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The idea that slaves did not produce value is ludicrously counter factual.
The very substantial cotton and sugar trades were based upon commodities
produced via slave labour. We either have to conclude that these were
not commodities which is absurd, or we have to conclude that the slaves
produced commodities possesed of value.
The only question is whether that value was contributed solely by the
labour of the waged overseers or also by the labour of the slaves.
I would hold that the value reflected the labour of the slaves. If only
the labour of the overseers counted, then the legal emancipation of
the slaves and the conversion into waged workers would have suddenly
increased the amount of value creating labour that went into sugar.
One would have seen a sudden rise, by a factor of 5 ot 10 fold in the price
of sugar following emancipation. I do not believe that this took place,
however, proponents of the slaves create no value theory have only
to look into the history of 19th century sugar prices to test their case.
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