Marx: Colonialism, Class and Capitalism

The short lecture briefly problematises the dialectical relationship between capital and labour by bringing in the influence of colonialism, particularly racially determined labour from colonies. The speaker demonstrates through an example of the plantation economy in the mid-1800s. Labour in Europe was not replaced by free labour, but rather racially and ethnically determined labour brought forth from Africa and the countries of the Indian Ocean. The implications are in turning the proletariat in Europe into the vanguard of emancipation everywhere, without taking full cognizance of the processes that enabled their emancipation in the first place. 

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Comment from our editors:

The above content is from a lecture series on Modern Social Theory and is central to pluralistic interpretations of Marxian Political Economy, especially to contribute to decolonisation of the understanding of modern capitalism. 

Go to: Marx: Colonialism, Class and Capitalism