The Village Community

( Originally Published Early 1900's )

So long as people continued to lead a wandering shepherd life, the institution of the patriarchal family afforded a sufficient and satisfactory basis for such cordial union as was possible. It was a condition of society in which the relations of the different members to each other were extremely simple and confined within very narrow boundaries; but the habits of life prevented the existence of any very complicated social order, and at the same time gave a peculiar force and endurance to those customs and ties which did exist. For while the different tribes had no settled dwelling-places, the only cohesion possible was that produced by the personal relations of the different members to each other. Those beyond the limits of the tribe or household could have no permanent connection with it. They were simply "strangers," friends or enemies, as circumstances might determine, but having no common interests, connected by no abiding link, with those who were not members of the same community. When a family became so numerous that it was necessary for its members to separate, the new family, formed under the influence of this pressure, would at first remember the parent stock with reverence, and perhaps regard the patriarch of the elder branch as entitled to some sort of obedience from, and possessing some indefinite kind of power over, it after separation. It would however soon wander away and lose all connection with its relatives, forgetting perhaps in the course of time whence it had sprung, or inventing a pedigree more pleasing to the vanity of its members. But when men began to learn to till the soil, by degrees they had to abandon their nomadic life, and to have for a time fixed dwelling-places, in order that they might guard their crops, and gather, in the time of harvest, the fruits of their labor. Cattle were no longer the only means of subsistence, nor sufficiency of pasture the only limit to migration. A part of their wealth was, for a time, bound up in the land which they had tilled and sowed, and to obtain that wealth they must remain in the neighborhood of the cultivated soil. Thus a new relationship arose between different families. They began to have neighbors; dwellers on and cultivators of the land bordering their own; so that common interests sprang up between those who had hitherto had nothing in common, new ties began to connect together those who had had formerly no fixed relations.

The adoption of agriculture changed likewise the relation of men to the land on which they dwelt. Hitherto the tracts of pasture over which the herdsman had driven his flocks and cattle had been as unappropriated as the open sea, as free as the air which he breathed. He neither claimed any property in the land himself, nor acknowledged any title thereto in another. He had spent no labor on it, had done nothing to improve its fertility; and his only right as against others to any locality was that of his temporary sojourn there. But when agriculture began to require the expenditure of labor on the land, and its inclosure, so as to protect the crops which had been sown, a new distinct idea of the possession of these inclosed pieces of land began to arise, so that a man was no longer simply the member of a particular family. He had acquired new rights and attributes, for which the patriarchal economy had made no provision. He was the inhabitant of a particular locality, the owner and cultivator of a particular piece of land. The effect of this change was necessarily to weaken the household tie which bound men together, by introducing new relations between them. The great strength of that early bond had consisted in its being the only one which the state of society rendered possible; and its force was greatly augmented by the isolation in which the different nomadic groups habitually lived. The adoption of a more permanent settlement thus tended in two ways to facilitate the introduction of a new social organization. By increasing the intercourse, and rendering more permanent the connection between different families, it destroyed their isolation, and therefore weakened the autocratic power of their chiefs; and at the same time, by introducing new interests into the life of the members of a family, and new relations between different families, it required the adoption of regulations sometimes necessarily opposed to the principles of patriarchal rule. We must remember, however, that the change from a nomadic to a settled state took place very gradually, some peoples being influenced by it much more slowly than others. Agriculture may be practised to a certain extent by those who lead a more or less wandering life, as is the case with the Tartar tribes, who grow buckwheat, which only takes two or three months for its production; so that at the end of that time they are able to gather their harvest and once more wander in search of new pastures. It is probable that the earliest agriculture practised was something of this rude description; and even when tribes learnt the advantage of cultivating more slowly-germinating crops, they would not readily abandon their nomadic habits, which long continuance rendered dear to them; but would only become agriculturists under the pressure of circumstances. The hunter tribes of North American Indians, and the Gipsies of Europe, serve to show us how deeply rooted the love of wandering and the dislike to settled industry may become in a people. It was probably to the difficulty of supporting existence produced by the increase of population that the more continuous pursuit of agriculture was due; and it would therefore be first regularly followed by the Iess warlike tribes, whose territory would be curtailed by the incursions of their bolder neighbors. No longer able to seek pasture over so extended an area as formerly, and with perhaps an increasing population, they would find the necessity of obtaining from the land a greater proportionate supply of subsistence than they had hitherto done. Agriculture would therefore have to be pursued more regularly and laboriously, and thus the habit of settlement would gradually be acquired. Under this influence we may discern a change taking place in the social state of the Aryantribes. Gradually they become less nomadic and more agricultural; and as this takes place, there arises also a change in the relations of peoples to each other. We should naturally expect considerable variety in the effects produced on different nations by the adoption of a settled life; the results varying with the climate and locality, the sort of cultivation followed, and the idiosyncrasies of the people. But though all these elements had their influence in determining the sort of organization which was adopted, yet one special type is found very widely among the Aryans. This form is called the Village Community, and it possesses some features apparently so peculiarly its own, that it would be difficult to decide on the cause of its adoption or growth. It will be safer with our present limited knowledge to satisfy ourselves with noting its more marked characteristics, and the localities in which it may be traced, without attempting to determine whether it is to be regarded as a natural resultant of the settlement of patriarchal families, or as inherited or evolved by some particular group of tribes.

The village community in its simplest state consisted of a group of families, or households, whose dwellings were generally collected together within an inclosure. To this group belonged a certain tract of land, the cultivation and proprietor-ship of which was the subject of minute regulations, varying in different localities to a certain extent, but based on the division of the land into three principal parts, one of which consisted of that immediately in the neighborhood of the dwellings, another of a part specially set aside for agricultural purposes, and the remaining third was the surrounding open country, which was used only for grazing. Each of these divisions was regarded as in some sort the common property of the village; but the rights of individuals in some of them were more extensive than in others. That part of the land which was annexed especially to the dwellings was more completely the property of the different inhabitants than any other. Each head of a house was entitled to the particular plot attached to his dwelling, and probably these plots, and the dwellings to which they were annexed, remained always practically in the ownership of the same family. The area of this division, however, was very insignificant when compared with the rest of the communal estate. The arable part was divided into a number of small plots, each or several of which were assigned to particular households. The mode of division of this part was very various; but generally speaking, either each household had an equal share assigned to it, or else a share in proportion to the number of its males. Redistributions of the shares took place either at stated periods, or whenever circumstances had rendered the existing division inequitable. Each household cultivated the particular share assigned to it, and appropriated to its own use the crops produced; but individuals were never allowed to adopt for themselves the mode of cultivation that they might choose. The crops to be sown, and the part of land on which they were to be sown, were all regulated by the common assembly of the whole village, as were also the times for sowing and for harvest, and every other agricultural operation; and these laws of the assembly had to be implicitly followed by all the villagers. The open or common land of the village was not divided between the households at all; but every member of the community was at liberty to pasture his flocks and herds upon it.

In their relations to each other the villagers seem to have been on a footing of perfect equality. It is probable that there existed generally some sort of chief, but his power- does not appear to have been very great, and for the most part he was merely a president of their assemblies, exercising only an influence in proportion to his personal qualifications. The real lawgivers and rulers of this society are the different individuals which compose the assembly. These, however, do not comprise all the inhabitants of the village. Only the heads of the different families were properly included in the village assembly. But the household has no longer the same extended circle as formerly, and, so far as we can gather, there seems to have been little check on the division of families and the formation of new households.

It must be borne in mind, however, that we have no existing institution exactly resembling the village community, as we may suppose it must have originally been. As with the patriarchal family, we meet with it only after it has undergone considerable modification, and we have to. reconstruct it from such modified forms and traditions as remain to us. Many minor details of its nature are therefore necessarily matters of speculation. The community, however, may still be found in a changed form in several localities; notably among the peasantry of Russia, and the native population of India; and its former existence among the Teuton tribes is attested by evidence of the clearest description. With each of these peoples, however, the form is somewhat varied from what we may conclude to have been its original nature; in each country it has been subject not only to the natural growth and development which every institution is liable to, but to special influences arising from the events connected with the nation's history, and from the nature and extent of its territory. But before we inquire what these different influences may have been, let us notice first certain leading characteristics of this group, and consider how they may have arisen.

The first thing that attracts observation is the change in the source of authority in this community from that which existed in the patriarchal family. The ruling power is no longer placed in the hands of an individual chief, but is vested in an assembly of all the householders. The second marked peculiarity is the common possession of the land by the village, combined with the individual possession of goods of a movable nature by the different members. These may be said to be the two essentials of a true village community. Now the change from the patriarchal to this later social form may have taken place by either of two processes the extension of an individual family into a community, or the amalgamation of various families. Probably both of these processes took place; but wherever anything like the formation of a village community has been actually observed, and the process has occasionally been discernible even in modern times in India, it is due to the former of the two causes indicated. This mode of formation also appears to have left the most distinct impress on society, and we will therefore notice first how it probably acted.

When a family had devoted itself to agricultural pursuits, and settled in a fixed locality, one of those divisions of its members might take place which probably were of frequent occurrence in the nomadic state. Although theoretically we speak of the patriarchal family as united and indivisible, yet as a matter of fact we know that such was not always the case, and that families must frequently have either split up, or else sent off little colonies from their midst. Now as we have already pointed out, the settlement of the family would have a marked effect in preserving a permanent connection between it and its offspring; so that the separation would be by no means so complete as formerly. The subsidiary family would continue in close intercourse with the elder branch, and would enjoy with it the use of the land which had been appropriated. In course of time it might happen that a whole group of families would thus become settled near each other, all united by a common origin and enjoying in common the land surrounding the settlement; for the necessity for mutual protection, which would often arise, would alone be a strong inducement to preserve the neighborhood of those who from kinship were by nature and tradition allies. And although each separate family would continue in its internal relations the peculiarities of the patriarchal rule, the heads of the different families would be related to each other on quite a new principle. They would no longer be members of one family all subservient to a common chief, but they would still be united by the bond of their common interests.

There would thus spring up a new relationship between the family chiefs, a relationship not provided for in the construction of the patriarchal family. We might expect perhaps that a special preeminence would be accorded to the original family from which the others had separated, and possibly some traces of this pre-eminence may here and there be discovered. But, for some reason which has not hitherto received any explanation, the general principle of equality among the different heads of households prevailed. As we do not know exactly by what process families became divided, it is useless to speculate how this equality arose. Another effect produced by settlement has already been indicated; namely, the decrease of the power of the patriarch within his own circle. The family having ceased to be the bond of union, though the units composing the new combination were themselves groups constructed on the patriarchal type, the fact that they were now only parts of larger groups had the effect of weakening the force of patriarchal customs. When the household was the only state of which an individual was a member, to leave it was to lose all share in its rights and property. But when the family became part of the village, the facilities for separating from it were necessarily increased. Households would more readily subdivide, now that after separation their component parts continued united in the community. Thus by degrees the old patriarchal life decayed and gave place to this new and more elastic social formation. The importance of an individual's relation to the family became less, that of the family to the community became greater; so that by degrees the community absorbed the regulation of many affairs originally within the exclusive power of the patriarch. A new lesson has also been learnt with regard to property. It is difficult to discern whether, in the older group, the property was regarded as exclusively that of the chief, or as belonging to the family collectively. The truth seems to be that the two ideas were blended, and neither was conceived with any completeness. In the later group for the first time each form of property becomes fully developed ; either kind producing a clearer idea of the other by their contrast. The land, the bond of union, and the limit of the extent of the community, remained the common property of all ; in part, no doubt, because the idea of possessing land was still so new that it had not been thoroughly grasped. The produce of the land, whether corn or pasture, was rather regarded as a proper subject of possession ; and though at first, in obedience to the habits of their former life, this may also have been looked upon as common property, it did not long continue so, as the separation of the households remained too complete to permit of any community with regard to the actual homestead, or of the produce required for the support of each household ; and this separation of goods by the force of circumstances soon extended to cattle and the produce of the harvest.1

The effects produced by their new relation to each other on the members of this group were very important. Hitherto such idea of law as existed was confined to the mandates or traditional regulations of the patriarchs. Law too appears at first inseparably connected with religion. It was looked upon as a series of regulations handed down from some ancestor who received them by divine inspiration. This notion of the origin of law is so general, that it is to be met with in the traditions of almost every nation. Thus we find the Egyptians reputing their laws to the teachings of Hermes (Thoth) ; while the lawgivers of Greece, Minos, and Lycurgus, are inspired, the one by Zeus, the other by Apollo. So too the Iranian lawgiver Zoroaster is taught by the Good Spirit ; and Moses receives the commandments on Mount Sinai. Now though this idea of law is favorable to the procuring obedience to it, it produces an injurious effect on the law itself, by rendering it too fixed and unalterable. Law, in order to satisfy the requirements and changes of life, should be elastic and capable of adaptation ; otherwise, regulations which in their institution were beneficial will survive to be obnoxious under an altered condition of society. But so long as laws are regarded as divine commands they necessarily retain a great degree of rigidity. The village community, in disconnecting the source of law from the patriarchal power, tended to destroy this association. The authority of the patriarch was a part of the religion of the early Aryans ; he was at once both the ruler and the priest of his family ; and though this union between the two characters long continued to have a great influence on the conception of law, the first efforts at a distinction between divine and human commands sprang from the regulations adopted by the assembly of the village. The complete equality and the joint authority exercised by its members was an education in self-government, which was needed to enable them to advance in the path of civilization, teaching them the importance of self-dependence and individual responsibility.

Those who learnt that lesson best displayed in their history the greatness of its influence, having gained from it a vigor and readiness to meet and adapt themselves to new requirements never possessed by the absolute monarchies which sprang from tribes unacquainted with any other principle than that of patriarchal government. The history of the various states which sprang up in Asia, each in its turn to be overwhelmed in a destruction which scarcely left a trace of its social influence, exhibits in a very striking manner the defects which necessarily ensue when a people ignorant of social arts attempts to form an extensive scheme of government. The various races raised to temporary power by the chances of war in the East, were, generally speaking, nomadic tribes whose habits had produced a hardihood which enabled them to conquer with ease their effeminate neighbors of the more settled districts, but whose social state was not sufficiently advanced to allow them to carry on any extended rule. Used only to their simple nomadic life, they were suddenly brought face to face with wants and possessions of which they had hitherto had no experience, and which lay beyond the bounds of their customs or ideas. They contented themselves with exacting from the conquered such tribute as they could extort, leaving their new subjects to manage their own affairs much as they had done before, till the conquerors, gradually corrupted by the luxuries which their position afforded, and having failed to make for themselves any firm footing in their new empire, were in their turn overwhelmed by fresh hordes of nomadic invaders. The mighty empire of Rome too fell; but how different a record has she left behind ! Having learnt in her earliest infancy, better perhaps than any other nation, how to reconcile the conflicting theories o the household and the community, she never flagged in her study of the arts of government. Early imbued with a love of law and order, her people discovered also how to accommodate their rules to the various conditions of those which came under their sway. Her laws penetrated to the remotest boundaries of her possessions, and the rights of a Roman citizen were as clearly defined in Briton as in Rome itself. Thus the Romans have left behind them a system of law the wonder and admiration of all mankind, and which has left indelible marks on the laws and customs, the arts and civilization, of every nation which once formed part of their dominions.

Such were among the influences following the adoption of the village community; but such influences only gradually asserted themselves, and the extent of their development was very various among different peoples. In India, the religious element in the household had always a peculiar force, and its influence continued to affect to a great extent the formation of the community. There this organization never lost sight of the patriarchal power, and has exhibited a constant tendency to revert to the more primitive social form. Among the Slavonic tribes the community seems to have found its most favorable conditions, and some of the reasons for this are not difficult to discern. The Slaves in Russia have for a long time had open to them an immense tract of thinly inhabited country, their only rivals to the possession of which were the Finnish tribes of the north. Now the village community is a form peculiarly adapted for colonization, and this process of colonizing fresh country by sending out detachments from over grown villages seems to have gone on for a long time in Russia; so that the communities which still exist there present a complete network of relationship to each other ; every village having some. " mother-village " from which it has sprung.' Having thus a practically boundless territory for their settlement, none of those difficulties in obtaining land which led to the decay of the village in western Europe affected the Russians in their earlier history. With the Teutons the village had a somewhat different history. It is difficult to determine exactly to what extent it existed among them; but traces of its organization are still discoverable among the laws and customs of Germany and England. The warlike habits of the German tribes, however, soon produced a marked effect on its organization. The chief of the village, whether hereditary or elective, was generally possessed of but little power. Among a warlike people, however, the necessity for a captain or dictator must have been much greater than with peaceful tribes; for war requires, more than any other pursuit, that it should be conducted by an individual will. Among the peaceful inhabitants of India or Russia the village head-man was generally some aged and venerable father exercising a sort of paternal influence over the others through the reverence paid to his age and wisdom. With the Teutons, however, their habits gave an excessive importance to the strength and vigor of manhood, and they learnt to regard those who exhibited the greatest skill in battle as their natural chieftains.