When you say slavery in a modern sense you think of Africa, the Middle East, or perhaps Eastern Europe. You think of dark and shady characters who live in the underground criminal world, trafficking in stolen women, or poor children. While this form of slavery does go on, there’s another form of slavery that’s far more insidious, and far less talked about.
I recently wrote an article about the practice of slavery versus the institution of slavery. Throughout history many, many nations and people have engaged in slavery as a common practice. From the city states of Greece to the island people of the caribbean, from the Caliphate of Persia to the Aztecs of Mexico slavery has been a common practice among men. In the United States, in the eighteen hundreds, the institution of slavery became the cause of the worst war this nation has ever had.
During the formative years of this continent the practice of slavery was carried over from Europe. In the Southern colonies the primary means of commerce was agriculture. The climate, the soil, and the rainfall made the South the perfect place to produce crops. In the North the climate was not as good, for nearly as long. When the industrial revolution came the North engaged in heavy industry. Mines, foundries and manufacturing facilities rose quickly. The South never really left it’s agricultural roots.
Along with the agriculture came the farm worker. The idea of the tenant farmer, or the serf had also carried over from Europe, but it had melded into the institutions of slavery. The slave was given food, water and a roof in exchange for their labor. But, as we all know the slave was property and as property was given only enough “maintenance” as was necessary. In some cases when the slave had outlived their usefulness they were put down, or sold off to some other master.
The slave was all about the maximization of profits. In order to keep production costs down and profits maximized they had to keep the slaves stupid, strong and docile. In the North the common factory worker made very little money, but they could afford basic goods because the cost of food was low. However, the South began purchasing it’s manufactured goods from Europe. Europe could produce it’s goods cheaper than the American manufacturers because the Europeans were using child labor, slave labor, and serfdom in it’s factories. As the divide began to grow the North began to suffer.
The Southerners and the Europeans were becoming more powerful off of the backs of the oppressed. The Northerners were becoming weakened, their livelihoods threatened. The inevitable result was war. In the South they needed manpower to fill the ranks, so they incorporated the black soldiers in with the white soldiers. In the South they had fully integrated units. Why would the black men fight with the white men to keep a government which had oppressed them for so long? Simple, they were freed men with land holdings and families to defend. Fighting against the North meant the defense of their homes from a foreign aggressor.
In our modern times we have the exact same problem. There are those who have been imported into our lands to work for wages far below those of persons established here. We have used them to maximize profits and keep the costs of labor down. But, those who use these people do not purchase their goods from the manufacturers within our borders; they buy their goods from overseas because they are cheaper. This forces the manufacturers to either play the same labor game, or to give up and move away.
We give our laborers just enough wages to have food, water and a roof. We give these people just enough maintenance to keep them productive. More and more people are encouraged to come into this country with the promise of money and freedom. To a man who makes ten cents a week, ten dollars a week sounds wonderful. But, as their income rises, the cost of goods rise.
Now the unions want to take over this labor force. They will mandate wages, forcing the rest of the population to pay more than they can afford, while those who do the manufacturing continue to use the cheap labor, and overseas imports to bolster their profits. There are those among the imported labor who stand up and fight for the cause of the oppressor. Why? because they have become freed men with families. The cleverest of them will have created wealth for themselves. They will have understood the system and will have begun to use it themselves. They will defend themselves against what they believe to be a greater oppression.
The current government, instead of declaring war against this form of oppression, seeks to expand it. The ultimate goal is to turn the tables, to redistribute the current wealth structure to the underclass. This will do nothing more than switch oppressors.
We watched this happen in South Africa. When the oppressed took over from their oppressors, the end result was a greater and more violent oppression. This cycle has happened time and time again. The only difference is that the scale is getting bigger and bigger with each turn of the clock. Instead of mere nation states we now see things happening globally.
As I have said before, the evils of slavery are not found in the system of slavery itself, but in those who engage in it’s institutions. Mankind has fought hundreds of thousands of wars over real and perceived oppression. Oppression is the greatest maker of partisans. Those who are enemies of liberty understand this principle and they are using it right now.
“You know very well where we found our idea of class struggle; we found it in the work of the French historians who talked about the race struggle.” – Karl Marx to Friedrich Engels
The Civil War was not over slavery, or economics, or commerce. The Civil War was fought over power and control, as was every other war before it. In some wars there is a righteous side. In some wars, both sides are despotic. In the war we face today; the war between socialism and liberty, we face the same enemy we have always faced; human nature. Just as during the Civil War, there is only one defense against our real opponent;
“It is most cheering and encouraging for me to know that in the efforts which I have made and am making for the restoration of a righteous peace to our country, I am upheld and sustained by the good wishes and prayers of God’s people. No one is more deeply than myself aware that without His favor our highest wisdom is but as foolishness and that our most strenuous efforts would avail nothing in the shadow of His displeasure.” – Abraham Lincoln, January 5th, 1863
“Well, I will tell you how it was. In the pinch of the campaign up there (at Gettysburg) when everybody seemed panic stricken and nobody could tell what was going to happen, oppressed by the gravity of our affairs, I went to my room one day and locked the door and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed to Him mightily for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him that this war was His war, and our cause His cause, but we could not stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville… And after that, I don’t know how it was, and I cannot explain it, but soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul. The feeling came that God had taken the whole business into His own hands and that things would go right at Gettysburg and that is why I had no fears about you.” – Abraham Lincoln, July 5, 1863
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