A Marxist History of Slavery and Capitalism (feat. David McNally)

Was Atlantic slavery a capitalist system or a pre-capitalist system? If we understand Atlantic slavery (16th - 19th centuries) as a distinct capitalist system of domination, what does this tell us about capitalism as such, and what does it tell us bout how slavery was overthrown and eventually abolished? My guest, David McNally has written a provocative and important new book entitled Slavery and Capitalism that argues enslaved people formed a modern working class whose resistance was a form of labor struggle. We discuss the concepts of slavery as imposing a form of "social death," and how McNally understands enslaved workers as a category of labor power responsible for generating surplus value. We also revisit the legacy of Eugene Genovese, the prominent neo-Gramscian historian and the debates he raised over rebellion and cultural resistance among the enslaved in the Antebellum South. We address the importance of the historical field known as "history from below" to understand slave rebellions and the wider historical period of slavery as well as the work of WEB Du Bois and CLR James and what they contribute to our wider understanding of the history of slavery. The main thematic areas we address in this discussion include: The new history of capitalism and its blind spot in terms of the history of slavery. Slavery and capitalist value as Marx understood value and the wider categories in Marx's Capital. Personhood vs. labor power--the concept of "social death" and how to understand subaltern agency. Slave revolts, resistance and the shortcomings of Eugene Genovese's theory of paternalism, developed in his landmark book Roll, Jordan, Roll. The concept of the "chattel proletariat" and what it implies in terms of Marxist categories of labor. --------- David McNally is an activist and the NEH Cullen Distinguished Professor of History and Business at the University of Houston. He was a professor of Political Science at York University in Toronto, Ontario from 1983 to 2018, and was chair of the university's Department of Political Science for several years. He is the author of many books and scholarly articles and the winner of the 2012 Deutscher Memorial Award and the 2012 Paul Sweezy Award. - --------- To learn more about supporting my work, please become a paid Patreon member at www.patreon.com/emancipations  #juneteenth #emancipationspodcast