The Next step in the collapse of Capitalism, slavery.

[RGacky3]

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/12/06/382852/alabama-agriculture-department-promoting-plan-to-replace-immigrants-with-prisoners-to-farmers/

Yup, immingrant migrant farm workers are going to be replaced with .... SLAVES, yes, slaves, Capitalism is'nt working anymore in agriculture, the tendancy for the rate of profit to fall has hit agriculture to the point to where it does'nt function as a capitalist industry anymore without massiave state help (theres another thread I made about that).

Seams like now Alabama (who would have guessed) has just given up trying to hold up agriculture as a Capitalist industry and now going back to slavery, yup, the US has a new pool of slave labor, no need for importing africans, we have prisoners, 1% of the population who can be mobilized as slaves.

Now there are many many many implications for this, one will be actually furthuring the collapse of capitalism by creating excess capacity and taking people OUT of the market (farm workers) which creates an externality effecting all industires in producing and distributing goods and services, and furthering the collapse of agriculture as a (heavily state supported) capitalist industry by further pushing up the rate of exploitation, while crashing prices due to competition, the only way capitalist agriculture could possibally survive is by further state help.

Capitalism is falling apart on so many different levels, its gotten so bad we're bringing back slavery.

[ClearlyChrist]

Do You Have Any Evidence Of This? I'm Interested, This Is Fucking Dispicable.

[RGacky3]

Read the link, theres the evidence.

I thinks its more important to look at this from the Marxian economics standpoint.

Its gotten to a point where the return has just gotten so low, and you have a labor shortage for agriculture, now the neo-classical view on this is that "well, supply must equal demand so labor wages will rise until you have equilibrium." Now we see that this is obviously not the case, because they won't make a return, due to food prices being so low, and capital costs being so high (the tendancy for the rate of profit to fall), neo-classical economics has fundementally failed, to the point to where farms need state help, and now that there is a labor shortage, they need to revert to slavery.

Agriculture has advanced SO much, that it can't function as a capitalist industry anymore.

[ClearlyChrist]

My Apologies Comrade, I Didn't See It. Thanks For Sharing.

[cb9's_unity]

There probably can't be a better example of how U.S. privileges are directly reliant on there being poverty around the world. We literally couldn't eat the way we do if there wasn't poor immigrant labor. And now the only way to seemingly replace that immigrant labor is by resorting to using laborers who have largely been pushed into the prison system by domestic poverty.

[eric922]

So are we bring Feudalism back, because that's what it sounds like.

[RGacky3]

Its not feudalism, no one is tied to the land, no one is farming their lords land for some days and their own on others, its literally slavery.

[Comrade Gwydion]

Its not feudalism, no one is tied to the land, no one is farming their lords land for some days and their own on others, its literally slavery.

Only difference is that I don't think the farmers OWN the prisoners that work for them. Also, I rather doubt those prisoners are all automatically given a life-long sentence.

So, is this forced labour? Yes. Does this make your theory about the functioning of agriculture within neo-classical economics interesting? Yes.
Is this slavery? No.

[Tablo]

Only difference is that I don't think the farmers OWN the prisoners that work for them. Also, I rather doubt those prisoners are all automatically given a life-long sentence.

So, is this forced labour? Yes. Does this make your theory about the functioning of agriculture within neo-classical economics interesting? Yes.
Is this slavery? No.
How does that make it not slavery? Forced labor is slavery. They are slaves to the state.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

The South has used prison labor to replace "free labor" before. "Free labor" reacted accordingly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_Creek_War

[Comrade Gwydion]

How does that make it not slavery? Forced labor is slavery. They are slaves to the state.

I think slavery is more specific then 'forced labour'.
For one, in slavery, one individual OWNS another individual. They don't own their labour, they fysically own the individual.
Two, slavery is life-long. There is no "slafe for 4 year with parole". You're a slave until your owner sets you free.

[RGacky3]

I think slavery is more specific then 'forced labour'.
For one, in slavery, one individual OWNS another individual. They don't own their labour, they fysically own the individual.
Two, slavery is life-long. There is no "slafe for 4 year with parole". You're a slave until your owner sets you free.

Thats not the definition at all, you own the individual, the prison system owns the prisoners, also there is no time requirments, indentured servitude is still technically a form of "slavery" (at least where marxian class is involved).

[Art Vandelay]

IYou're a slave until your owner sets you free.

Kind of like the Alabama prisoners.

[piet11111]

Thats not the definition at all, you own the individual, the prison system owns the prisoners, also there is no time requirments, indentured servitude is still technically a form of "slavery" (at least where marxian class is involved).

Koelie ?

Workers that are forced to work off their debt but make too little to actually pay it back.
Or work a contract but are fed to little so they are near death by the time their contract expires and before they are to be paid.

[RGacky3]

Workers that are forced to work off their debt but make too little to actually pay it back.
Or work a contract but are fed to little so they are near death by the time their contract expires and before they are to be paid.

Indentured servitude is where someone sells themself AS A SLAVE for a while, a worker sells his labor, a indentured servant was owned, meaning he was subject to the boss all the time, and the boss had a responsibility to the servant.

[Zealot]

This appears to be completely in line with US law if the Thirteenth Amendment (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment13/) is still followed, which allows for prisoners to be used as slaves.

I remember watching a documentary about, if I remember correctly, the cocoa farms in Ghana where capitalism has reduced people to literal slavery, in every sense of the word. He didn't say it was capitalism but the way he analyzed the situation, he was so damn close to saying it.

[Smyg]

Take a look at one f Al Jazeera's recent series, and you'll notice it's already here.

[La Comédie Noire]

I wonder if wage slavery is just an anomaly of class society and will wither away as the historical norm of slavery becomes prevalent again?

Imagine a bunch of future social scientists looking back at the 500 years between 1500- and 2000:

-For some reason they gave their slaves more autonomy, but that eventually broke down.

[dodger]

Worldwide it is a very depressing picture, after all we are in to the 21st century, Below is a link, it covers a wide spectrum....all slavery...from it's classical meaning to modern forms. All sadly still with us today...............

http://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=anti%20slavery%20uk&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.antislavery.org%2F&ei=ofvgTt--OoLTrQfXhvSnCw&usg=AFQjCNEcc2fWAYK1Mo3mI6MzXPa-4PR7EQ