Slavery, generally speaking, was always a much smaller enterprise in North America than it was in the sugar growing regions.
Slavery, generally speaking, was always a much smaller enterprise in North America than it was in the sugar growing regions.
Whoever criticizes capitalism, while approving immigration, whose working class is its first victim, had better shut up. Whoever criticizes immigration, while remaining silent about capitalism, should do the same.
~Alain de Benoist
That's true, but that doesn't mean the demand for slaves wouldn't have dried up eventually, does it? Obviously we didn't end slavery until after the Civil War, and even then it was over in name only. By that I mean blacks in the south were still treated harshly and still usually worked for their former masters. But eventually I think the rise of the green revolution and other technologies that drastically simplified farming would have brought down the demand. Then again, Hispanic immigrants are still exploited on farms today. I concede the point.
I'm only disagreeing with the claim of inevitability. I just don't think that's true. The economic benefits of a slave labor system could have had ups and downs just like it has had in the past. American intellectuals thought slavery was on the ropes in the late 18th Century but boy were they wrong. It came back with a vengeance.
Whoever criticizes capitalism, while approving immigration, whose working class is its first victim, had better shut up. Whoever criticizes immigration, while remaining silent about capitalism, should do the same.
~Alain de Benoist
This is true. That's why the founders didn't think it was important to do anything about slavery at the time. You'd think I would be more keen on all of this, given that my high school history teacher was a Marxist by the name of Che. Not even joking, that was his name.
Whoever criticizes capitalism, while approving immigration, whose working class is its first victim, had better shut up. Whoever criticizes immigration, while remaining silent about capitalism, should do the same.
~Alain de Benoist
Isn't indentured service still alive and well? For example, any mortgage application demands your committment for up to 30 years, but what job/business situation can be guaranteed to keep pumping uninterrupted for 30 years? At least 100 years ago, you didn't need a mortgage to get a house, and you didn't need to pay astronomical permit/inspection/license fees to get a plot to build on. And not your every step was constantly tracked by a centralized credit monitor or a centralized other monitor.
Last edited by Mister D; 11-20-2012 at 04:21 PM.
Whoever criticizes capitalism, while approving immigration, whose working class is its first victim, had better shut up. Whoever criticizes immigration, while remaining silent about capitalism, should do the same.
~Alain de Benoist
In fact, there was not just a quantitative difference but a qualitative difference as well. Africans were often worked until they died on the large sugar estates and were then simply replaced. The institution was quite different in the sugar growing regions of Latin America.
Whoever criticizes capitalism, while approving immigration, whose working class is its first victim, had better shut up. Whoever criticizes immigration, while remaining silent about capitalism, should do the same.
~Alain de Benoist