Please help me understand a passage in The Communist Manifesto.?

We had read Marx's Communist Manifesto in a college-level history class for the semester that just passed. In his book, Marx made references to feudal society, a subject of which I know little and I seek assistance in acquiring a better understanding of history.





Early in the Manifesto, Marx writes that:





"The feudal system of industry, under which industrial production was monopolized by closed guilds, now no longer sufficed for the growing wants of the new markets. The manufacturing system took its place. The guild-masters were pushed on one side by the manufacturing middle class; division of labor between the different corporate guilds vanished in the face of division of labor in each single workshop."





I know only a little about guilds. What is a closed guild? What industrial production was monopolized by closed guilds? How does industrial production differ from a manufacturing system? What is a corporate guild? Was there division of labor back then?





Thank you.

Please help me understand a passage in The Communist Manifesto.?
Guilds were essentially organizations of craftsmen, usually with some sort of specialization, such as glass makers, millers etc. Marx focused on the fact that Guilds had exclusive(usually they were exceptions) control over labor and inputs for production-for example you could only make glass if you were a member of the glassmakers guild, further if you wanted glass you could only buy from the glassmakers guild. Thus a guild could have a monopoly over a certain product.This was not necessarily bad as the guild could enforce standards rigorously-no lead in production for example, or one could lose your guild license and no longer be capable of doing business.


closed guild was a guild you could not join (but you could inherit your fathers place in it)


The glassakers of Venice monopolized glass production for awhile, a corporate guild would be like an association of merchants who combined together for marketing and production-many towns in Europe were founded by merchant/corporate guilds. by and large whatever guilds were left were finished off by the industrial revolution. A factory typically employs dozens of skill sets which would break the guild pattern of restricting knowledge of one skill set. And there has always been a division of labor, from the earliest concept of hunter/gatherer to the apprentice/master system of guilds to whatever we have today.


for more see the following links.
Reply:In the old days, before the industrial revolution, most things that were 'manufactured' required only one skill.





If you wanted to buy a chair, for instance, you bought it from a man who spent his life making chairs. Usually his dad made chairs and taught him the special skills needed in those days. An antique expert can look at a pre-1750s chair and tell you where it was made and possibly even who made it. Because it took special skills, these skills were protected by guilds to prevent competition.





With the coming of the industrial revolution, manufacturing was completely changed. Now there were factories that made all kinds of furniture on machines, and the traditional skills were no longer relevant, they just needed people to operate the machines. There were still skills needed in setting up the machines, but they weren't the kinds of skills guilds could protect.