Ask Lemmygrad

The whole transition from pre-capitalist modes of production (whatever they may have been) to the capitalist mode of production happened because of the mechanization of agriculture and textile making. These lowered the value of labor-power (which is the cost of reproduction workers, the 2 biggest ones being food and clothing) and allowed for the generation of massive amounts of surplus value on a historical scale. Wherever the mechanization of agriculture and textiles occurred, the capitalists gained power over the other proprietor classes. They leveraged this power to further expand the mechanization of agriculture, and thus the capitalist mode of production wherever they could.

In fact, this process of expanding capitalism still is ongoing today. There are something like 2 billion "small holding farmers who interact with the market to some extent, but are not practicing capitalist farming (socialized, mechanized commodity farming). This is why capitalism today, which has assumed a world dimension has still not run into its final limits