De la División territorial
Artículo 14. La Delegación de Villa Alvaro Obregón estará formada por la población de este nombre, colonias, haciendas, ranchos y poblados comprendidos dentro del
The above "special characters", Li claimed, were "similar to those of feudal society" (Sociology, p. 424). Of these five special characteristics, the fourth characteristic — that rents and taxes in the AMP were similar to feudal rent because the state was the landowners' state —
was apparently the main reason for Li Da to identify the AMP with the feudal system.
A nother C hinese M arxist, H u Q iuyuan, also believed that the AMP should be considered as the sam e as feudalism .22 A ccording to Hu, M arx clearly indicated in C a p i t a l that the broad basis of the AMP w as form ed by the unity of sm all agriculture and dom estic industry (C a p i t a l, vol. 3, p. 392). This unity also form ed the basis of the feudal m ode of production (Capital, vol. 3, pp. 937-938). Also, w hen discussing the form s of various kind of rent, H u claim ed, M arx did not think there w as a substantial distinction betw een the rent of the AMP and that of feudal society. No m atter w hether the landow ner was a private in d iv id u a l or the state, the n a tu re of ren ts could n o t change (D espotism , p. 5). If there w ere differences, they w ere b u t infinite variatio n s and g rad atio n s based on the sam e econom ic conditions (Despotism, p. 6). According to H u the AMP should be defined as a pre capitalist com bination of rural com m unity and feudal serfdom existing both in C hina and India. Politically, it was characterized by despotism (Despotism, p. 21).
Indeed, all settled pre-capitalist societies could be characterized by the p red o m in an ce of ag ricu ltu ral p ro d u ctio n and by the relation b e tw ee n a g ric u ltu ra l p ro d u ce rs an d lan d o w n ers. The difference b etw een the AMP and the feudal m ode of p ro d u ctio n should not m erely be lim ited to rent. The social structure in both m edieval Europe an d ancient C hina p resen ted a very com plex picture. Like slave ow ning societies and capitalist societies, feudal society in the W est was also based on guarantees of ow nership rights. But it was not a m ere
22 Hu Qiuyuan, "Yaxiya shengchan fangshi yu zhuanzhi zhuyi" [The Asiatic Mode of Production and Despotism], in DSZZ, vol. 2, nos. 7-8, 1932. Hereafter referred to as "Despotism"and page numbers in DSZZ only.
Chapter 4, the First Discussion 135 econom ic system . Feudalism involved a com plex netw ork of legal, political and social system s. N or w as a special form of extracting surplus value the only feature of its economic system. Even in terms of rent, how ever, M arx clearly distinguished the AMP from other p re capitalist class social form ations. C ontrary to H u Q iuyuan's claim that M arx did not distinguish the forms of rent in the AMP and in feudal society, Marx stated in Capital, that
If the direct producers are not under the sovereignty of a private landlord, but rather under that of a state which stands over them as their direct landlord and sovereign, then rent and taxes coincide, or rather, there is no tax which differs from this form of ground-rent. Under these circumstances the subject need not be politically or economically under any harder pressure than that common to all subjection to that state. The state is then the supreme landlord. The sovereignty consists here in the ownership of land concentrated on a national scale. But, on the other hand, no private ownership of land exists, although there is both private and common possession and use of land (Capital, vol. 3, p. 919).
M ore im portantly, im m ediately follow ing this p arag rap h , Marx w ent on:
The specific economic form, in which unpaid surplus labour is pumped out of the direct producers, determines the relation of rulers and ruled, as it grows immediately out of production itself and reacts upon it as a determining element. Upon this is founded the entire formation of the economic community which grows up out of the conditions of production itself, and this also determines its specific political shape. It is always the direct relation of the owners of the conditions of production to the direct producers, which reveals the innermost secret, the hidden foundation of the entire social construction, and with it of the political form of the relations between sovereignty and dependence, in short, of the corresponding form of the state. The form of this relation between rulers and ruled naturally corresponds always with a definite stage in the development of the methods of labour and of its productive social power (Capital, vol. 3, p. 919).
This second p arag rap h has show n that different forms of rent ap p ro p riatio n reflected special econom ic forms in w hich the unpaid su rp lu s value of direct producers was extracted.T hrough the special economic form s of surplus value extraction, the ''innerm ost secret, the hid d en foundation of the entire social construction" and "the political form of the relations betw een sovereignty and dependence" could be revealed. Therefore, contrary to w hat Li Da and H u Q iuyuan claimed, the special form of rent extraction in the AMP distinguished the entire social, political and economic system of the AMP from those of other post-prim itive societies, including feudalism.
Except for G uo M oruo, w ho elaborated an isom orphic version of C hinese and W estern history, m ost C hinese h istorians in the first discussion recognized, in various degrees, the uniqueness of Chinese history. In their different interpretations of the AMP, how ever, they not only significantly m odified the m eaning of M arx's concept of the AMP, b u t also extended the concepts of slavery and feudalism as well. This enabled them to cover a greater range of variations. Despite their reco g n itio n of the u n iq u en ess of C hinese h isto ry , m ost C hinese h isto rian s in the early days of this cen tu ry seem ed to reject the inference of the Aziatchiki that China belonged to a special version of the AMP. Political im plications and nationalistic sentim ent m ay have played a p art in their reasoning, but the term itself seem ed unfitting. There w ere some concepts in M arx's ideas of the AMP which w ere not applicable to the historical reality of Chinese society. Let us turn to a m ore detailed discussion of Chinese dissatisfaction w ith the concept of the AMP.
Chapter 4, the First Discussion 137