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Question to consider- Was the transatlantic slave trade essential for the industrialisation and economic development of Western Europe. The neo-Marxist analysis of slavery suggests it was

Yes-

The triangle trade was essential in providing raw materials for the industrial revolution

Slavery provided a source of cheap labour to produce materials such as cotton and sugar

The triangle trade was the source of the wealth invested in industry

No-

Slavery is an inefficient use of labour. Adam Smith opposed slavery for this reason. A slave will do the minimum they can wet away with. All right some employees will as well but slaves in general will do the minimum. The forced labourers in Nazi Germany also attempted acts of sabotage if they though they could get away with them

Raw materials such as cotton were available from other places such as India and Egypt and Britain began to use them during the American Civil War. Coal and Iron were in the ground and wool was produced in Western Europe

Other sources of cheap labour were available, the Americas and Caribbean could have been developed using indigenous labour and political prisoners were sentenced to forced labour in England during the wars of succession in the Stuart and Hanoverian eras particularly by Judge Jeffery’s

Could the wealth generated by the industrial revolution been used to develop the wool industry in Yorkshire rather than cotton in Lancashire if the Transatlantic Slave had never taken place?
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