Primitive Accumulation of Capital

It is the accumulation that precedes the formation of capitalism, or the initial accumulation of capital, called “previous accumulation” by Adam Smith. It is the process of forcible expropriation of small producers by the rising bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisified aristocracy that accelerated the formation of the capitalist mode of production.

The formation of the capitalist mode of production required two conditions: first, the existence of a large number of workers who are both free of and rid of the means of production; second, the accumulation of wealth in the form of the means of production, the means of life or money. The process of primitive accumulation of capital was a forcible expropriation of small producers, forcing them to separate from the means of production, thus creating, on the one hand, a large number of workers who are “free” and rid of everything, and on the other hand, a large amount of monetary wealth in the hands of a few people. Thus, the essence of the primitive accumulation of capital is the separation of workers from the means of production. Force played a great part in the process of primitive accumulation of capital. The expropriation of the peasants was the basis for the entire primitive accumulation of capital. After empirically examining the process of the formation of the wage-laborers and the bourgeoisie, characterized by the expropriation of the peasantry from its land, the punishment of the expropriated, and force, using England as its typical example, Marx hit the nail on the head in Capital, Vol. 1: “Capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt”.