Bibliographical comments on the second serfdom in Poland

Abstract

The importance of the analyzes developed by Polish historians, particularly in the 1960s-1970s, regarding the phenomena described as second serfdom (wtórne podda´nstwo), refeudalization (refeudalizacja) or "large corvee-based domains" (folwark pa´nszczy´zniane) in Eastern Europe in general and, in particular, in Poland, are not limited only to the study of the history of a specific economic-social formation, but also involve problems closely associated with these, such as, for example, the "agrarian dualism of Europe", the interpenetration between the different economic zones in the 15th-18th centuries, as well as the causes of the backwardness of the regions "east of the Elbe" and their late transitions to capitalism.