The Modern Canadian Serf

Many years ago, when I was a graduate student studying European medieval economic history with the late great scholar, Karl Helleiner, I learned what seemed to me then an astonishing, almost unfathomable fact. I discovered that the serfs east of the Elbe in the 14th century were oppressed to the degree that two-thirds of their produce was appropriated by their lords. The lords had duties and obligations that ostensibly compensated for this onerous demand; first and foremost was the serfs’ use of lands “held” by the lord, but as well, lords provided defense from marauders, tools for agricultural production, and other services which usually were designated by custom in specific manorial practices. The serfs had no say over the rules that governed them, and to a degree, neither did the lords. Custom ruled. Still, it was better to be a lord than a serf.

It’s still better to be a lord than a serf in our present-day, modern, capitalist society. And I figured out that my financial obligations are on a par with those burdened serfs in terms of my relation to my current “lords”. True, my lords don’t live in manorial estates, but they nevertheless have access to palatial facilities in Ottawa, in Ontario’s capital, and in Toronto’s municipal chambers which I and my fellow serfs have paid for. And my lords are endowed too with accompanying lord-like advantages-- albeit in their modern versions-- which I’ve had to pay for, such as chauffeur-driven limousines, expensive travel allowances, pension plans like no others in the workforce, special health care access, and much, much more.

The reality is that I find myself forced to give up almost the same proportion of my products to our current “lords” as those unfortunate serfs of the 14th century had to concede. My contribution to our “lords” amounts to approximately two thirds of my total income in the form of taxes of every stripe and variety. I think most people, learning what I did about that feudal society would come away with the opinion, as I did, that it was nothing less than an abomination. Horror of horrors, I now find that the financial relationship between me and my “lords” is about the same as it was for those burdened serfs, this despite that we have no institutionalized lordships, and are living in a democratic and competitive society.