The period of the Mesolithic and Neolithic became a time of change in the main unit of the then society - the community.
Among the farmers, as the tools of labor improved and the use of draft animals, the individual family became an increasingly independent production unit. There was no need to work together. This process was strengthened by the introduction of bronze, and especially iron, tools. The tribal community gave way to the neighboring one. In it, tribal ties were replaced by territorial ones.
Dwellings, tools, work animals in the neighboring community become the property of individual families. However, arable and other land continued to be in communal ownership. As a rule, members of the same family worked on the arable land, but the clearing of fields and their irrigation were carried out jointly by all members of the neighboring community.
Cattle breeders maintained tribal relations longer than farmers. Herds still long time remained the common property of the family.
Over time, equality within the community was becoming a thing of the past. In the families themselves, the power of the head over other household members increased.
“which families became more wealthy than others, accumulated wealth. Leaders and elders found themselves in the most advantageous position.
At the origins of statehood.
supreme body management in communities and tribes was a meeting in which all adult community members and members of the tribe took part. Elected by the assembly for the period of hostilities leader completely dependent on the support of fellow tribesmen. Elders constituted the tribal council. All relations within society were regulated by customs and traditions. Thus, the organization of power in primitive communities and tribes can be called self-government.
As material inequality developed, so did inequality in the sphere of governance. Wealthier members of the community, the tribe began to provide everything greater influence for management. In the national assembly, their word becomes decisive. The power of the leader extended to peaceful periods, and gradually began to be inherited. In conditions of increasing inequality, many customs and traditions ceased to effectively regulate life. The leaders had to resolve disputes between fellow tribesmen, punish them for misdeeds that could not have happened before. For example, after the appearance of property in individual families, theft appeared, which did not exist before, since everything was common.
The development of inequality was facilitated by increased clashes between tribes. During the Paleolithic period, wars were rare, often stopped at the first wound. Wars in the conditions of the formation of a producing economy were constantly fought. Individual communities and tribes accumulated large food supplies. This was envied by other tribes, poorer ones. And the rich tribes were not averse to profiting on the side.
For successful defense and attacks, the tribes united in alliances led by the leader-commander. They rallied around the leaders best warriors(combatants).
In many ancient societies, leaders also acquired priestly functions: only they could communicate with the gods, ask them for help for their fellow tribesmen. The leader-priest led the rites at the temples.
Over time, the tribesmen began to supply the leader and his entourage with everything necessary. Initially, these were voluntary gifts, signs of respect. Then voluntary donations became obligatory taxes - taxes. The material basis of this phenomenon was the success in economic development. It has been calculated, for example, that the primitive farmer of Western Asia provided himself with food for a whole year in two months of work. Produced in the rest of the time, he gave the leaders, the priests.
After a successful raid on the neighbors, the leader and his warriors received a large and the best part mining. A lot of booty also went to the elders and priests. Among the booty were prisoners. Previously, they were released, or sacrificed to the gods, or eaten. Now the prisoners were forced to work. The growth of the wealth of the leaders and nobility as a result of wars further increased their power over their fellow tribesmen.
The tribes united in alliances were usually not at odds with each other. Often one tribe dominated the alliance, sometimes forcing others into the alliance by force. It was not uncommon for one tribe to conquer another. In this case, the conquerors had to develop new control mechanisms. The leaders of the conquering tribes became rulers, and their fellow tribesmen became assistants in managing the conquered. Created structure in many ways resembled state, one of the main features of which is the presence bodies for the management of society, separated from the society itself.
At the same time, the traditions of self-government were preserved for a very long time. So, even the most powerful leader convened a national assembly, where they discussed and approved important decisions. The assembly elected a successor to the deceased leader, even if he was his son. The role of self-government increased in extreme conditions: when attacked by a stronger enemy, natural disaster, etc.
The first states arose where the leaders and their assistants also became leaders economic life. So it was in those places where for agriculture it was necessary to build and maintain complex irrigation facilities.
Beginning of civilization.
The period of primitiveness in certain areas of the earth ended at the turn of IV-111 millennia BC. It was replaced by a period that is called civilization. The very word "civilization" is connected with the word "city". City building is one of the first signs of the birth of civilization. Civilization finally took shape after the emergence of states. Gradually, a culture characteristic of civilization was formed. A huge role in this culture and in all life began to play writing, the emergence of which is also considered the most important sign of the transition to civilization.
By the end of the period ancient world(V century AD) the area of distribution of civilization was a strip of land from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Outside this strip lived tribes that did not have their own states. The area of civilization was expanding, although there was also a reverse movement due to wars and natural disasters.
Civilization different peoples had its differences. It was influenced by natural and climatic conditions, the circumstances of the historical path of peoples, etc. Historians talk about different ancient civilizations. Sometimes this term denotes the history of a separate people, state (ancient Egyptian civilization, Sumerian civilization, Chinese civilization, Greek civilization, Roman civilization, etc.). However, the civilizations of the Ancient World had a lot in common, which allows us to combine them into two models - ancient eastern civilization And ancient civilization.
Ancient Eastern - the first civilization. Its oldest form was the state in the valleys of the great rivers - the Nile, Euphrates and Tigris, Indus, Huang He. Then states developed outside the river valleys. All ancient Eastern countries were characterized by a large role of state power, the enormous power of monarch rulers. The predominant population was the peasantry, united, as a rule, in communities. Slavery played a secondary role.
Ancient civilization developed later. It mainly covered the Mediterranean region. True, the first states here are also attributed to the ancient Eastern civilization. However, then, for reasons that are not entirely explainable, development took a different path. IN state structure ancient states began to dominate the features of self-government. Ancient states are called policies. The rulers in the policy were elected at popular meetings, the role government agencies performed the former communal structures, for example, the council of elders (Areopagus, Senate). However, over time, the polis device was replaced by monarchical power. IN ancient states a significant part of the population lived in cities. Along with agriculture handicraft and trade acquired great importance. Slave labor played a significant role.
TOPIC 2 CIVILIZATIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
The appearance of a neighbor territorial community and the beginning of the decomposition of primitive society. The stable settlement of agricultural communities creates a certain limited access to rare resources (some types of stone, plants, animals). This objectively leads to the need for exchange between communities. The regular surplus product allowed part of it to be directed to the exchange of raw materials necessary for the community, but hard to reach. But in the presence of the same economic and cultural type, the products are also similar, therefore it is unprofitable to exchange a product that is already available for a rare raw material. This is possible only if it is necessary to replenish the missing stock. As a result, there is a prestigious economy. It appears on the basis of gift-exchange relationships. the main objective prestige economy – creating important social ties different nature(inter-tribal, inter-tribal, matrimonial, friendly, etc.). To do this, a community in need of raw materials creates some new product that its neighbors do not have (a new variety of barley, wheat, a new breed of domestic animals, an unusual product, etc.). In this case, the exchange of rare items is possible. The result is a prestigious product-item that few people possess, which sets the community apart from others. After that, they strive to be friends with the manufacturer of the product or with its owner, that is, to create or support existing connections because they can come in handy in an emergency. At the same time, a prestigious product can circulate in a limited (agreed) circle of communities.
Further improvement of the skills of agricultural work and rearing of animals, the subsequent appearance of more productive tools of labor make it possible to create a significant surplus product in terms of volume. It continues to be community property. But for the needs of the community, it is effectively used, mainly by the elders, formally, with common consent. This situation becomes an incentive for individual savings. The easiest way to do this was in specialized hunting and gathering communities. The best hunters and the gatherers were encouraged by leaving some of the surplus product extracted with them. Thus, the labor character of distribution is born. Thus, the best working people got the opportunity to become richer than others.
In agricultural communities, the labor character of distribution was possible when the communal field was divided into individual plots and the appearance of the household as an economic unit.
In communities where a prestigious economy develops, this sphere of work begins to be monopolized by men, since it provides an opportunity to start making individual savings through participation in prestigious exchanges. Patrilocal settlements are even beginning to appear in these societies. Even in maternal families big role brothers played.
Since the tribes united a large number of childbirth, then at the conclusion of marriage there was always a choice. Women were valued as an important labor force, so leaving her to another clan led to a weakening of her clan. In this regard, for the loss work force Compensation is required: working off in the public field or in other areas of work. The development of a prestigious economy creates a form of marriage payment. There is a tradition of premarital collusion of relatives (uterine collusion, lullaby, or cradle collusion).
The desire for prestige could be satisfied by enrichment. Therefore, at the stage of transition from matrilocality and matrilineality to patrilocality and patrilineality, land plots are distributed among families, which turn into an economic unit - the household. This, in turn, forms the neighborhood community as relations within the clan change. Labor efforts within the household become the main ones. Even if the representatives of a given household do not belong to the main clan and therefore cannot claim to high status in a tribe, having accumulated significant wealth, through gift-exchange relationships, they can create a significant group of friends and influence decision-making. The property position of a person in the community began to determine his social status.
In the conditions of a producing economy, it was possible to “plan” stocks for the agricultural cycle. Each individual family could provide for itself on the basis of yield and cultivated area. The need to exchange identical products within the collective disappeared, and the produced product did not become the property of the collective, but remained with the manufacturer. This is how detached property. This is the main distinguishing feature of the neighboring community.
It is often stated in the literature that the formation of a neighborhood community creates private property. Most general difference between isolated and private property lies in the fact that with the help of the first, a regular surplus product continues to be created, used for consumption and accumulation, in exchange it is used episodically; second (private) form of ownership creates surplus product, used purposefully for exchange and the accumulation of wealth through it. It can be said that the prerequisites for the formation private property emerged in the prestige economy. Separate property is private property within the framework of communal property. Since an important feature of private property is the right to full disposal of a land plot up to its sale, then private ownership of land in pure form was absent even at the stage ancient civilizations. The main manager of the land remained the neighboring community, which was supposed to guarantee its members a stable existence.
The appearance of a neighboring community led to a change in relations in it. Under conditions of isolated property, cooperation is transferred from the sphere of exchange to the sphere of production. Household economy (it is also a consumption cell) becomes an economic cell. The community performs the functions of an economic organism, regulates economic relations between households. The tribe becomes a social organism that regulates relations between communities.
The main forms of relations in the neighboring community:
A) help exchange- mutual assistance in the development of the site, during sowing and harvesting (labor assistance); it is envisaged that the one who received help according to the principle of gift exchange must sometime respond with help. Thus, relations become circular, communal;
b) help loan– help in emergency situations ( disaster) by borrowing a product (namely, a loan, not a handout), sometimes at interest (or a help-return relationship). In this case, the deadline for the return of assistance was stipulated;
V) service-exchange- is formed in the conditions of the separation of craft from agriculture, when for the provision of their products, artisans receive in exchange products of agriculture and animal husbandry.
The stable functioning of these relations and the entire community is possible while maintaining exemplary economic equality of households. But private landownership, when combined with a number of other factors (the number of households; the ratio of male and female, adults and children; different natural abilities; industriousness; random factors (crop failure, fire, etc.) creates conditions for the formation of economic inequality (the poor - rich).
There are some mechanisms in the community to temporarily smooth out inequalities. If there is a reserve fund of land, additional plots are provided to those in need. Wealthy households assume part of the communal expenses (festivities) or undertake to periodically share part of the property in accordance with the principle of primitive equality (public distributions, meals). Among the Indian tribes North America this custom was called potlatch. The growing up of a new generation causes the need for land plots. The absence of a reserve fund requires the external activity of the community. This is either the seizure of land from neighbors, or the resettlement of part of the community (the young landless generation) to free lands (colonization).
Nevertheless, sooner or later, as a result of property inequality (economic inequality of households), relations of intra-communal dependence and exploitation begin to form in the community. Help exchange relations with economic inequality develop into patronage (patronage), when a stronger court acts as a patron (patron), a weaker court acts as a client (under patronage). This form of dependency implies the maintenance of the client's economic independence, but otherwise he is forced to support the interests of the patron.
Assistance loan relations, with economic inequality give rise to bondage (debt). Obviously, while maintaining some traditions of primitive equality, bondage was less common in the initial period. Probably, in this case, too, the allotment was kept by the enslaver, but he worked off his debts in the enslaver's household.
Since the surplus product can not only be accumulated, but also withdrawn, this gave rise to an era of enslavement and wars of “all against all” (predatory wars), that is, as soon as a person began to produce more than he needs for everyday existence, those who want to live appeared without producing. Intertribal wars were often accompanied by the destruction of settlements, the extermination and capture of inhabitants. Prisoners were killed or adopted to replenish the loss in their own families. Moreover, the cleared territory was not immediately inhabited, since it was believed that for some time it was still under the protection of the spirits of the enemy.
Thus, the period of decomposition of the primitive communal system and the formation of civilization (classes, estates, states) begins.
Long enough to keep patriarchal life. The people were divided into tribes, a separate tribe consisted of clans. A clan was a number of families united by family ties, owning common property and managed by one person - a foreman. Therefore, in Slavic tribes the concept of "senior" means not only "old", but also "wise", "respected". tribal foreman - a middle-aged man or old age- had great power in the family. To make more global decisions, for example, defense against an external enemy, the foremen gathered in the veche and developed a common strategy.
The collapse of the tribal community
Starting from the 7th century, the tribes began to settle, while occupying vast territories. The following factors contributed to this process:
The emergence of private ownership of agricultural implements and products of labor activity;
Ownership of own plots of fertile land.
The connection of childbirth was lost, the patriarchal tribal community is being replaced by new form social structure- neighborhood community. Now people are connected not by common ancestors, but by the contiguity of the occupied territories and the same methods of farming.
The main differences between the neighboring community and the tribal
The reason for the weakening of family ties was the gradual estrangement of kindred families from each other. The main differences of the new social structure consisted of the following:
In the tribal community, everything was common - mining, harvest, tools. neighborhood community introduced the concept of private property along with public property;
The neighboring community connects people with cultivated lands, the tribal community - by kinship;
In the tribal community, the elder was the elder, while in the neighboring community, the decisions were made by the owner of each house - the householder.
Neighborhood lifestyle
Regardless of the name of the ancient Russian neighborhood community in each individual case, they all had many similar administrative and economic features. Each individual family acquired its own dwelling, had its own arable land and mowing, separately fished and went hunting.
Each family owned meadows and arable land, dwellings, domestic animals, and tools. Forests, rivers were common, and lands belonging to the entire community were also preserved.
Gradually, the power of the elders was lost, but the importance of small farms increased. If necessary, people did not go to distant relatives for help. The homeowners of the whole district came together and decided at the meeting important questions. Global interest forced to choose the one responsible for solving the problem - an elected elder.
Scholars have not come to a consensus on the name of the Old Russian neighborhood community. Most likely, in different lands it was called differently. Two names of the Slavic neighboring community have survived to our times - zadruga and verv.
The stratification of society
The neighborhood community Eastern Slavs gave rise to the formation of social classes. The stratification into rich and poor begins, the allocation of the ruling elite, which strengthened its power through spoils of war, trade, exploitation of poorer neighbors (farm labor, and later slavery).
From the wealthiest and most influential householders, the nobility begins to form - a deliberate child, which consisted of such representatives of the neighboring community:
Elders - represented the administrative authority;
Leaders (princes) - exercised complete control over the material and by human resourses communities during wartime;
Magi - spiritual power, which was based on the observance of communal rituals and on the worship of pagan spirits and gods.
The most important issues were still decided at the meeting of the elders, but gradually the right to make decisions passed to the leaders. The princes in the neighboring community relied on their squad, which over time acquired the features of a professional military detachment.
The prototype of statehood
Tribal nobility, successful merchants and the wealthiest community members became the nobility, the ruling class. Land has become a value worth fighting for. In the early neighborhood community, the weaker landowners were driven from the right plots of land. During the period of the emergence of statehood, the peasants remained on the land, but on the condition that they would pay taxes. Wealthy landowners exploited their poorer neighbors and used slave labor. Patriarchal slavery arose at the expense of prisoners captured in military raids. A ransom was demanded for captives from noble families, the poor fell into slavery. Later, ruined peasants became slaves of wealthy landowners.
The change in the form of social structure led to the enlargement and consolidation of neighboring communities. Tribes formed and tribal unions. The centers of the unions were cities - well-fortified settlements. At the dawn of the emergence of the state system, the Eastern Slavs had two major political centers - Novgorod and Kyiv.
33. Socio-economic relations in the neighboring community.
Primitive neighborhood community.
By a primitive neighborhood community, we mean a socio-economic structure consisting of separate families leading an independent economy, united with each other by territorial-neighborly ties and joint ownership of the main means of production (land, pastures, fishing grounds). The combination of the private property of individual families with the collective property constitutes the dualism inherent in the neighboring community.
The characteristic features of the primitive neighborhood community are: the presence of a common territory, public property and communal land ownership with private land use, the presence of communal governing bodies, various forms of cooperation and mutual assistance between community members, their joint performance in wars and matters related to intercommunal relations, the presence of a certain ideological (religious) unity of community members, the interweaving of territorial ties with disintegrating consanguineous, in public sphere- coexistence of the community with late birth institutions.
Like any neighboring community, the intertwining and struggle of collective and private property are inherent in the primitive community.
The stage of formation of the neighboring community is characterized by replacement of ties based on kinship with neighboring-territorial ones, which at first are fancifully intertwined with them or even clothed in a consanguineous shell. As an example, we can cite the preservation of the totem name of the ancient tribal community, the spread of terms of consanguinity to fellow villagers, especially relatives, the use of ancestral sanctuaries for rituals of communal significance among the Cheyenne, Crow, Tlingit, Iroquois, Hopi, Comanche and other tribes of North American Indians, or the institution of doha among the peoples of the Lower Amur (the extension of exogamous prohibitions to a group of unrelated clans connected by neighborly relations).
This intertwining ancestral and neighborly ties, extremely diverse in specific societies, raises the question of the criteria that make it possible to distinguish a tribal community at a later stage of its development from a neighboring one and the nature of transitional forms between them.
The main features that characterize any neighboring community are the presence of separate family groups that independently manage the economy and dispose of the produced product, so that each, on his own, cultivates the fields allotted to him and the harvest is assigned to them individually, and collective ownership of the main means of production. The families represented in the community may be related and unrelated - as long as they are economically isolated, this is of no fundamental importance.
One cannot agree with the researchers who resolutely oppose patronymy to the neighboring community and believe that the latter can exist only as a territorial association of unrelated families. The facts say otherwise. In the mountainous regions of Northern Albania at the beginning of the last century, all members of the neighboring community considered themselves descendants of one ancestor and avoided marrying each other. Neighboring communities, consisting of patronymic related families, were not uncommon in the Caucasus back in the 19th century, they are also known in Southeast Asia and other places.
At the initial stages of the formation of a neighboring community, communal ownership of land coexists with tribal ownership, sometimes even occupying a subordinate position. On some islands of the New Hebrides archipelago, villages, although they consist of subdivisions of several genera, do not yet form communities and do not have landed property. On the islands of Trobriand, Shortland, Florida, San Cristobal, Santa Anna, Vao, Fate and others, a neighboring community has already arisen and communal ownership of land coexists with tribal and individual loan land use, and on the island of Amrim the land belongs to the entire community as a whole, but distributed among the various clans.
In terms of stages, such a community is transitional from tribal to purely neighboring. It can be considered an early stage of the neighborhood community or a transitional type; we do not see much difference between these two points of view. The main criterion that allows it to be singled out is not so much the coexistence of communal property with private property (this is natural for any neighboring community), but rather the interweaving of family ties with neighboring ones. The transition from such a community to a neighboring one to a large extent depends on the fate of the late clan, on the time when it finally ceases to exist. Since the clan most often survives to a class society, it is obviously this early stage of the neighboring community that is most characteristic of its existence in a decaying society. primitive society, and the term "primitive neighborhood community" seems quite acceptable for its designation.
Such a community is neighborly, because it has its main feature - a combination of private and collective property. The fact that it is inherent in the era of the decomposition of primitive society is also evidenced by archaeological material. In Denmark already in the settlements bronze age within each village, the boundaries of individual plots and communal pastures are clearly visible. Something similar is observed even earlier in Neolithic Cyprus.
However, such a community is not just a neighbor, but a primitive neighbor, since collective property in it is represented by two forms: communal and tribal. Such a combination of two forms of collective property can persist for a very long time, and not only in decaying primitive societies, but even in early class societies, as can be seen from numerous African examples.
At present, the universal nature of not only the neighborhood community as a whole, but also its early stage - the primitive neighborhood community, which can be traced both in patriarchal and late maternal and non-clan societies can be considered proven. So later forms tribal organization the epochs of the decay of primitive society are basically simultaneous with the primitive neighboring community. They coexist, differing not only in their functions, but also in their structures: while the clan is based on the principle of consanguinity, the community rests on territorial-neighborly ties.
Although clan and community as forms of social organization complement each other, creating a double line of defense for the individual, there is a certain struggle between them for a sphere of influence. The final victory of the neighboring community over the clan is already determined by the fact that it is not only a social organization, which has practically become late genus, But organization of socio-economic, wherein social connections are intertwined and determined by production.
The neighboring community perishes when collective property becomes an obstacle to the further development of private property. By general rule this occurs already in class societies, although there are known exceptions, usually associated with a lack of land (for example, in Micronesia and Polynesia). The main means of production are gradually being transferred into private ownership. The emergence of allod in agricultural societies is well traced on the example of early medieval Western Europe. However, even having lost its production functions, the community can be preserved as a social organization as an administrative-fiscal or territorial self-governing unit.
The neighborhood community can also persist for a long time in class societies based on subsistence farming. Sometimes it is deliberately conserved by the ruling classes. However, such a community, despite the similarities of internal structures, differs from the primitive one. In the primitive neighboring community, exploitation is only in its infancy, while in the class community it prevails. The community is either exploited as a whole, or singles out from its environment as exploiters. and exploited.
The era of the primitive system is characterized by several forms public organization. The period began with a tribal community, in which blood relatives united, leading a common household in the future.
The tribal community not only rallied people close to each other, but also helped them survive with the help of joint activities.
Since the processes of production began to be divided among themselves, the community began to be divided into families, among which communal obligations were distributed. This led to the emergence of private property, which accelerated the decomposition of the tribal community, which was losing distant family ties. With the end of this form social order a neighborhood community appeared, the definition of which was based on other principles.
The concept of a neighborhood form of population organization
The meaning of the word "neighborhood community" implies a group of separate families living in a certain area and leading a common household on it. This form is called peasant, rural or territorial.
Among the main features of the neighboring community should be highlighted:
- common territory;
- general use of land;
- separate families;
- subordination to the communal governing bodies of the social group.
The territory of the rural community was strictly limited, but the territory with forests, pastures, lakes and rivers was quite enough for individual cattle breeding and farming. Each family of this form social system, she owned her own plot of land, arable land, tools and livestock, and also had the right to a certain share of communal property.
The organization, included in society as a subordinate element, performed only partially public functions:
- accumulated production experience;
- organized self-government;
- regulated land ownership;
- preserved traditions and cults.
Man has ceased to be a generic being, for whom the connection with the community had great importance. People are now free.
Comparison of tribal and neighboring communities
Neighborhood and tribal communities are two successive stages in the formation of society. The transformation of a form from a generic to a neighboring one is an inevitable and natural stage in the existence of ancient peoples.
One of the main reasons for the transition from one type of social organization to another was the change from a nomadic lifestyle to a settled one. Slash-and-burn agriculture became plowed. The tools needed for cultivating the land were improved, and this led to an increase in labor productivity. Appeared social stratification and inequality among people.
Gradually disintegrated tribal relations, which were replaced by family ones. Public property was in the background, and private property took the first place in importance. Tools, livestock, housing and a separate plot belonged to a particular family. Rivers, lakes and forests remained owned by the entire community . But each family could run its own business with which she earned her livelihood. Therefore, for the development of the peasant community, the maximum unification of people was required, since with the acquired freedom, a person lost the great support that was provided in the tribal organization of society.
From the comparison table of the tribal community with the rural one, one can single out their main differences from each other:
The neighboring form of society had more advantages than the generic form, since it served powerful impetus to the development of private property and the formation of economic relations.
East Slavic neighborhood community
Neighborly relations among the Eastern Slavs were formed in the 7th century. This form of organization was called "vervy". The name of the East Slavic rural neighboring community is mentioned in the collection of laws "Russian Truth", which was created by Yaroslav the Wise.
Verv was an ancient community organization that existed in Kievan Rus and on the territory of modern Croatia.
The neighboring organization was characterized by mutual responsibility, i.e., the entire rope had to be responsible for the misconduct committed by its participant. When a murder was committed by someone from a community organization, the viru (fine) had to be paid to the prince by the entire community group.
The convenience of such a social order was that it did not have social inequality because the rich had to help the poor if they had a shortage of food. But, as the future shows, social stratification was inevitable.
In the period of their development, vervi were no longer rural organizations. Each of them was a union of several settlements, which included several villages. early stage the development of a community organization was still characterized by blood relationship, but over time this ceased to play leading role in the life of society.
The rope was subject to general military service. Each family had a household land with all household buildings, tools, various implements, livestock, and farming plots. Like any neighboring organization, the vervi had forest areas, lands, lakes, rivers and fishing grounds in the public domain.
Features of the Old Russian neighborhood community
It is known from history that old Russian community called "peace". She was the lowest link in social organization. Ancient Rus'. Sometimes there was an unification of the worlds into tribes, which, during periods of military threat, gathered in alliances. Tribes often fought among themselves. The wars led to the emergence of a squad - professional equestrian warriors. The squads were led by princes, each of which owned a separate world. Each squad was a personal guard of its leader.
The lands have turned into estates. Peasants or community members who used such land were obliged to pay tribute to their princes. The patrimonial lands were inherited through the male line. Peasants living in rural neighborhood organizations were called "black peasants", and their territories were called "black". The people's assembly, in which only adult men participated, resolved all issues in peasant settlements. In such a social organization, the form of government was military democracy.
In Russia neighborhood relations existed until the 20th century, in which they were eliminated. With the increase in the importance of private property and the appearance of surplus production, society was divided into classes, and communal lands were transferred to private ownership. The same changes were taking place in Europe.. But neighboring forms of population organization exist today, for example, in the tribes of Oceania.
