The meaning of the phrase “neighborhood community”, signs. Evolution of the East Slavic community The East Slavic rural neighborhood community is called

COMMUNITY- a supra-family association of people, a self-governing economic and social community; characteristic of the pre-industrial stage of development of human society.
The most ancient type of community was the consanguineous community, which developed among primitive peoples.
A consanguineous community existed for a long time among the Germans, Iranians, Finno-Ugrians and some other peoples. Archaeologists determine its presence by the existence of “large houses” with an area of ​​up to 300 sq.m. In each of these houses lived one patronymic (pater - “father”; a group of close relatives on the paternal side). Consanguinity among these peoples continued to play an important role during the transition to the neighboring community. All members of the patronymy traced themselves back to a well-remembered ancestor. Sometimes the names of ancestors were remembered for ten or twelve generations. Foreigners were accepted into such a community only with the “rights” of a slave, since he did not descend from this ancestor. In the tribe, consisting of patronymic communities, there was a strict hierarchy of clans - from the ruling to the completely ignorant. A person from a humble family could not become the head of a tribe.
Over time, the consanguineous community turned into a neighboring (territorial) community. Among agricultural tribes, the territorial community displaces the consanguineous community earlier than among pastoral tribes. The farmer had more opportunities to feed himself, his wife and children without the constant help of the clan.
Among the Slavs neighborhood community arose very early. This is evidenced by archaeological finds of “small houses” in which only one family could live. Foreigners easily joined the Slavic community. Slaves captured in wars eventually had the opportunity to either leave or become full members of the community. The community elected elders. The land belonged to the community, not to the individual family. Characteristic feature the Slavic community had redistributions of land.
Slavic cities served as tribal centers and places of refuge for communal peasants from external danger. Residents of the city and rural areas were divided into tens, hundreds, thousands. Perhaps there was also a council of elders - "city elders" who led the people's assembly - the veche.
The development of the neighboring or peasant community among the Slavs is associated with the gradual decomposition of tribal relations and the formation Old Russian state.

The nature and essence of the ancient Russian community, which was called the rope, still remains insufficiently studied. Probably, at an early stage it united several nearby settlements, each of which was home to several (sometimes several dozen) families. The community owned pastures, meadows and forests, hunting and fishing grounds, as well as livestock. The community ensured the stability of relations within a tribe or union of tribes. Moreover, for a long time, the community organization slowed down the processes of property stratification and the separation of more prosperous families from among the free community members.
Free community members (“people”, in the terminology of Russian Pravda) remained the main population of Rus' in the first centuries after the formation of the Old Russian state. As the princely tribute (later taxes) was imposed on the community members, the community lost ownership rights to the land, which led to the formation and expansion of patrimonial land ownership and the gradual enslavement of the peasantry.
Throughout the history of the Old Russian state and Muscovite Rus', right up to the middle. XVII century the community, to a certain extent, guaranteed the peasants included in it a minimum of rights in their relationships with landowners and state authorities in exchange for the fulfillment of a certain amount of duties by the community members. Relations within the community were regulated by mutual responsibility, which was recorded in the Russian Pravda and retained its significance for several centuries. Zemstvo reform ser. XVI century increased the role of community self-government, especially in areas with a predominance of the black-growing population. However, as serfdom was legally formalized, the community came increasingly under the control of government agencies.
Nevertheless, the community maintained important role in the organization of economic and land relations in the village, in particular, in determining the principles for the use of communal lands - forests, rivers, meadows, etc., in the periodic redistribution of land that is in the hereditary possession of peasant households, in the distribution of taxes and taxes among them. The community retained these functions to one degree or another until the beginning. XX century

Eastern Slavs are a cultural and linguistic community of Slavs who speak East Slavic languages.

The language of the Eastern Slavs - the ancestors of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians - was uniform for a long time (until the 13th century). But over time it changed. Already in the Old Russian language there were tens of thousands of words, but no more than two thousand go back to the ancient, common Slavic language. New words were either formed from common Slavic ones, or were a reinterpretation of old ones, or were borrowed.

As for the external appearance of the Eastern Slavs, according to the descriptions of ancient historians, they were vigorous, strong, and tireless. Despising the bad weather characteristic of the northern climate, they endured hunger and every need. The Slavs surprised the Greeks with their tirelessness and speed. They cared little about their appearance, believing that the main beauty of men was the strength of the body, strength in the hands and ease of movement. The Greeks praised the Slavs for their slimness, tall stature and courageous, pleasant face. This description of the Slavs and Antes was left by the Byzantine historical writers Procopius of Caesarea and Mauritius, who knew them back in the 6th century.

By the 17th century, on the basis of the East Slavic community, the following were formed (in descending order of numbers): Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian peoples.

In the VIII–IX centuries. Several associations of Eastern Slavs formed on the territory of Belarus. The Krivichi-Polotsk residents settled along the Western Dvina. There is a literary hypothesis that their name could be derived from the word “krovnye,” which means “close by blood.” Krivichi arose as a result of the Slavicization of the Balts - the mixing of newcomer Slavs with local Baltic tribes. The southern neighbors of the Polotsk Krivichi were the Dregovichi, who lived between Pripyat and Dvina. It is widely believed that their name comes from the word “drygva” - swamp, since in ancient times the territory of Pripyat Polesie was swampy. The neighbors of the Dregovichs were the Radimichi, who settled on the Sozh River. The Eastern Slavs gradually developed the territory of Belarus until the 10th century. became its main population. To denote the commonality of all Eastern Slavs, historians use the name “Old Russian nationality”.

The main occupations of the population of Belarus in the 9th–12th centuries. there was agriculture and animal husbandry. With the slash-and-burn type of agriculture, the forest was cut down, the stumps were burned, and the land freed from the forest was sown. The ash that remained after burning the stumps was used as fertilizer. They cultivated the land with a knot harrow made from a tree trunk with branches cut off. During the transition to the arable type of agriculture, they began to use a wooden plow with iron coulters and a wooden plow with iron tips. Common agricultural crops were rye, millet, and wheat. A secondary role was played by hunting, fishing, beekeeping - collecting honey from forest bees.

The transition from the tribal to the neighboring (rural) community was associated with the transition from slash-and-burn to arable farming. Now it was possible to cultivate the land with the help of a plow and a rawl, and harvest the crops with the help of one small family. People were given the opportunity to form separate families. In search of fertile and convenient land for farming, relatives from the same family began to leave fortified settlements and build unfortified settlements on new lands. The population in the settlements was part of neighboring (rural) communities. Independent peasant families formed a neighboring community, called “verv” by the Slavs. This name comes from the word “rope”, which was used to measure out a piece of land that belonged to each member of the community.

In the 9th–12th centuries. Among the Eastern Slavs, a feudal economic structure arose - a way of running a household. It was associated with the emergence of property inequality among communal peasants and their stratification into poor and rich. The land, previously owned by the rural community, gradually became the private property of the community members. There was a violent seizure of land by tribal nobility and the transformation of free community members into dependent peasants. Large landowners seized communal lands and turned them into their own property - a fief, which could be given for use to the feudal lord's warriors for the duration of their service.

The feudal lord (prince) - the owner of a certain amount of local land - together with his squad (army) collected tribute from the subject population - a tax in kind with products, which was called polyudye. This usually happened in the fall, when the harvest was harvested. The prince's warriors (they were also called boyars) could receive from him primi for feeding - the right to collect income from a certain territory.

In the IX-XII centuries. the process of the emergence of cities is underway. The reasons for this were: the separation of crafts from agriculture; concentration of artisans in places close to the sources of raw materials necessary for their activities; the development of the exchange of agricultural products for things made by artisans.

Cities arose as centers of crafts and trade in those places where it was convenient to engage in them - at the intersections of rivers and roads. Some cities received their names from the rivers on which they were founded, for example Polotsk - from the Polota River, Vitebsk - from the Vitba River. An important role in the emergence of cities was played by the need for defense against the enemy. Therefore, cities were built on natural fortifications - hills and hills.

In total, medieval written sources name more than 30 cities on the territory of Belarus. The city consisted of several parts. The center of the city, fortified with ramparts, ditches, and steppes, was called Detinets. The settlement of artisans and traders, which was formed near the fortified center, was called a posad. Usually there is a market or trade near the Detinets on the river bank.

The most common crafts in the cities were blacksmithing - the manufacture of metal tools and weapons; pottery - making pottery; leatherworking - leather processing; cooperage - making barrels; spinning and weaving – making clothes.

Trade played an important role in cities. A medieval trade waterway “from the Varangians to the Greeks” passed through the territory of Belarus, which connected the Baltic (Varangian) and Black (Russian) seas through the Western Dvina and Dnieper rivers. Between these rivers, in the area of ​​modern Orsha and Vitebsk, overland routes of communication were established - portages along which ships were pulled along the ground, placing logs under them.

The most ancient Belarusian city is Polotsk. It was first mentioned in chronicles in 862.

The neighboring community was a more complex formation than the clan community in the primitive social organization.

We can say that the neighboring community is a transitional stage between clan society and class society. How did the neighborhood community come about?

Reasons for formation

There were several prerequisites for the emergence of a new social formation:

• Primitive tribes grew over time, and the blood connection between their constituent clans and individual members ceased to be recognized;
• The transition from hunting and gathering to pastoralism and agriculture accelerated the division of land between parts of large tribes;
  
• The improvement of tools, in particular the emergence of metal means of cultivating the land, made it possible for individual cultivation of a plot as opposed to a group one.

Thus, the transition from the tribal system to the neighboring one was an objective consequence of human development.

Was it possible to “hold on” to a disintegrating community?

In many philosophical systems, the disunity of humanity is called one of the main social vices. In different eras, “world religions” and cultural movements tried to find a means of uniting large masses of people separated by national, religious, property and other differences. But was it possible to preserve the primitive community?

The clan community turned into a neighbor's community slowly and gradually. Even with the advent of cattle breeding and primitive agriculture, the tribes continued to live and work together: arable land and pastures were considered common property, which was cultivated jointly, and the harvest was distributed equally among community members.

Inequality between people manifested itself biologically. For example, when migrating to other places, the weakest members of the tribe remained in the old territory or did not survive at all, and during the transition they were joined by newcomers who were not relatives to the rest of the tribe. Some died hunting or in war; some may have worked more than the average member of the community.

Those with increased physical and mental strength, as well as more sophisticated tools, were not required to share the harvest and loot obtained with the help of these advantages. In a later era, living space was distributed as follows: hunting lands remained public property, but each clan or family owned cultivated areas separately.

They maintained a patriarchal way of life for quite a long time. The people were divided into tribes, a separate tribe consisted of clans. A clan was a name given to a number of families united by kinship ties, owning common property and governed by one person - the foreman. Therefore, in the Slavic tribes, the concept of “elder” means not only “old”, but also “wise”, “respected”. The clan foreman - a middle-aged or elderly man - had great power in the clan. To make more global decisions, for example, defense against an external enemy, the elders gathered in the council and developed a common strategy.

Disintegration of the tribal community

Starting from the 7th century, tribes began to settle, occupying vast territories. The following factors contributed to this process:

The emergence of private ownership of agricultural tools and labor products;

Owning your own plots of fertile land.

The connection of clans was lost, the patriarchal clan community was replaced by new form social structure - neighboring community. Now people are connected not by common ancestors, but by the contiguity of the occupied territories and the same farming methods.

The main differences between a neighboring community and a tribal community

The reason for the weakening of family ties was the gradual separation of related families from each other. The main differences of the new social structure were as follows:

In the clan community, everything was common - production, harvest, tools. The neighboring community introduced the concept of private property along with public property;

The neighboring community binds people through cultivated lands, the ancestral community through kinship;

In the clan community, the eldest was the elder, while in the neighboring community, decisions were made by the owner of each house - the householder.

Way of life of the neighboring community

Regardless of what the ancient Russian neighboring community was called in each individual case, they all had many similar administrative and economic features. Each individual family acquired its own home, had its own arable land and meadows, fished and went hunting separately.

Each family owned meadows and arable lands, dwellings, domestic animals, and tools. Forests and rivers were common, and lands that belonged to the entire community were also preserved.

Gradually, the power of the elders was lost, but the importance of small farms increased. If necessary, people did not go to distant relatives for help. Homeowners from all over the area came together and resolved important issues at the meeting. Global interest forced the choice of someone responsible for solving the problem - an elected elder.

Scientists have not come to a consensus on what the ancient Russian neighboring community was called. Most likely, it was called differently in different lands. Two names of the Slavic neighboring community have survived to our times - zadruga and verv.

Stratification of society

The neighboring community among the Eastern Slavs gave rise to the formation social classes. The stratification into rich and poor begins, the separation of the ruling elite, which strengthened its power through the spoils of war, trade, and exploitation of poorer neighbors (farm labor, and later slavery).

From the wealthiest and most influential house owners, a nobility begins to form - a deliberate children, which consisted of such representatives of the neighboring community:

Elders - represented the administrative authority;

Leaders (princes) - exercised full control over the material and human resources of the community during wartime;

The Magi are a spiritual authority that was based on the observance of community rituals and the worship of pagan spirits and gods.

The most important issues were still resolved at the meeting of elders, but gradually the right to make decisions passed to the leaders. The princes in the neighboring community relied on their squad, which over time acquired the features of a professional military detachment.

Prototype of statehood

The tribal nobility, successful merchants and the wealthiest members of the community became the nobility, the ruling class. Land became a value worth fighting for. In the early neighboring community, weaker landowners were driven away from needed land plots. During the birth of statehood, peasants remained on the land, but on the condition that they would pay taxes. Rich landowners exploited their poorer neighbors and used slave labor. Patriarchal slavery arose from prisoners captured in military raids. A ransom was demanded for captives from noble families, while the poor fell into slavery. Later, ruined peasants became slaves of rich landowners.

Changing shape social order entailed the enlargement and consolidation of neighboring communities. Tribes and tribal unions were formed. The centers of the alliances were cities - well-fortified settlements. At the dawn of the emergence of the state system East Slavs had two large political centers - Novgorod and Kyiv.

It is very difficult to date it due to the uneven development of primitive societies in different regions of the Earth. In the most developed regions, this stage began in the 8th-3rd millennium BC. e., and ended (in Egypt and Mesopotamia) in the 4th millennium BC. e. with the emergence of the first states.

The tribal system was gradually replaced by a new form of social organization - the neighboring, or rural, territorial community, combining individual and communal land ownership. The neighboring community consisted of separate families, each of which had the right to a share of communal property and cultivated its own part of the arable land. Forests, rivers, lakes and pastures remained communal property. All together, the community members raised virgin soil, cleared the forest, and paved the road. Most scientists believe that the rural territorial community is a universal form of organization and is attested among all peoples who moved from the primitive system to civilization.

An important achievement of the era of the neighboring community was the discovery of metals. In the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. stone tools began to be replaced by copper, then bronze, and from the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. - beginning of the 1st millennium BC e. - iron. People gradually switched to the widespread use of metals, which significantly increased labor productivity and made it possible to more efficiently develop new lands.

During the era of the neighborhood community, significant changes took place in all spheres of social life. Primitive tribes continued to improve agriculture and cattle breeding, pottery, weaving and other types of production.

The development of agriculture and cattle breeding, the emergence of crafts, and the construction of large settlements indicate that man began to actively transform nature and create an artificial environment for his habitat.

The development of complex types of production - metallurgy, blacksmithing and pottery, weaving, etc. - required special knowledge and skills: blacksmiths, potters, weavers and other craftsmen began to appear in society. The exchange of goods developed between craftsmen and their fellow tribesmen, as well as between different tribes.

The development of metallurgy, blacksmithing, arable farming, and specialized cattle breeding led to an increase in the role of male labor. Instead of the previous equality of men and women, the power of men was established. In many societies, his power over women has acquired a harsh and even cruel character.

The growth of labor productivity led to the development of individual forms of activity: now one person (or one family) could do what several people (or an entire family) had previously done. The main economic unit became the individual family.

As a result of the growth in labor productivity, surplus products began to form, which gradually became the property of people. Thus, in primitive societies, a very important factor appeared that contributed to the stratification of the community, and later to the formation of the state.

In the life of all the tribes of the era of the neighboring community, war occupied a large place - another source of enrichment. Boys were raised primarily as warriors and taught to use weapons from early childhood. Ancestral villages were fortified with walls and ditches. Weapons have become more diverse.

The management of society in the era of the neighborhood community also changed. The tribes formally maintained meetings, but they changed their character and turned into a meeting of male warriors: women were not allowed into the meetings. The leaders and elders, relying on the support of the noble and wealthy part of the tribe, began to actually dictate their will to the entire society. Primitive democracy and equality of people were replaced by the power of the tribal nobility. Force could be used against those fellow tribesmen who tried to oppose the establishment of the power of the leaders.

The organization of social life also became more complex; people appeared - officials who controlled other people.Material from the site

In the era of the neighboring community, social and property stratification of the primitive community occurs. Rich and prosperous families appear, among relatives and fellow tribesmen, nobility stands out from among the leaders, elders, priests and the most experienced and authoritative warriors, who began to use the labor of impoverished members of the community. More warlike and populous tribes exacted tribute from their weak neighbors, threatening them with war and cruel reprisals. During military campaigns, captives were captured and became slaves, constituting the most powerless layer of society.

Tribal alliances

Individual tribes, fearing attacks from outside, united into powerful tribal unions led by an authoritative leader. Such tribal unions later served as a prototype of the future statehood. Often, warlike alliances of tribes organized military campaigns, crushed other tribes, captured rich booty, making robbery their constant trade. In the 7th-6th millennium BC. e. The first proto-cities appear in the Middle East - Chatal Guyuk, Jericho, Jarmo. These were well-fortified, walled settlements of farmers.