Serfs are better than slaves. [View all]

[alberg]

Slaves are expensive. I’ve got to buy them and then I have to maintain them. I have to feed them and house them and clothed them. I have to take care of them when they are sick. And because they have no illusions about their status, there’s always the chance that I’ll lose their services if they run away.

Serfs are free. They come with the environment, like the trees and land and water. There is no need to care for them. Finding food, clothing and shelter is their problem. If one of them becomes sick or dies there is always another to take its place. And because they believe their status is “part of the natural order of things”, an inevitable result of the “free market”, they are reluctant to organize and take any collective action that might result in a meaningful change in their status.

Serfs are better than slaves.