slavery

Society

2022

We explain what slavery is, what its main characteristics are and how it differs from feudalism.

Virtually all ancient civilizations practiced slavery.

What is slavery?

Slavery or slavery is a mode of production based on the workforce forced, subjected, that does not receive any gain nor remuneration in exchange for his efforts and that he also does not enjoy any type of labor rights, social, or political, being reduced to the property of the master or employer, as if it were an object.

Slavery was extremely frequent in ancient times, in which it even constituted a legal figure, contemplated by the Condition, who imposed himself on those defeated in battle and their families, or those captured and subdued in militarily conquered regions. One could also become a slave due to debts (individual constraint) or for having committed some crime.

Virtually all ancient civilizations practiced slavery, and the cultural flourishing of ancient Greece and Rome was largely due to an economic system supported by slave labor. Something similar happened with the European Empires, once the Middle Ages ended, who colonized and conquered the African continent and they subjected many of its inhabitants to the condition of slaves. That is why they come to America Africans, forcibly transported by Europeans to serve as labor for the colonization of the New Continent.

Slavery was abolished in most Western countries between the 19th and 20th centuries, and today it is considered a crime against slavery. humanity, punished internationally by treaties and global organizations.

However, modern forms of slavery continue to exist, mostly taking advantage of the citizens poorest and most defenseless in neighboring countries, as is the case in Southeast Asia and even in specific cases of Latin America. Certain forms of prostitution are also considered modern forms of sexual slavery.

Characteristics of slavery

The slaves were individuals devoid of any type of legal, union or social protection. They constituted the base of the social pyramid, and were barely above the animals of cargo, in many cases being treated even worse than them. Their working hours were long and overwhelming, and their nature responded to the wishes and needs of the owner, who was their owner. These tasks could be cleaning, cooking, sexual servitude, raising the master's children, labor in construction, cultivation, demolition or even the war.

The slaves did not receive salary, nor did they have labor rights of any kind; but the possession of slaves obliged the master to provide them with food, clothing, roof and work tools. In cases where the slave could legally free himself, he had to restore to the master the value of his work in money, as compensation for the loss of his heritage.

In addition, the condition of slave was hereditary, and children born of slaves could also be subject to this condition. It was not unusual, in cases of slavery by contract, that the children submit as slaves to pay the debts inherited from the father. Once their work covered the equivalent of the amount owed, they could return to their Liberty.

There were sellers and slave traders, who were in charge of supplying the masters with new slaves, captured in other cultures from remote geographies, or that could be abandoned children, unrecognized children, etc.

Slavery and feudalism

The slave system proliferated in antiquity but in the transition to Middle Ages suffered a setback. The feudal system, which consisted of the division of the Kingdoms into small plots controlled militarily and legally by a landowner, maintained the figure of the slave for specific cases, but preferred that of the servant who, after all, worked voluntarily in exchange for protection. and order of feudal lord, subjected to their laws and designs.

However, the serfs were free and could choose where to go, they could choose which feudal lord to serve, and they were citizens in full, despite constituting the social class lowest of the Middle Ages, dominated by the Aristocracy and controlled by the Clergy. The work of the serfs was paid for with a part of their agricultural production (the rest went to the landowner) and with military protection against wars and barbarian invasions, frequent for the time.

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