论英国圈地运动与工业革命的劳动力来源

Enclosure in England and Labor Source of the Industrial Revolution

史学界长期以来一直视英国圈地运动为工业革命的重要前提 ,圈地运动把大批农民赶出土地 ,使之成为工业革命的劳动力后备大军。但事实上 ,圈地运动与工业革命在劳动力供应上并无严密的因果关系。圈地运动在不同时期和不同地区对农民所造成的影响是不同的 ,圈地为工业提供自由劳动力的作用是有限的 ,因而 ,圈地并未给工业革命提供主要的劳动力来源。工业革命的劳动力主要来源于人口的自然增长 。

Historians have long hold the position that the Enclosure in England was an important prerequisite of the Industrial Revolution, as it prepared a large supply of labor by driving the farmers out of their land. This paper, however, offers a different point of view that its relation with the Industrial Revolution is limited in that its impact on farmers in different areas varied and its function of labor supply was in fact inadequate. It reaches a conclusion that the main labor supply for the Industrial Revolution was the natural growth of the population while Enclosure was only one source of the labor supply among many others.