Robin Blackburn will talk about the ‘second slavery’, the surprising resurgence of slavery in the Americas in the nineteenth century US South, Cuba and Brazil. The numbers of slaves and the value of slave-based trade continued to rise strongly despite the success of the Haitian Revolution (1804) and the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade in 1807 by Britain and the United States. He will discuss both the second slavery’s contribution to the growth of capitalism and the emergence of new dimensions of anti-slavery and class struggle.

Robin Blackburn teaches historical sociology and social history at the University of Essex, with studies of slavery and abolition in the Americas, the history of the welfare state and the rise of financialisation. His most recent books are American Crucible: Slavery, Emancipation and Human Rights and Age Shock: How Finance Is Failing Us, both issued in paperback in Autumn 2013. He was Distinguished Visiting Professor at the New School for Social Research for one semester each year from 2001 to 2010 and a Leverhulme Research Fellow from 2010 to 2013. In 1998-9 he was visiting Senior Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge. Since 1963 he has been a regular contributor to New Left Review and was editor 1983 to 1999. Recent articles for NLR have included ‘Reclaiming Human Rights’ (2011), ‘The Credit Crunch’ (2008) and ‘Financialisation’ (2006).

The seminar is followed by a drinks reception in the Sociology Common Room. All are welcome.