... peasants turning to industrial production, such as 'textiles', 'straw-plaiting' and 'glass making'1, and creating domestic and international markets where this produce was sold. This is clearly an early capitalist development, with the emergence of industrial production and the commercialisation of trade. Medick theorized an outline of the stages for proto-industrialisation to develop into industrialisation, with the first stage, 'Kaufsystem', referring to the 'rural-peasants' maintenance of control over the production and selling of their output. Entrepreneurs recognised the attractiveness of rural workers, and rural production, as it was uninhibited by 'urban guilds and company restrictions' the way many towns were, whilst many worker's wages could be lower as some still partly had a subsistence base in agriculture. This led to 'Verlagsystem', a heightened merchant capital investment, which lead to the peasants' loss of control and autonomy over production. Merchant capitalists would supply factor inputs, and workers would process them in return for ...

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