Article

2014-06-01 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Belarus Is Planning To Bring Back Serfdom

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Posted by Grunter 2014-06-01 09:09|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top

#1 What was once old is new again -

The main problem with the coloni was that of preventing them from leaving the land they had agreed to cultivate as tenant farmers. The solution was to legally bind them to their holdings. Accordingly, a legal code established by the Roman emperor Constantine in 332 demanded labour services to be paid to the lord by the coloni. Although the coloni were legally free, the conditions of fealty required them to cultivate their lords untenanted lands as well as their leased plot. This not only tied them to their holdings but also made their social status essentially servile, since the exaction of labour services required the landlords agents to exercise discipline over the coloni. The threat, or the exercise, of this discipline was recognized as one of the clearest signs of a mans personal subjection. - cite

Posted by Procopius2k 2014-06-01 10:46|| 2014-06-01 10:46|| Front Page Top

#2 So much for various "international laws" -

UN 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery

Forced Labour Convention

Posted by Procopius2k 2014-06-01 10:46|| 2014-06-01 10:46|| Front Page Top

#3 Although the coloni were legally free, the conditions of fealty required them to cultivate their lord's untenanted lands as well as their leased plot.
Or, as Woodie Guthrie put it, "Some rob you with a six-gun, some with a fountain pen." Constantine did it better, without six guns or fountain pens. Swords, clubs and written decrees sufficed then. Slavery is about the same as cannibalism.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-06-01 11:08|| 2014-06-01 11:08|| Front Page Top

#4 See 'Passport system in the Soviet Union.'

Posted by Elmerert Hupens2660 2014-06-01 12:07|| 2014-06-01 12:07|| Front Page Top

#5 If only Putin knew...

Posted by Grunter 2014-06-01 13:35|| 2014-06-01 13:35|| Front Page Top

#6 Grunter, if Putin knew, he would say it was deplorable, but that he's not going to go around judging people or violating their national sovereignity or anything like that. I suspect.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2014-06-01 14:52|| 2014-06-01 14:52|| Front Page Top

#7 If only Putin knew...
I am reading the Court of the Red Tsar atm. :)

Posted by Shipman 2014-06-01 18:10|| 2014-06-01 18:10|| Front Page Top

#8 Good book. When you're done try Stalin: Breaker of Nations.

Posted by Secret Master 2014-06-01 20:07|| 2014-06-01 20:07|| Front Page Top

#9 Well, ya know, "STAR WARS" DARTH VADER was a "Slave".

Posted by JosephMendiola 2014-06-01 22:50|| 2014-06-01 22:50|| Front Page Top

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