The starting point of capitalist accumulation, which is not itself the product of capitalist accumulation. As Marx, Karl argues in the first volume of Capital, capitalist production presupposes a considerable mass of capital---this capital, by definition, must have been put together by non-capitalist means. Economists like Adam Smith referred to this capital as âprevious capitalâ, thus making the transition from one economic mode to another seem both benign and beneficial, when the reality was anything but. In Marxâs view, this moment was marked by violence, conquest, enslavement, and theft. The transition from feudalism to capitalism followed the violent dispossession of a whole class of people---primarily the peasants---from control of any means of production, specifically land. The first and perhaps most important step in primitive accumulation, according to Marx, was the enclosure of common lands, which was enabled by the state. Further Reading: D. Harvey A Companion to Marxâs Capital (2010).