Cedric Robinson, "Racial Capitalism: The Nonobjective Character of Capitalist Development," from Robinson, Black Marxism (1983)

*Note: I am asking you to read only the (very short) introduction to this chapter and to watch the accompanying lecture video (linked below). I'd like you to consider Robinson's "racial capitalism" idea when reading the Baptist chapter.

Edward Baptist, "Left Hand, 1805-1861," From The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism.

Questions

• Robinson argues that the advent of capitalist production did not revolutionize or negate the feudal system, but continued and systematized its methods. Can you find evidence in the Baptist article, about the "push system" under plantation slavery, that supports this claim?
• It is often said that the end of chattel slavery in the US was inevitable because mechanization and capitalist wage labour replaced it as a more efficient technique of organizing production. Baptist disagrees. What force does he say increased efficiency in enslaved labour markets?
• Do you think enslaved people are workers? Why or why not?