even when they supported colonialism, European socialists tended
to do so for the sake of social progress more than in the name of an
inherent inequality between races. Third, at the beginning of the
twentieth century, it was the left that led the fight against colonialism.
In the eighteenth century, the philosophers of the Enlightenment
proclaimed the unity of mankind, the moral equality of all humans,
and the intrinsic value of the world’s different cultures. They also
opposed imperial rule and colonialism, as well as slavery. Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, Denis Diderot, and Immanuel Kant were clear on that count,
and so were thinkers such as Adam Smith and Edmund Burke.^74
The French revolutionaries referred to the ideal of equality when they
debated the fate of the colonies. “Your interest, that of Europe and
that of the world demands that you do not hesitate and sacrifice a
colony rather than a principle,” Dupont de Nemours told the National
Assembly in 1791.^75 Pushed by revolts that shook the colonies, the
National Convention abolished slavery in 1794, and it also ended
colonial inferiority, making all inhabitants full French citizens. “Until
now,” said Georges Danton to the Convention, “we have decreed
freedom selfishly and for us only. Today, we proclaim...universal
freedom.”^76 Napole ́on reversed these advances and re-established
slavery and colonialism, but the clock was not turned back entirely.
Led by Toussaint Louverture and later by Jean-Jacques Dessalines,
Haiti became the first black independent republic in 1804.
In the nineteenth century, this initial impulse against imperialism
weakened and, in Europe at least, the necessity of colonialism became
almost consensual. While denouncing its worst aspects, even liberals
and socialists tended to approve the colonial entreprise. Many argu-
ments seemed to justify imperial rule. First, with the development of
communications and transportation, power politics increasingly took
on a global dimension. Building an empire came to be seen as a direct
corollary of a country’s influence and prestige in the world. “The
future is with the great Empires” declared British colonial secretary
(^74) Sankar Muthu,Enlightenment against Empire, Princeton University Press,
2003, pp. 1–4; Jennifer Pitts,A Turn to Empire; The Rise of Imperial
75 Liberalism in Britain and France, Princeton University Press, 2005, pp. 242–43.
Dupont de Nemours, quoted in Gilles Manceron,Marianne et les colonies: une
introduction a`l’histoire coloniale de la France, Paris, La De ́couverte, 2003,
p. 49. Our translation.
(^76) Georges Danton, quoted inibid., p. 54. Our translation.
102 Left and Right in Global Politics