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> Serfs were not one thing. Well yeah, never implied they were. That comment was a reply to a specific claim about serfdom being a relationship which might hav
by qwytw 3y ago
> Serfs were not one thing.
Well yeah, never implied they were. That comment was a reply to a specific claim about serfdom being a relationship which might have been beneficial to both sides. That certainly wasn't the case by the 18-19th centuries. Nor was I 'making any general statements about serfs' in the medieval or pre medieval periods (or outside Central and Eastern Europe for that matter).
- chimpanzee 3y agoJust to clarify in case of any misunderstanding of my comment (to which you originally replied)… I don’t view serfdom as a net benefit to the serfs. Nonetheless there were initially small benefits that surely dwindled to nothing over time. I think this is exactly where the op metaphor is most apt. When power is traded for comfort, what seems like a good deal now will eventually become a raw deal in the future. (And we moderns surely have more relative power than the serfs ever had)