October 11, 2023

Constituent Elements of Slavery

Person becoming a property/object – Slavery – person becomes a thing, subject becomes an

object.

Commodity Fetishism – Indirect domination, of materialistic aspect, living being through

material means – commodities having actual power, while we as being do not. Things dominate
living being.

 Commodity as wealth in a capitalistic society/relationship is represented indirectly,

power of the capital over labour.

Marx’s distinction b/w Free Labour and Slavery

Property rights being modeled on Slavery, rather slavery being modeled property rights.

Direct domination, indirect domination and personalistic idiom - slavery being a very extreme
form of personalistic idiom.

Modern capitalism distinguishes itself from slavery by saying that it is not direct domination.

Three elements of slavery – Master, Slave, and domination of the slave.

Mirroring the three elements of Roman Law – person, persona ----------

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 New world slavery had many elements of the old world slavery.

Concept of the Baroque – an art form, a musical cultural periodisation post Renaissance,
literally, name for a pearl which has become deformed. Something which is new, and
something which is old is being mixed up.
Emergence of a hybrid form – mix of old world slavery and new world slavery.
Emergence of absolutism, development of the court form. It incorporates the new into the
veneer of the old.
Baroque – essentially the transition b/w the Old World and the New World.

Transition from Baroque to Creole – Creole culture, the new born culture, exclusively born in
the new world. Institutions which have gone from Europe and is becoming new in the new
world. Baroque in the 16th-17th century would be called Creole.

Reading Long Decline of Slavery in Europe

 Transition from slavery to serfdom, to independent peasants

 7th century – 8th century - entry of Islam into the Europe
 This feudal expansion come to a halt in 14th century
 Massive demographic decline in 14th century due to various factors
Results in giving a little freedom/power to the slaves in the old world – due to high
demand of slaves, and low supply, giving them the power of negotiation. Loosens the
bond b/w lord and serf. Lot of masterless men in the 14th century. Western Europe.
In Eastern Europe, strengthened the bond b/w the master and slave, Christianity and
paganism spreading.
 In England, leads to a beginning f capitalism. Lot of these loose development of wage
labourer. Three wage labour – landlord, tenant farmer, and wage labourer.
 Slavery as a social institution is declining.
 Secular decline of slavery in 8th-14th century – Straight temporal decline with time,
distinction b/w the secular and divine – that of this world, of the time of this world
Seculum – ‘this world’
 In the emergence of the 15th century new world, baroque formation taking place.
 Slavery existed in societies sometimes where there was no economic use – usually cause
of prestige issues
Orlando Patterson’s definition of slavery – property is modeled on slavery

Question – Why slavery at all in the new world? Why do we need tied production?

Slavery will be there where resources are open – Neibor

Domar – Slavery or serfdom, or any form of tied labor becomes necessary when there is a lot of
freely available land.
Free land, free labour and surplus, these three can not exist together.
Wages are always determined by the marginal productivity of labor.

Clarington’s essay – Apocalypto

That which appears inevitable will always appear inevitable

Why was the migration to the new world, African?

Racialization, why? Why Africans?

Enslaved Africans are not being sought in the first century.

Most important gain for them was Silver and Gold

This population which stayed in many parts, were also enslaved

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 we have a good 100 years in which Spaniards do not participate in the slave
trade
 Biggest area where slaves come to is Brazil, brought in by Portugese.
 Start small scale slave plantations.
 Large scale slave plantations brought out by Dutch, wheat crushing and all.
 They carry this practice of cultivation in the carribean, Barbados.
 Possibility of Sugar cultivation increases.
 Slave based production, and the production of slaves.

Why was African slavery chosen? – David Eltis

 Refers to a dominant understanding

 There was also a Christian understanding of why African
 Adam Smith argued that slavery is always costlier than free wage labour –
because, wealth of nations is not in the amount of gold you have, but is
based on the productivity that you have – productivity is the key to the
wealth of nations – productivity is based on the division of labour – free
labour is more productive, therefore it is cheaper than slave labour.
 Then why didn’t they create free wage labour – because they had excess
land – the impossible trio of free labour, free land, and surplus comes into
play.
 Climatic reasons, demographic reasons
 Eric Willaims’ writing for explaining slavery – slavery is ultimately an
economic system, racism is not a cause of slavery but a consequence
 Impact/contribution of slavery to British industrial revolution
 Why was slavery abolished in Britain – was according to them due to
humanitarian motivation of Britain. Not a selfish but altruistic abolition.
 Eric Williams – but it was not so much a humanitarian reason, but economic
motivation. The industrial middle class of Britain now wanted free wage
labour.
 Economic motivation therefore, was at the origin of slavery, at the workings
of slavery and also at the abolition of slavery.
 David Eltis brings back several cultural and ideological arguments.
 Eltis says that if we are looking at the cheapness of labour, we have to look
at each of the elements of that – if only cheapness was the question, why not
Europeans?
 According to him, in a society, slavery is always based on some groups that
are eligible for slavery and some, who are ineligible.
 Across Europe, this line being drawn. Europe – can’t be slaves, non-
europeans – can be salves.
 Europe did not have enough population to supply slaves, Africa however
were endless.
 It is not economic reasons alone.
 There is a Christianity-islam frontier, and how it modified slavery.
 Notion of property over the self – individualism. Can’t buy someone who
owns his own self.
 Insider/outsider – based on a double thing – rise of