I'm Pretty Sure Feudalism Existed

Marxists talk about a "feudal" mode of production, but many medieval historians no longer regard "feudalism" as a useful concept. Let's take a look at their arguments.

Marx’s historical materialism is a theory of (a) the stages of history, and (b) the transitions between those stages. The stages are differentiated by their “modes of production,” like socialism, capitalism, or feudalism. These represent different ways that the “immediate producers” (e.g. slaves, serfs, or proletarians) are related to whoever controls t…