In his opinion, only practical activity generates virtue.

On the basis of territorial communities tribes are formed, intertribal associations are born, a hierarchical structure of clans is formed, the most noble of them are distinguished, headed by recognized heads – patriarchs.

In the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, the Bronze Age began on the territory of Ukraine. It got its name from the name of this alloy (copper plus tin or less often – lead or arsenic). It is believed that the discovery of this alloy could be facilitated by the presence of tin impurities in some copper ores (the best bronze is 9 parts copper and 1 part tin). When people became convinced of the advantages of the new metal, they began to make tools and weapons from it. In the territory of today’s Donbass in ancient times there were mines for mining ores needed for bronze production.

The development of bronze production and the emergence of a significant number of metal tools contributed to the further development of the entire economic complex, the interaction between pastoral and agricultural tribes, which at the same time deepened their specialization. Just at the beginning of the Bronze Age in the steppes of Eastern Europe, the process of distinguishing pastoral tribes from among others was completed. This marked the beginning of the accumulation of wealth (primarily livestock and agricultural goods) in the hands of individual families.

The Bronze Age is characterized by a large number of archaeological cultures (about 20). In general, the world of that time, as already noted, was divided into agricultural and pastoral. In the northern areas, during the whole mentioned period, the extraction of stone and the manufacture of various products from it still occupied an extremely important place.

Agriculture began to develop on the relatively light soils of Polissya, as evidenced by the findings of ancient wooden plows in the village. Turners in Sumy region and Polissya in Chernihiv region. Agriculture in the forest-steppe zone, the most favorable for this occupation, has reached even greater development. Here the range of cultivated plants considerably expands: finds of several grades of wheat, millet, barley, flax, hemp, peas, lentils are fixed; horticulture and gardening develop (cherry, plum, turnip, onion, garlic, poppy seeds are found).

The image of a plow on the slabs of the Tash-Air canopy in the Crimea and rock drawings of bulls in a yoke in the Stone Grave in the Azov Sea, indicate that in the II millennium BC was already known arable farming. In the steppe regions, the main was livestock. Here all kinds of domestic animals were known, first of all cattle, flocks of sheep and goats gradually increased. But the steppes were also known for growing cereals. As in the Northern Territories, community handicrafts developed, which contributed to the selection of artisans of various fields, especially professionals – metallurgists (Black Sea), masters of making flint tools (Volyn).

According to the pace of social development, the forest-steppe zone was somewhat inferior to the steppe zone, but both of them were under the influence of general laws, their social relations were based on the patriarchal family and tribal organization.

The Bronze Age in Ukraine is the final stage of the primitive communal system, which has passed a long way of development from the primitive community on the basis of exogamous marital relations to mutually apostate tribal associations. It gave birth to and matured all the prerequisites for the emergence of class-class relations – dominant in the next historical stage.

01.10.2011

Economic Thought of Ancient China. Abstract

The economic thought of ancient China arose and developed within the framework of contemporary philosophical and political teachings.

The main directions of ancient Chinese public opinion were Confucianism, Legism, Taoism and Moism, which were formed in the IV-III centuries. BC For centuries, there has been a sharp controversy between these areas about the economic system of society, community, its historical destiny, the degree of state intervention in narrative ideas the economic life of the country and methods of governing it. The leading trend was Confucianism, which, having become a state ideology, had a great influence on the socio-economic and political development of China for almost two millennia. The name of this trend comes from the name of its founder – Confucius (Kun Tzu) (c. 551 – 479 BC).

The main postulates of the teachings of Confucius are set out in the collection “Lun Yu” (“Conversations and Reflections”), recorded by his students. His teachings defended the archaic relationship, the eternal and unchanging order established by the legendary rulers of antiquity, strict social hierarchy, management on the basis of strict observance of rituals, ceremonies, certain norms of ethics and morality; considered the regulation of patriarchal and family relations as a guarantee of stability of the state system.

Confucius proposed a kind of socio-economic program for the rulers. In his opinion, the ruler should keep to save money and take care of people. It was proposed to distribute wealth “more fairly” so that there would not be too much poverty, to reduce taxes and to involve the people in public works without violating the seasonality of agricultural production. Then, according to Confucius, harmony will be ensured in the state, peace in relations between the upper and lower classes, which will eliminate the danger of overthrowing the ruler.

An outstanding representative of Confucianism in ancient China was Menzi (372 – 289 BC). He put forward the concept of the division of Chinese society into rulers and ruled, believing that such a division is “a common law in China.” Thus recognized the natural relationship of domination and subordination. The ruled had to keep those who ruled them. To do this as successfully as possible, Mencius proposed to revive the former communal forms of production and introduce a system of “well fields” (so named in the order of the fields, reminiscent of the hieroglyph “well”). According to it, public land was divided into nine equal plots. Eight of them were cultivated by separate families, and the ninth (“public field”) – by all these families together. The harvest from this area was destined for the state.

Mencius, like Confucius, advocated moderate taxes and advocated giving the peasant the time needed to cultivate his own field, for the development of trade between farmers and artisans. Considering trade, Meng Tzu noted that the same goods, but different sizes (such as shoes) must have different prices and that the same goods may differ in labor costs for their production.

Xun Tzu (313-238 BC) was also an exponent of the economic ideas of ancient Confucianism. In his teachings, he, in contrast to Confucius and Mencius, proceeded from the “evil nature” of man. In his opinion, only practical activity generates virtue. Without condemning people’s desire to get rich, Xun-tzu considered it a sign of virtue if the poor got rich by acting within the law. He expressed the idea of ​​the need for division of labor. Xun Tzu noted that the things used by one person are the result of the work of many people, because not everyone can master the art of all [crafts] at the same time.

Therefore, Xun-tzu believed, the sages divided the responsibilities among the people so that they would not do only what was beneficial to them. The main manager of the distribution of responsibilities in the state should be its ruler. Once all positions and affairs are properly distributed among the people, the path to wealth will be opened.

According to Xun Tzu, the main principles of economic policy of the state should be: cost savings, ensuring prosperity to the people, the need to preserve surpluses. Savings (and at the same time wealth) were provided to meet only the level of needs that corresponded to the social rank of man. Thrift will provide the state with surplus social product. They must be accumulated and stored.

As we can see, the teachings of Confucius, developed by his many followers, have evolved and modernized, increasingly adapting to the conditions of a centralized state, to the tasks of ensuring its stability, the reliability of the bureaucracy. The ideas of a social order based on unquestioning submission to power, associated with seniority and wisdom, came to the fore. Confucianism sought a strong, unchanging social order. To avoid social conflicts, the Confucians urged the rulers not to distract the peasants from agricultural work during the harvest, to take care of improving the welfare of the people, to reduce taxes and others.

Confucianism was also influenced by such a current of ancient Chinese public opinion as legism. Unlike the Confucians, who mostly dealt with moral and ethical issues, the Legists paid great attention to the organization of public administration, which, in their opinion, should be based not on traditions and rituals, but on perfect legislation.

The school of legists arose in the VI-V centuries. BC One of its founders was Lee Kui – the first minister of the ruler of the Wei kingdom (424 – 386 BC). He compiled a “Summary” of all existing laws, which became the basis of legislation in the period of III century. BC e. – III st. N. e. There is information that Li Kui created the doctrine of the fullest use of land forces, embodying the ideas of state regulation of the grain market. According to Li Kui, the state must regulate grain prices by buying grain during the harvest years and selling it at fixed prices from state barns during the years of natural disasters and famines.

A prominent representative of the school of legists was Gunsun Yang (390 – 338 BC), also known as Shang Yang. His economic views are set out in the “Book of the Governor of the Diana” compiled by his students in the late IV – first half of III century. BC e. Shang Yang believed that the state achieves prosperity through two means: agriculture and war. The ruler needs to accumulate large stocks of food to wage war and keep officials. And since, according to Shang Yang, the agriculture of China at the time was in a state of disrepair, the state had to actively pursue a policy of “return to the land.”

Shang Yang proposed a general court census of peasants and the introduction of a single tax on the amount of grain harvested, forcibly attracting lazy people, lazy people, vagrants to agriculture, and significantly increasing tariffs on outposts and markets to prevent buying grain at cheap prices and speculating in lean years.