Book Launch: Slavery in the British Empire and its Legacy in the Modern World by Dr Steve Cushion

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We often hear it said that Britain profited from slavery. But this assumption of collective responsibility obscures the extremely unequal distribution of benefits that accrued to different sections of the population. The institution of slavery entailed a unique combination of exploitation and expropriation anchored in patterns of conspicuous consumption by the wealthy, and intertwined with the textile, food, agriculture, construction, transportation, infrastructure and insurance industries. It was floated by the same banking and commodity trading systems that still remain today.

Taking a class analysis, this book links the histories of capitalists and workers in Britain and the Caribbean, tracing the dynamics of profit-seeking and exploitation, resistance and solidarity, on both sides of the Atlantic.