GO rD hIll 500 Years of Indigenous resistance
add fuel to the fires of the already insurrectionary Afrikan colony.
Profit had to be seen not only in the squeezing of a few more dol-
lars on a short-term, individual basis, but in terms of the needs of
an entire Empire and its future. And it was not just the demand
for labour alone that outmoded the slave system. Capitalism
needed giant armies of settlers, waves and waves of new European
shock-troops to help conquer and hold new territory, to develop
it for the bourgeoisie and garrison it against the oppressed.^26
The “insurrectionary fires” had already dealt the occupation forces a
shocking blow in 1791 in the Haitian Revolution. Afrikan slaves, led in
part by Toussaint L’Ouverture, rebelled and defeated Spanish, English,
and French forces, establishing the Haitian Republic that offered citizen-
ship to any Native or Afrikan peoples who wanted it.
There were also increasing revolts within the U.S., including the 1800
revolt in Virginia led by Gabriel Prosser, and Nat Turner’s revolt in 1831
which killed sixty settlers.“The situation became more acute as the de-
veloping capitalist economy created trends of urbanization and indus-
trialization. In the early 1800s the Afrikan population of many cities was
rising faster than that of Euro-Americans.”^27 The revolts led by Gabriel
and Turner had caused discussions in the Virginia legislature on ending
slavery, and public rallies had been held in Western Virginia demanding
an all white Virginia.
Combined, these factors led the North to agitate for an end to slavery
as one specific form of exploitation. In turn, the Southern states, led by
plantation owners and slavers, threatened to secede from the Union. The
Civil War began.- Ibid, pg. 25.
- Ibid, pg. 31.