 5,000 year waves...

>The stela at Susa records +/- 282 of H's legal decisions, and many of 'em are
>to do with rules for commerce (on price setting for services, differential
>tariffs and the nature of rights and obligations between landowners and the
>workers of the land).  Rules that do the sort of thing M&E write about in the
>Manifesto insofar as an attempt is made to supplant lots of traditional
>relations and their concomitant rights (although the penalty schedule does
>evince a traditional power differential).  I'm of the impression that much of
>what we might call 'mercantilism' was in place - the code was meant to
>standardise trade practices across lines isomorphic to national boundaries,
>and the class of merchants was a politically powerful class, with strong
>linkages to a 'state' which recognised their role, privileged it, and
>carefully regulated it.
>
>Cheers,
>Rob.
>

Louis Proyect
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