Class Struggle Against Capitalism Began With Rebellion in the English Countryside
The origins of capitalism lie in the transformation of English agriculture from the 16th century on. The early stages of this process provoked a huge wave of social unrest, starting a tradition of resistance to class domination that still continues today.
Illustration of Kett’s Rebellion, Norfolk, 1549, from Ashburton’s History of England, by Charles Alfred Ashburton. [W. & J. Stratford, High Holborn, London, 1793.] (Print Collector / Getty Images)
The English ruling class faced a time of crisis in 1549. King Henry VIII had died two years previously. His heir, Edward VI, was barely twelve years of age, and a council dominated by the Lord Protector, the Duke of Somerset, ruled the country.
The country itself was in turmoil. The effects of the Reformation were continuing to be felt, and economic changes were causing impoverishment and discontent among the peasants and small agrarian producers. Discontent at the bottom of society and the lack of coherent leadership at the top created a pressure cooker, which exploded in 1549.
That year, tens of thousands of ordinary people rebelled. This article will focus on Kett’s Rebellion in Norfolk, which was just one of several revolts that year. This wave of popular unrest was inseparable from the transformation of rural society that would eventually make England the world’s leading capitalist nation.
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