Marx on Negro slavery

[Ixtab]

Letter from Marx to Pavel Vasilyevich Annenkov, 1846: "The only thing requiring explanation is the good side of slavery. I do not mean indirect slavery, the slavery of proletariat; I mean direct slavery, the slavery of the Blacks in Surinam, in Brazil, in the southern regions of North America.
"Direct slavery is as much the pivot upon which our present-day industrialism turns as are machinery, credit, etc. Without slavery there would be no cotton, without cotton there would be no modern industry. It is slavery which has given value to the colonies, it is the colonies which have created world trade, and world trade is the necessary condition for large-scale machine industry. Consequently, prior to the slave trade, the colonies sent very few products to the Old World, and did not noticeably change the face of the world. Slavery is therefore an economic category of paramount importance. Without slavery, North America, the most progressive nation, would he transformed into a patriarchal country. Only wipe North America off the map and you will get anarchy, the complete decay of trade and modern civilisation. But to do away with slavery would be to wipe America off the map. Being an economic category, slavery has existed in all nations since the beginning of the world. All that modern nations have achieved is to disguise slavery at home and import it openly into the New World."
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1846/letters/46_12_28.htm

[daisy]

the direct slavery in the southern regions of north america
i believe black field slavery and mexican field workers was a scientific experiment.
along with black basketball and british and hispanic soccer.
the gov and medical doctors were surveillancing their subjects.
http://www.espysecurity.com/Info-digital-video-recorder-setup.htm
slavery is not over white albinos have been enslaved since 1700's or 1800's
white albinos and pigmented albinos are still breeding slaves in america

[Roland]

That is an excellent quote.

It is interesting to hear modern pseudo-Marxists explain that Marx's ethical opposition to slavery was due to a love of humanity. This quote helps illustrate that Marx's ethical opposition to slavery in the United States was based on his belief that economic progress towards capitalism was good, and that slavery was an outmoded and inefficient method of production. Here he clearly recognizes the "paramount" importance of the economic epoch of North American slavery.

While the enigmatic ethical end of communist thought may or may not have been a humanism similar to that touted by the modern radical-liberals, Marx's ethical perspective in relation to the transition from slavery to capitalism is made apparent and distinct by this quote.

[Kodos]

Slave economies are more efficient( for those who own slaves anyway... you don't want to compete with slaves in the labor market) in the short term. They tend to stagnate long term as the cost of labor is what drives the adoption of labor saving machinery and methods.

Slavery became widespread in the American colonies because the indentured servants( criminals from Britain) were percieved as more troublesome and less docile labor.

[Boleslaw]

Marx had nothing but contempt for Negroes, in his letters to Engels he's constantly using the word "nigger"(and no its not because it was a common term back then; the German language at that time actually didnt even contain the word).

He also hated Asians, Indians, and Slavs(he and Engels constantly called for German expansion into the East and exterminate Slavic peoples).

[Leif]

He also hated Asians, Indians, and Slavs(he and Engels constantly called for German expansion into the East and exterminate Slavic peoples).

Proof? Evidence? Facts?

[Roland]

Marx had nothing but contempt for Negroes, in his letters to Engels he's constantly using the word "nigger"(and no its not because it was a common term back then; the German language at that time actually didnt even contain the word).

He also hated Asians, Indians, and Slavs(he and Engels constantly called for German expansion into the East and exterminate Slavic peoples).

It is quite evident that Marx regarded Africans as people who were operating economically in a degenerate and barbaric manner. It seems, though, that contrary to Darwin, he did not regard the African as evolutionarily lower than westerners. While he regarded their culture as being evolutionarily retarded, he believed that they were capable of western civilization. Marx, in a letter to Engels, remarks on a book published by an American economist named Carey. Marx favorably addresses Carey's idea that "Yankified" African slaves born in America were ready for emancipation whereas "Barbaric" Slaves shipped into the Americas in previous eras were not. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1853/letters/53_06_14.htm]

Marx confirms this in "Wage Labour and Capital" when he states

"What is a Negro slave? A man of the black race. The one explanation is worthy of the other.

A Negro is a Negro. Only under certain conditions does he become a slave."

I do believe that it is impossible that Marx was of the "the only race is the human race" persuasion. He was influenced not only by Darwin, but also by the Hegelians. Some Hegelians had a similar theory of racial development positing the African as the race that was "concerned with the world of things" and the higher races that were concerned with thought. While Marx was clearly against this sort of idealistic historicism, he was no doubt influenced by these ideas.

I have searched MIA and have not found any evidence of animosity towards Africans on the part of Marx.

However, I do recall statements regarding the expansion of Germans into slavic territory. If you have a link to that letter please post it.