Haitian plantation slaves were closer to a modern proletariat than any workers then

Evidence

But the slaves of Haiti were not a Marxian proletariat. No matter to James: the processes of social formation were the same: … The slaves worked on the land, and, like revolutionary peasants everywhere, they aimed at the extermination of their oppressors. But working and living together in gangs of hundreds on the huge sugar-factories which covered North Plain, they were closer to a modern proletariat than any group of workers in existence at the time, and the rising was, therefore, a thoroughly prepared and organized mass movement, (pp. 85-86) Moreover, James seemed willing to challenge Marx and Engels on the very grounds they had laid for the sociological and political significance of early capitalism. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1284

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the boundary shift James made: expanding what counts as a Marxian proletariat to include colonial slavery.