Slavery and Capitalism: A Book Talk by David McNally
Join us for a book talk by David McNally on his recently published Slavery and Capitalism: A New Marxist History. McNally injects new life into Karl Marx’s writings on enslavement and labor, presenting a new, systematic Marxist account of the capitalist character of Atlantic slavery—using colonial travel literature, planter records and diaries, and slave narratives—to support the provocative claim that enslaved labor in the plantation system is a form of capitalist commodity production. Weaving together history, political economy, and radical abolitionism, McNally demonstrates that plantation slaves formed a modern working class and highlights the self-activity of enslaved people fighting for their freedom. He reframes their resistance as labor struggles over production and reproduction, with significant implications for US and Atlantic history and for understanding the roots of racial capitalism.
“David McNally’s deft application of Marx’s theory and method not only unearths the hidden dynamics of slavery’s political economy but radically broadens our understanding of modern capitalism and its class struggles. The result: a new history of slavery that centers the enslaved—the chattel proletariat—not as ‘constant capital’ or fungible cogs in the machine but as its gravediggers.”—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class
David McNally is the author of many works of Marxist analysis and history, including Blood and Money: War, Slavery, Finance and Empire; Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance; and Monsters of the Market: Zombies, Vampires and Global Capitalism. David is Cullen Distinguished Professor of History and Business at the University of Houston (UH) and Director of the Center for the Study of Capitalism. Earlier he taught political economy at York University Toronto for over thirty years. David is the editor-in-chief of Spectre, a biannual and online journal of Marxist theory, strategy, and analysis.
Join our five-week reading group on Slavery and Capitalism starting December 1.