მევახშეობის პოლიტეკონომია ფეოდალურ საქართველოში

Abstract

Money-lending starts with the origin and development of trade relationship. Credit and debt is an inseparable part of social and economic life at every stage of societal development. Share of usury is small under subsistence economy however it is still evident. Relationship of a creditor and a debtor during the feudal era is my area of research this time. Based on Georgian documents I will emphasize how money-lending affected production relationships and also how it changed forms of property. The other interesting aspects of the credit are to what extent it shaped class relationships, what were the differences between the credit given to a peasant and to a lord, how taking the credit affected the economic life of a peasant or a lord and what amount of its income a peasant was supposed to pay as an interest rate. It is believed that usury did not serve the progress. Its revolutionary role can be traced in the demolition of manorial economy only. On the other hand, a lord with a credit had to pay the loan from his own resources which served as a double burden for his peasant who in turn was obliged to do the job of a serf and apart for his regular work he was punished with surplus labor imposed on him because of his lord’s credit. The paper deals with theoretical aspects of the formation of usury in Georgia. Since usury is not possible without a cash crop I tried to analyze which product could become one in feudal Georgia, also how it was converted into money rent and also, who was accumulating this income, why usury capital ended up in the hands of monasteries and how clergy was involved in this activity despite the ban. Interrelationship of interest rates of different periods is also discussed. In addition, different aspects, for example, how quantity of profit affected the peasant’s holdings, what were the reasons a peasant might loan money, what 66 was the share of interest in his income and also, what was the relationship between the rent and the profit is addressed. One specific example discussed in the paper will shed the light not only on peasant’s economic grievances but also on his moral condition, i. e. how money-lending affected his life. The paper is an outline of a future research which will emphasize history of usury in feudal Georgia in the frameworks of historical materialism using the methodology of political economy.