The link between capitalism’s growth and slave labor remains historically contested.

Evidence

The significance of African labor for the development and formation of the commercial and industrial capitalist systems can be only partially measured by numbers. This is the case because, first, the numbers we have are questionable, but more disconcerting, the relationship between the growth of capitalism and slave labor has persistently been in dispute. At least one influential “school” of historiography has denied this relationship, challenging the volume of the slave trade, its profitability, and in some instances even arguing for the benevolence of the trade and slavery. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 564

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader Williams thesis debate (Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery) that Robinson engages throughout this chapter.