Slavery, Capitalism, and Imperialism

This chapter problematizes the relationship between slavery, capitalism, and imperialism. First, it explores how slavery and the slave trade played a key historical role in capital accumulation and international value transfer from the early modern period to the Industrial Revolution. More specifically, it looks at the central importance of slavery in the expansion of capitalist trade and production as well as its role in the constitution of an international division of labour premised upon the uneven exploitation of distant spaces and populations. Second, the chapter explores the ways in which capitalist techniques shaped slavery and its institutions. In this respect, it investigates the rationalization of slave production in the context of an increasingly competitive international market in goods. Third, the chapter considers the fundamental importance of struggles and resistance against slavery in the context of capitalist imperialism. The chapter concludes with a discussion on modern-day slavery and its roots in militarized borders, wars of encroachment, and dependent economies of imperialism.