Enslaved African Labour: Violent Racial Capitalism

Abstract

The chapter examines the role of slavery and coerced labour in the development of capitalism, arguing that these practices were not pre-capitalist remnants but fundamental to the rise of the capitalist mode of production. Through an analysis of the plantation system, Andy Higginbottom shows that enslaved labour generated surplus-value through commodity production, similar to industrial manufacturing, but under conditions of racialized violence. Drawing on Ruy Mauro Marini’s concept of super-exploitation, Higginbottom argues that slavery combined both absolute surplus-value (from extended labour hours) and relative surplus-value (through organized, large-scale production). This approach challenges Marx’s binary distinction between forms of surplus-value and critiques Eurocentric Marxist theories, such as Robert Brenner’s, that position colonial exploitation as external to capitalism. Instead, Higginbottom asserts that racial violence and coerced labour were foundational to the emergence of capitalism. His analysis supports the framework of racial capitalism, highlighting the lasting impact of colonial exploitation on contemporary global capitalism.