Was there slavery in Russia? (Pages of history). Ten Countries Where Slavery Still Reigns Where Slavery Was

To date, slavery has been officially abolished in all countries of the world. The latest country to abolish the shameful slave labor is Mauritania. A corresponding ban was introduced in July 1980. However, in the United States, in some states, official slavery was not legally abolished until the beginning of the 21st century. Only in February 2013, the last such state of Mississippi banned this shameful practice by ratifying the 13th amendment to the US constitution.

However, the official abolition of slavery does not mean that this problem has ceased to exist. At the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, according to various estimates, there were from 20 million to 40 million slaves in the world. Here it should be noted that human trafficking in terms of profitability takes 3rd place after drugs and weapons. And since the cash flows are huge, there will always be those who want to snatch their piece.

What is slavery today? This is the slave trade, forced labor of adults and children, debt bondage. Slavery also includes forced marriages. And what factors contribute to the prosperity of slavery? Here you can indicate poverty and weak social protection of the population. It is also necessary to take into account the mentality of people living in a certain territory, historically established traditions and customs. Listed below are countries where slavery exists.

The number of slaves in different countries of the world in thousands of people according to the "Washington Post"

Mauritania

In Mauritania, according to various estimates, there are from 150 thousand to 680 thousand slaves. And this, despite the official abolition of slavery. The status of a slave in this country is passed down from generation to generation. The slave owner manages not only adults, but also children. Slaves work in the agricultural fields and do housework. At the same time, it should be noted that in the cities there were much fewer slaves than before. But in rural areas, slave labor is still flourishing.

India

There are supposedly up to 15 million slaves in India. They are used in a wide variety of industries. Child labor is widely practiced. But underage citizens not only work in the fields and clean houses. Children are forced into begging and prostitution. A considerable percentage is occupied by debt bondage, covering millions of citizens.

Nepal

Nepal is considered one of the largest sources of slaves. Slave labor is widespread in brick factories, where forced people are engaged in firing bricks. There are about 250 thousand slaves in this country. Many of them have debt obligations to employers. Child labor is widely practiced in Nepal. Children work in mines and factories.

Pakistan

About 2 million people are engaged in forced labor in Pakistan. Basically, these are people who have fallen into bondage because of debts. Such bondage can last for decades and be passed down from generation to generation, as the debtors work for pennies. Child labor is widely practiced in the country. Moreover, the age of children is in the range from 5 to 15 years. Mostly minors are engaged in the production of bricks.

Benin

Speaking of countries where there is slavery, one cannot fail to mention Benin. There, about 80,000 people are forced to do forced labor. These people work in cotton fields, on farms, in quarries, in private homes and as street vendors. Sale of children is widely practiced.

Gambia

In the Gambia, people are forced to beg. Many slaves work in private homes. In the country, children often become slaves. This primarily concerns homeless children and orphans, as well as students of madrasahs. Children from poor families study in madrasas, and teachers mercilessly exploit them, forcing them to beg. If a child brings little money, then they beat him. There are about 60 thousand such unfortunate children in the country.

Gabon

Gabon has the highest standard of living in Africa, so children are brought there from other regions of the hot continent. At the same time, girls are engaged in domestic slavery, and for boys they find physical labor. Marriages with children are not uncommon. Young people from neighboring countries travel to Gabon to earn money, but often such boys and girls become slaves. Young girls are sold to wealthy families, where they are made servants. There are no slaves among the citizens of Gabon themselves.

Ivory Coast

Countries where there is slavery are not limited to the above states. It is also common in Côte d'Ivoire, where a huge amount of cocoa is produced. This industry employs at least 40 thousand children working in conditions of real hard labor. In addition, about a thousand children work on small private farms, doing a variety of hard work. The more slaves, the more cocoa beans, and therefore more money. Therefore, slave child labor is widely practiced in this state.

Haiti

In total, about 10 million people live in Haiti. Of these, 200 thousand people are slaves. The most common type of forced labor is when children are involved in the household. Up to 500,000 teenagers are subjected to merciless exploitation. And in order for them to work well, they are affected physically and emotionally.

So, we have considered the countries where there is slavery. But the list is far from complete. Slaves can be found in Europe, and the USA, and Australia, and Hong Kong and other outwardly prosperous countries. Bonded labor provides great benefits to slave owners, and moral and ethical aspects are not taken into account at all. This problem can only be countered by competent legislation and the desire of all people to destroy such a negative phenomenon in the bud, disgracing the “crown of nature”.

Slavery has not gone away, but instead has become a big and profitable business. We may not notice it, but today there are several tens of millions of people in the world who work against their will. It is possible that every day we buy goods in stores that are made by their hands - new shoes or even smartphones. Apparat studied the report of the human rights organization Walk Free and compiled several maps that explain the phenomenon of modern slavery.

What is labor slavery? The world has changed somewhat, although there are still examples of classical slavery in the manner of Ancient Rome on the planet. But the authors of the Walk Free report understand modern slavery as any control over people, because of which they are deprived of their basic freedoms - the freedom to change jobs, the freedom to move from one place to another, the freedom to independently dispose of their bodies. Obviously, this is usually done in order to make a profit. The number of labor slaves includes children extracting "blood diamonds" in the mines of the Congo, prostitutes from Eastern Europe who have lost their passports, or guest workers from Central Asia held in inhuman conditions.

How big of a problem is this? Huge. Nearly 36 million people around the world are now working against their will, according to a Walk Free report. Slavery has become a large and profitable, albeit hidden in the shadows, business. It is possible that every day you use things that were created with the help of slaves - it can be your last smartphone or frozen shrimp bought at the supermarket. The International Labor Organization estimates the annual income from illegal forced labor at $150 billion.

How much can you trust these data: It is impossible to accurately determine the number of labor slaves on the planet - criminals who traffic in women and businessmen who use children in factories do not keep statistics, which are accurately transferred to the tax office every quarter. Therefore, researchers rely on anonymous sociological surveys and extrapolation of the data obtained. But the reports of other international organizations also estimate the scale of modern slavery at several tens of millions of people. Walk Free is a recently launched fund backed by many high-profile businessmen such as Virgin founder Richard Branson and Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest.

Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia

The situation in the region: About 2.5 million modern slaves live here - less than 10% of their total number on the planet. Russia, as the richest country in the region, is referred to by the report as a "hub of forced labor" in Eurasia - imagine a huge airport where illegal workers from all nearby countries gather. The problem of modern slavery is best solved by the Georgian authorities, according to Walk Free.

Uzbekistan. In the autumn of each year, cotton harvesting begins in Uzbekistan - the country's main export item. Thousands of people - students, officials and farmers - are taking to the fields under pressure from the state: they are threatened with expulsion from the university or fired from their jobs. Every year people die while picking cotton. Recently, under pressure from international partners, Tashkent began to gradually abandon the use of child labor in the fields. But this has led to an increase in the burden on adults.

North Africa and the Middle East

The situation in the region: The abundance of natural resources brings large numbers of people from Africa and Asia to the Middle East. Many of them are engaged in low-paid hard work - working on construction sites or serving local residents. Often, the employer deprives them of their documents and forbids them to leave the country. The situation has been exacerbated by the civil war in Syria and the Islamic State campaign in Iraq, with hundreds of thousands of refugees flocking to neighboring states in search of safety.

Country to watch out for: Qatar. In eight years, in a small but very rich in oil and gas state on the Persian Gulf, the next World Cup is to be held. For this event, the authorities of the absolute monarchy are erecting spectacular futuristic stadiums and entire cities in the desert. This is being done by hundreds of thousands of immigrant builders from India, Nepal and other developing countries. The Guardian newspaper in its investigation describes the conditions in which visitors are forced to work: their passports are taken away from them, they are kept in unacceptable conditions and they are poorly fed. As a result, more than a thousand people have died since the beginning of construction. Partly to blame for this is the so-called Kafala system, a Middle Eastern variation on serfdom whereby a guest worker is not allowed to leave the country without the permission of their employer. The authors of the Walk Free report note that, given the almost limitless economic opportunities, Qatar could do more to combat labor slavery.

Tropical Africa

The situation in the region: Poverty and famine, civil wars, climatic disasters, political instability - all this contributes to the constant migration of the population of "Black Africa" from the countryside to the cities. Often people who set off in search of a better life find themselves in slavery.

Country to watch out for: Mauritania. This state in West Africa was the last in the world to ban slavery - only in 1980. However, more than a hundred thousand people are still deprived of free will: slavery is too much intertwined with local culture and built into the mechanisms of Mauritanian society. The slave owners are usually white Berbers and the slaves are usually black Berbers. The country's government is trying to change the situation that has developed for centuries, but not too actively. And earlier this month, Biram Dah Abeid, one of Mauritania's most prominent anti-slavery fighters and a candidate in the country's previous presidential elections, was arrested under mysterious circumstances. You can read more about Abeid in an article in The New Yorker magazine.

Southeast Asia and Oceania

The situation in the region: Asia is the Mecca of forced labor. Almost two-thirds of all people on the planet, who can be considered modern slaves, live here. A large number of slaves is due to the fact that the region is the main production base of the world economy, providing factories from all over the world with cheap labor.

Country to watch out for: India. Here, a person opens up vast opportunities to fall into slavery. Forced marriages, sexual exploitation, child labor, illegal human trafficking - every form of modern slavery that comes to mind is available. Women and members of the lower castes are especially susceptible to them, and in total the number of bonded people exceeds fourteen million. In the past few years, the Indian government has been trying to fight what is happening, but given the scale of the problem and the relative poverty of the country, this could take a very long time.

South and North America

The situation in the region: Relatively prosperous region: a little more than one million people are in labor slavery. The United States, Canada and other developed American countries are making great efforts to combat the problem.

Country to watch out for: Haiti. In one of America's poorest countries, the restavek custom is still popular, when parents give their children to rich families in order to provide them with food and a minimal education. In practice, such children often do dirty housework (the Russian Reporter has a huge cycle of photo reports on this topic). The situation deteriorated noticeably after the 2010 earthquake and the humanitarian catastrophe that followed: Haitians gave the children of their dead relatives into labor slavery, because they could not support them. More than 200,000 slaves now live in Haiti, according to Walk Free. Most of them are children.

Western Europe

The situation in the region: Europe in the context of forced labor is the most prosperous region on the planet, according to the authors of the report. Although hundreds of thousands of people are in modern slavery, the countries of the European Union are fighting its manifestations most actively. The most effective policies are Sweden and Holland.

Country to watch out for: Turkey. The country with the maximum number of modern works in Europe - almost two hundred thousand people. One of the main problems is forced child marriage and sexual exploitation.

Cover art: Fred Wilson

Bound in one chain: 10 countries where slavery still reigns

Currently, about 30 million people in the world are in slavery, with 76% of modern slavery occurring in 10 countries. This is stated in the recently published Global Slavery Index.

Slavery includes "practices such as debt bondage, forced marriage, child trafficking and exploitation, and the slave trade and forced labour." Among the factors contributing to the prosperity of slavery are extreme poverty, lack of social protection and war. In countries such as India and Mauritania, where the proportion of slaves among the population is the highest, the history of colonialism and hereditary slavery also matter. Most often, women and children become slaves.

No. 1. Mauritania

Mauritania has the largest percentage of slaves in the world - 4-20% of the population, or 160,000 people. Here the status of a slave has been passed down from generation to generation, and the slave owner has full power over his slaves and their children. Most of the slaves are women who do both domestic and agricultural work and are also subjected to sexual abuse.

No. 2. Haiti

In Haiti, slaves make up about 200,000 of the country's ten million population. The most famous type of slavery is called restavek (from the French rester avec - to stay with someone - approx. Per.), It is a form of child labor in which children are forced to help around the house. Not all Restave children are slaves, but many are exploited: between 300,000 and 500,000 Haitian children are deprived of food or water and subjected to physical or emotional abuse. The report says that the 357,785 people who are still in internally displaced camps after the 2010 earthquake are "more at risk than others of becoming victims of sex trafficking and forced labor."

Number 3. Pakistan

According to the Asian Development Bank, about 1.8 million people in Pakistan are engaged in forced labor - they are forced to work off debts to the employer. This bondage is often passed down from generation to generation, with workers working for little or no pay. Pakistan has about 3.8 million child laborers between the ages of five and fourteen. Children and families from the "lower classes" are especially often involved in forced labor in the production of bricks.

No. 4. India

India has between 13 and 15 million manufacturing slaves in a variety of industries, and there is widespread sexual exploitation of Indian men, women and transgender people. Child prostitution is especially rampant in places of religious pilgrimage and cities popular with Indian tourists. An estimated 20 to 65 million Indian citizens are in debt bondage.

No. 5. Nepal

Nepal is both a source and an importing country of modern slaves. Slavery takes the form of both brick kiln labor and forced prostitution. Some 250,000 of Nepal's population of 27 million are enslaved, often in debt to the employer. Some 600,000 Nepalese children are forced to work, including in mines and factories, and sexually exploited.

No. 6. Moldova

In 2012, the International Organization for Migration reported that Moldovan men, women, and children are being exploited in Ukraine, Russia, the UAE, Turkey, and Kosovo, where they work in the sex industry, in construction, or work for families. More than 32,000 Moldovans live the life of slaves in various countries.

No. 7. Benin

More than 76,000 people from Benin are engaged in forced labor in homes, on cotton and cashew farms, in quarries and as street vendors. UNICEF estimates that most child slaves in the Congo were brought from Benin, and the International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 40,000 children in the country as a whole have been sold into slavery.

No. 8. Ivory Coast

Côte d'Ivoire is the source and destination of enslaved women and children. As a result of the recent conflict, forced labor threatens more children. the country is the world leader in cocoa production, and in this industry many children are subject to the most brutal forms of hard labor. Over 30,000 children work in rural areas and 600-800,000 work on small family farms.

No. 9. Gambia

The most common forms of slavery in the Gambia are forced begging, prostitution and domestic slavery. UNICEF estimates that more than 60,000 children may be slaves, especially orphans and street children.

The victims of forced begging are usually boys who are sent by poor families to study in madrasahs where they are exploited by teachers. Such children are called "talibe". If they return in the evening with insufficient money, they are beaten or starved.

No. 10. Gabon

Children are brought to Gabon from West and Central Africa. Girls are given into domestic slavery or sexually exploited, while boys are forced to do manual labor. Forced marriages and marriages with children are also common. Sometimes young people from neighboring countries come to Gabon themselves to earn money, but end up in slavery. It is also common to sell young girls as servants to relatives or wealthy families. Since Gabon is richer than neighboring countries, the victims of this traditional practice are usually brought there.

According to Global Slavery Index 2018 more than 40 million people worldwide are subjected to slavery-like conditions. A study published by the Walk Free Foundation defines modern slavery as human trafficking, forced labor or debt bondage. The report also addresses situations such as forced marriages, child trafficking and exploitation.

Here's what the top ten countries with the most modern slaves look like.

Estimated prevalence of modern slavery by country (10 countries with the highest prevalence of slavery are noted. Victims per 1,000 population are estimated).

10. Iran

Modern slavery in Iran affects approximately 16.2 people for every thousand inhabitants. Some of the worst ways of violence against people flourish in this country - organ harvesting and child smuggling. Women and girls from Iran are smuggled across the border and sold in neighboring countries.

Iran is also used as a transition zone for human traffickers operating between South Asia and Europe. Although the Iranian government has technically declared slavery to be all law, its slow reaction and lack of resolutions on the issue indicate that the situation with modern slaves will not be resolved for a long time.

9. Cambodia

About 16.8 people out of every 1,000 inhabitants of the country are in slavery. The biggest problem regarding modern slavery in Cambodia is human trafficking. Women and children in Cambodia are either sold by their families or are subjected to forced labor or forced prostitution. They are also forced into early and unwanted marriages.

8. Pakistan

Debt slavery or bonded labor is the most common form of modern slavery in Pakistan, according to the Global Slavery Index. It is most common in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. Nationally, 16.8 out of every 1,000 Pakistanis are "debt slaves". Poor families are enslaved after they borrow money from a rich man. All family members are forced to work long hours for low wages, of which half is kept by the lender. This loan sometimes has to be “repaid” by children and grandchildren, and until then the whole family will remain living property. And for women, this is one of the.

In Pakistan, many wealthy people own brick kilns, coal mines, and carpet factories. At these enterprises, the labor of modern slaves is widely used.

7. South Sudan

One of the youngest countries in the world is also one of the leading countries in the modern slave trade. Victims are 20.5 people for every thousand inhabitants. For decades, South Sudan and North Sudan have been ravaged by brutal civil war and genocide. It is difficult to get an accurate picture of the situation in South Sudan as many conflicts rage in the country.

6. Mauritania

The country, located in West Africa, is known for being one of the largest sources of human trafficking in the world. Experts estimate that 21.4 out of every 1,000 Mauritanians fall victim to the slave trade.

There are no formal support programs for victims of the slave trade in the country. In Mauritania, there is a phenomenon where forced labor is passed down from generation to generation, which causes a cyclical problem.

5. Afghanistan

This small country is both the source and site of the illegal slave trade. It is estimated that about 22.2 out of every 1,000 people in Afghanistan are modern-day slaves. Many victims (and often children) are trafficked to neighboring countries such as Pakistan and India.

One of the most common forms of slave labor in Afghanistan is forced begging. As in the case of South Sudan, it is difficult to get a full picture of the extent of the problem in Afghanistan due to frequent internal conflicts.

4. Central African Republic

Human trafficking flourishes. Many of the victims, estimated at 22.3 for every 1,000 people, are children. Often child slaves are forcibly sent to the army. And the efforts of the government of the Central African Republic to combat human trafficking were criticized by experts from the Walk Free Foundation as insufficient.

3. Burundi

Burundi ranks third in the world in the number of forced labor, in which every 40 people out of a thousand are involved. Like other countries on this list, Burundi suffers from weak government and a very poor quality of life. Many children in this country do not go to school. HIV infection rates in Burundi are also high, with about one in 15 adults having it. Much of the slave labor in Burundi is imposed on citizens by the state.

2. Eritrea

The Eritrean government, according to a Walk Free Foundation report, is "a repressive regime that has abused its conscription system to keep its citizens in forced labor for decades." About 93 out of every 1,000 Eritreans are victims of modern-day slavery.

1. North Korea

One in ten people in North Korea is considered a modern-day slave. Moreover, "the clear majority is forced to work for the state." When compiling the "slave" rating, the researchers interviewed 50 defectors from North Korea. They talked about inhuman conditions and forced unpaid labor of adults and children involved in agriculture, construction and road construction. There is also speculation that the North Korean government is sending workers abroad (including to textile factories in neighboring China).

At the same time, one of the defectors named Zhang Jin-Sung said that the North Koreans do not consider themselves slaves. “They have been inspired all their lives to think: everything they do for the state is good,” he said.

Overall, 2.6 million North Koreans live under modern conditions of slavery, the study says. That is why North Korea ranks first in the ranking of states with the largest number of slaves.

Who is responsible for modern slavery and what can be done?

The 2018 Global Slavery Index measures not only the extent of modern slavery in different countries, but also the steps governments are taking to address this issue. The index summarizes various estimates of the prevalence of slavery, measurements of the vulnerability of the population of a given country, and the actions of governments. It provides insight into how best to respond to contemporary slavery, as well as how to predict and prevent human oppression by human in the future.

The report states that modern slavery is the responsibility of developed countries, as they import $350 billion worth of goods from developing countries every year. These goods are produced in questionable conditions.

Products that may be associated with the use of slave labor include: coal, coca, cotton, timber and fish. The study also states that two problems allow modern slavery to flourish. The first is repressive governments that use forced labor. And the second is conflicts in different countries, which lead to the destruction of social structures and existing systems for protecting the population.

Russia's place in the list of modern slavery

Russia did not make it into the top 10 countries in terms of the ratio of free citizens to modern slaves. According to the Walk Free Foundation, there are 794,000 slaves in our country. She is ranked 64th. But in terms of the total number of slaves on the territory of the state, Russia still got into the top ten. Its neighbors are India, China and North Korea.

Introduced into international circulation the following definitions of slave and slave trade:

1. Slavery means the position or condition of a person over whom some or all of the powers inherent in the right of ownership are exercised.
2. The slave trade is understood to mean all acts connected with the capture, acquisition of any person or with the disposal of him for the purpose of converting him into slavery; all actions connected with the acquisition of a slave for the purpose of its sale or exchange; all acts of selling or exchanging a person acquired for that purpose, and in general any act of trading or transporting slaves.

Slavery is condemned by a treaty of the League of Nations in 1926 and in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights dated , as well as in all other major documents relating to human rights.

For the past 5,000 years, slavery has existed almost everywhere. Among the most famous slave states are Ancient Greece and Rome, in ancient China the concept of xi, equivalent to slavery, has been known since the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. There was a tradition in Russian literature to identify serfs with slaves, however, despite a number of similarities, slavery and serfdom had some differences. In a more recent period, slavery existed in the United States and Brazil. Slavery in the Ancient East had many distinctive features. Modern concept slave does not take into account these differences, the concept serf in human rights is absent and completely coincides with the definition of a slave. In totalitarian states, the largest slave owners were not individual owners, but these states themselves, thus covering up the real situation of slaves by the fact that they are supposedly forced to work in accordance with the laws established by the totalitarian state. Also during World War II, slave labor was widely used in Nazi Germany.

The essence of slavery and the position of a slave

An unresolved problem in the study of the essence of slavery to this day is the lack of development of its popular scientific classification. A direct consequence of this gap is the perception of most people about slavery as some kind of special component of the history of the Ancient World. At best, people perceive slavery as belonging exclusively to the slave system.

One of the most important criteria for classifying slavery is the factor of the formative subject.

Modern slavery has a significant spread (and, accordingly, a special threat to society) in those cases when it acquires a systemic character, when the main formative subject of enslavement is not an individual criminal individual, but the state.

The emergence of slavery

Division of labor is vital to achieving production efficiency. When organizing such a division, hard (primarily physical) labor is the least attractive. At a certain stage in the development of society (when the development of technology ensured that the worker produced a larger volume of products than he himself needed to sustain life), prisoners of war who were previously killed began to be deprived of their liberty and forced to do hard work for the owner. People deprived of their freedom and turned into the property of the master became slaves.

The position of a slave

The living conditions of a slave are determined only by humanity or the benefit of the slave owner. The first was and remains a rarity; the second makes them act differently depending on how difficult it is to get new slaves. The process of raising slaves from childhood is slow, expensive, requiring a fairly large contingent of “producer” slaves, so even an absolutely inhumane slave owner is forced to provide the slaves with a standard of living sufficient to maintain working capacity and general health; but in places where it is easy to get adult and healthy slaves, their lives are not valued and exhausted with work.

Sources of slaves

At the first stages of development, the only, and later on, a very significant source of slaves for all peoples was war, accompanied by the capture of enemy soldiers and the abduction of people living on its territory.
When the institution of slavery became firmly established and became the foundation of the economic system, other sources were added to this source, above all the natural growth of the slave population.
In addition, laws appeared according to which the debtor, unable to pay his debt, became the slave of the creditor, for some crimes they were punished by slavery, and finally, broad paternal power allowed selling their children and wife into slavery. One of the ways to turn into a slave-serf in Rus' was the opportunity to sell oneself in the presence of witnesses.
There was (and continues to be) the practice of converting free people into slavery through direct unreasonable coercion. Whatever, however, the source of slavery, the basic idea that a slave is a captive was always and everywhere preserved - and this view was reflected not only in the fate of individual slaves, but also in the entire history of the development of slavery.

History of slavery

Primitive society

Slaves were often tortured

Slavery is not originally reflected in human culture. The first sources are found during the period of the capture of Sumer by the Semitic tribes. Here we meet the subjugation of the captured people and their submission to the master. The oldest indications of the existence of slave-owning states in Mesopotamia date back to the beginning of the third millennium BC. e. Judging by the documents of this era, these were very small primary state formations, headed by kings. In the principalities that lost their independence, the highest representatives of the slave-owning aristocracy ruled, bearing the ancient semi-priestly title "ensi". The economic basis of these ancient slave-owning states was the land fund of the country centralized in the hands of the state. Communal lands cultivated by free peasants were considered the property of the state, and their population was obliged to bear all kinds of duties in favor of the latter.

In biblical sources, slavery was described before the flood (Gen.). The ancient patriarchs had many slaves (Gen.,). Slaves were made: people taken prisoner of war (Deut.,), or debtors unable to pay their debts (2 Kings, Is., Matt.), just as a thief is not able to pay for the stolen (Ex.) and married with the face of a slave state (Gen., etc.). Sometimes a person sold himself into slavery due to extreme circumstances (Lev.). Slaves passed from one master to another through sale, and purchase was the most common way to get slaves for oneself.

According to modern ideas, in the era of primitive society, slave ownership was completely absent at first, then it appeared, but did not have a mass character. The reason for this was the low level of organization of production, and initially - obtaining food and items necessary for life, in which a person could not produce more than is necessary to maintain his life. Under such conditions, the conversion of someone into slavery was meaningless, since the slave did not benefit the owner. During this period, in fact, there were no slaves as such, but only prisoners taken in the war. Since ancient times, the captive was considered the property of the one who captured him. This practice, established in primitive society, was the foundation for the emergence of slavery, since it consolidated the idea of the possibility of owning another person.

In intertribal wars, male captives, as a rule, were either not taken at all, or killed (in places where cannibalism was widespread, they were eaten), or accepted into the winning tribe. Of course, there were exceptions when captive men were left alive and forced to work, or used as barter, but this was not a common practice. Few exceptions were male slaves, especially valuable because of some of their personal qualities, abilities, skills. In the mass, captured women were of greater interest, both for childbirth and sexual exploitation, and for household work; especially since it was much easier to guarantee the subordination of women as physically weaker.

Rise of slavery

Slavery appeared and spread in societies that had shifted to agricultural production. On the one hand, this production, especially with primitive technology, requires very significant labor costs, on the other hand, a worker can produce significantly more than is necessary to maintain his life. The use of slave labor became economically justified and, naturally, spread widely. It was then that the slaveholding system was formed, which existed for many centuries - at least from ancient times to the 18th century, and in some places even longer.

In this system, slaves constituted a special class, from which the category of personal or domestic slaves was usually distinguished. Domestic slaves were always at the house, while others worked outside it: in the field, on construction, went for cattle, and so on. The position of domestic slaves was noticeably better: they were personally known to the master, lived a more or less common life with him, and to a certain extent were part of his family. The situation of other slaves, little personally known to the master, often did not differ much from that of domestic animals, and sometimes it was even worse. The need to keep large masses of slaves in subjection led to the emergence of appropriate legal support for the right to own slaves. In addition to the fact that the master himself usually had workers whose task it was to supervise the slaves, the laws severely persecuted slaves who tried to flee from the master or rebel. To pacify such slaves, the most cruel measures were widely used. Despite this, escapes and slave uprisings were not uncommon.

Slave labor and the slave trade were an important part of the extensive economies of medieval Asian states created by nomads, such as the Golden Horde, the Crimean Khanate, and early Ottoman Turkey (see also Raid economy). The Mongol-Tatars, who turned huge masses of the conquered population into slavery, sold slaves to both Muslim merchants and Italian traders who owned colonies in the northern Black Sea region from the middle of the 13th century (Kaffa s, Chembalo, Soldaya, Tana, etc.). One of the busiest labor trade routes led from the Azov Tana to Damietta, located at the mouth of the Nile. At the expense of the slaves taken out from the Black Sea region, the Mamluk guard of the Abbasid and Ayubid dynasties was replenished. The Crimean Khanate, which replaced the Mongol-Tatars in the northern Black Sea region, was also actively involved in the slave trade. The main slave market was located in the city of Kef (Kaffa). The slaves captured by the Crimean detachments in the Polish-Lithuanian state and in the North Caucasus were sold mainly to the countries of Western Asia. For example, as a result of major raids on Central Europe, up to a thousand captives were sold into slavery. The total number of slaves who passed through the Crimean markets is estimated at three million people. In the Christian regions conquered by Turkey, every fourth boy was taken from the family, forced to convert to Islam and, in theory, became the slave of the Sultan, although in practice the Janissaries soon became elite troops claiming political influence. From the slaves, the Janissary guard and the Sultan's administration were replenished. The harems of the Sultan and Turkish dignitaries consisted of slaves.

Slavery in modern times

Slavery, almost everywhere in Europe replaced by serfdom, was restored in a new light in the 17th century, after the beginning of the Age of Discovery. In the territories colonized by Europeans, agricultural production was developed everywhere, on a large scale, which required a large number of workers. At the same time, the conditions of life and production in the colonies were extremely close to those that existed in ancient times: large expanses of uncultivated land, low population density, the possibility of farming by extensive methods, using the simplest tools and elementary technologies. In many places, especially in America, there was simply nowhere to take workers: the local population had no desire to work for newcomers, and free settlers were also not going to work on plantations. At the same time, in the course of the development of Africa by white Europeans, it became possible to quite easily get an almost unlimited number of workers by capturing and enslaving native Africans. The African peoples were mostly at the stage of the tribal system or the initial stages of state building, their technological level did not make it possible to resist the Europeans, who had equipment and firearms. On the other hand, they were familiar with slavery even before the arrival of Europeans and considered slaves as one of the commodities for profitable trade.

In Europe, the use of slave labor resumed and a massive slave trade began, which flourished until the 19th century. Africans were captured in their native lands (as a rule, Africans themselves), loaded onto ships and sent to their destination. Some of the slaves ended up in the metropolis, while the majority went to the colonies, mostly American. There they were used for agricultural work, mainly on plantations. At the same time in Europe, criminals sentenced to hard labor were sent to colonies and sold into slavery. Among the "white slaves" dominated the Irish captured by the British during the conquest of Ireland 1649-1651. An intermediate position between exiled and free colonists was occupied by "sold into service" (Eng. indenture) - when people sold their freedom for the right to move to the colonies and "work out" it again there.

In Asia, African slaves were used little, since in this region it was much more profitable to use the large local population for work.

The last to be freed were Negro slaves in Brazil, where the Negroes mixed most with the Portuguese and Indians. According to the census, there were 3,787 thousand whites, 1,954 thousand blacks, 3,802 thousand mestizos and 387 thousand Indians; there were about 1.5 million slaves from blacks. The first step towards the abolition of slavery was to ban the importation of slaves. The slaves of the monasteries and some institutions were freed; in all children born in Brazil were declared free, all state and imperial slaves were freed, and a special fund was established for the redemption of a certain number of slaves annually. All slaves over 60 are freed. Only in followed the complete emancipation of the remaining slaves. This measure served as one of the reasons for the revolution that overthrew the Emperor Don Pedro II.

Ending the slave trade and abolishing slavery

Current state

The prevalence of slavery at the beginning of the XXI century

Currently, slavery is officially prohibited in all states of the world. The most recent ban on slave ownership and the use of slave labor was introduced in Mauritania.

Since there is currently no legal right to slave ownership, there is no classical slave ownership as a form of ownership and a method of social production, except, probably, for a number of underdeveloped countries mentioned below, where the ban exists only on paper, and the real regulator of public life is unwritten law - custom. In relation to “civilized” states, the term “forced, unfree labor” is more correct here. (unfree labor).

Some researchers even note that after the transition of the slave trade to an illegal position, the income from it not only did not decrease, but even increased. The value of a slave, in comparison with the prices of the 19th century, has fallen, and the income that he can bring has increased.

In classical form

In forms typical of a classical slave society, slavery continues to exist in the states of Africa and Asia, where its formal ban took place relatively recently. In such states, slaves are engaged, as they were many centuries ago, in agricultural work, construction, mining, and handicrafts. According to the UN and human rights organizations, the most difficult situation remains in countries such as Sudan, Mauritania, Somalia, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Angola. The official ban on slave ownership in these states either exists only on paper at all, or is not supported by any serious punitive measures against slave owners.

modern slavery

Labor, sexual and domestic "slavery" in modern states

In states often considered to be quite civilized and democratic, there are forms of forced labor that journalists [ who?] dubbed the stamp "labor slavery".

Its main victims are illegal immigrants or persons forcibly removed from their country of permanent residence. It is not uncommon for people to become slaves who have turned to recruiting firms in their home countries that promise high-paying jobs abroad. It is believed that documents are confiscated from such persons under various pretexts after arriving in the country of destination, after which they are deprived of their liberty and forced to work. In Russia, examples of the use of slave labor by the homeless are known (for example, the gang of Alexander Kungurtsev).

Government and public organizations involved in human rights issues [ who?], constantly monitor the development of the situation with slavery in the world. But their activity is limited to stating facts. The real fight against the slave trade and the use of forced labor is held back by the fact that the use of slave labor has again become economically profitable.

Slave trade in Chechnya

During the period of control of the territory of the region by separatists, slave markets operated in Chechnya: in Grozny and Urus-Martan, where people were sold, including those abducted from other Russian regions. The documentary "The Market of Slaves" by TV company "VID", filmed on the basis of the testimonies of the hostages, tells about the circumstances of the abduction and life in captivity. Hostages were kidnapped from the North Caucasus, Rostov, Volgograd, Moscow. In particular, the film mentions a case when an order was placed in Urus-Martan for "a 17-year-old blonde, 172 centimeters tall, with a third breast size, a virgin." A week later, the girl was kidnapped in Novorossiysk and brought to Chechnya. Places (“zindans”) where slaves were kept were equipped with bars, chains, bunks, and windows for serving food. According to the authors of the film, more than 6 thousand people were kept in the zindans of Grozny and Urus-Martan. The reason for filming the film was the kidnapping of journalists Ilyas Bogatyrev and Vladislav Chernyaev in Chechnya.

The impact of slavery on the culture of society

From a modern point of view, in the moral life of mankind, slavery had and is having extremely harmful consequences. On the one hand, it leads to the moral degradation of slaves, destroying their sense of human dignity and the desire to work for the benefit of themselves and society, on the other hand, it has an unfavorable effect on slave owners. It has long been known that dependence on people subject to his whims and desires is extremely harmful for the human psyche; the master inevitably gets used to fulfill all his whims and ceases to control his passions. Debauchery becomes an essential feature of his character.

In times of widespread, widespread slavery, slavery had a corrupting effect on the family: quite often, slaves, barely out of childhood, were forced to satisfy the sexual needs of the master, which destroyed the family. The children of the master, being in constant contact with the slaves, easily adopted the vices of both parents and slaves; cruelty and neglect of slaves, the habit of lying and irresponsibility were instilled from childhood. Of course, there were individual exceptions, but they were too rare and did not soften the general tone in the least. From family life, depravity easily passes into public life, as the ancient world shows with particular relief.

The displacement of free labor by slave labor leads to the fact that society is divided into two groups: on the one side - slaves, "rabble", largely consisting of ignorant, corrupt people, imbued with petty, selfish ambition and constantly ready to stir up civil unrest; on the other - " know" - a bunch of rich people, perhaps educated, but at the same time idle and depraved. There is a whole abyss between these classes, which is another reason for the decay of society.

Another harmful effect of slavery is the dishonoring of labor. The occupations given to slaves are considered shameful for a free man. With the increase in the scale of the use of slaves, the number of such occupations increases, in the end, any work is recognized as shameful and dishonorable, and idleness and contempt for any kind of work is considered the most essential sign of a free person. This view, being a product of slavery, in turn supports the institution of slavery, and even after the abolition of slavery remains in the public mind. It takes considerable time to rehabilitate labor in people's minds; Until now, this view has been preserved in the aversion of some sections of society to any economic activity.