Slave trade

Protesters demand that racist statue must fall

More than 200 protesters demanded the removal of a statue of 17th century slaver Robert Geffrye at the Museum of the Home in east London, last Saturday.

Ghosts—Glasgow’s hidden slave trade history revealed

Ghosts, written and directed by Adura Onashile, is the latest work by the National Theatre of Scotland

Blood money—how wealth created by slavery bankrolled capitalist Britain

The rich who gained from slavery hope talking up their charitable investments will help them escape people’s anger. But as Isabel Ringrose argues, they grabbed obscene amounts of money through the slave trade and in compensation—and they should be forced to pay for it

The crimes of Captain Kimber

In 1791 an atrocity so hideous occurred on a slave ship in the Atlantic that its captain was brought to a British court. The verdict was a damning indictment of both the ruling class and the way it got its riches

Hamilton is entertaining—but seriously dodgy history

Antony Hamilton weighs in on Alexander Hamilton

How blood of slavery fed profit system

Defenders of slavers’ statues warn that tearing them down amounts to an attempt to “erase” Britain’s history. On the surface of it, many of them pretend this is about keeping the legacy of slavery visible, not hiding it away.

Race—a capitalist invention

17 May 2020
Scientists are struggling to understand how Covid-19 affects people differently. Socialist Worker shows that the construct of race has more basis in exploitation than biology

A brilliant story of slavery, memories and freedom

09 March 2020
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates combines powerful descriptions of slavery with a pacey plot and strong characters, writes?Sadie Robinson

Capital — built on slavery

25 August 2019
A book by Caitlin Rosenthal gives a horrific insight into how slavery played a key role in the birth of capitalist management methods, writes Sadie Robinson

Jamaica - a history of racism and revolt

10 February 2019
Mass deportations to Jamaica follow a long line of racist attacks on people of Caribbean descent—but that history also shows that people always resist, writes Nick Clark

The history of foreign aid is steeped in imperialism

17 February 2018
Right wingers are using revelations about Oxfam in Haiti for their own ends.

Capitalism—a system born of slavery

14 March 2017
People across the political spectrum acknowledge that racism exists, but its origins are shrouded in mystery—deliberately so.

Motley mutinies, popular pirates and slave revolts at sea

16 September 2014
Historian Marcus Rediker spoke to Ken Olende about the struggles that took place aboard the ships of early capitalism

‘I’d rather die than be a white man's slave’ - the story of the Amistad Rebellion

29 October 2013
The Amistad Rebellion tells the story of a group of slaves who rose up. Ken Olende looks at a revolt that caught the imagination of poor people everywhere—and showed slaves could win

The role of the slave revolts in ending slavery

24 March 2007
Africans resisted slavery at every point. There were rebellions on board the ships that carried them across the oceans, which often resulted in the cruelest retaliation. But it was on the plantations that the most serious challenges to the slave economy took place.