Remembering that Napoleon reinstated slavery in France

Post by throw_m239339 » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:21 PM UTC

watwut wrote: post #7

throw_m239339 wrote: post #2

Napoleon was a bloody dictator, he shouldn't be celebrated by someone supposed to represent the republic like Macron. Did he celebrate the first french republic in September? No, because he is from/married into the old french bourgeoisie, that's who he represents and works for given his terrible record.

Reminder that "bourgeoisie" means "the middle class". Most of us here on HN are bourgeoisie or higher. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with being from the middle class. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with government people being middle class either, in an ideal economy, bourgeoisie is the most common kind of citizen.

Post by watwut » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:31 PM UTC

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #14

watwut wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Napoleon reinstated it in 1802 and it was abolished in 1848. There were only 46 years in between. The state bought the slaves and then freed them. That is not a question of change within centuries, that is various people at that time making active decision to keep or abolish slavery.

None of what I stated contradicts what you said. But limited resource availability and geopolitical instability made that political decision to remove slavery much more difficult than it is today.

Post by TheAdamAndChe » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:41 PM UTC

eugeneagyeman wrote: post #17

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it was a time when all major powers used slaves This is really key here. There's a trend to hold people of the past up to standards of the present, but the world was extremely different then. Before the advent of farming machines and nitrogen fixation, labor dictated the power of a nation, labor relations and unions weren't a big thing, and a huge majority of the population worked in agriculture. Because there were…

Sorry but this is not helpful. Slavery was wrong then and it is wrong now. societal consensus cannot be excused because it was in the past. Highlighted and rightfully acknowledged but slavery cannot be simplified to just forced labour when rape, murder and unethical experimentation was also performed. I think it’s incorrect to assume that this should not be criticised with the standards of today as to do so is to ign…

Post by mantas » Thu, May 06, 2021, 8:34 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #15

contravariant wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did any of the European countries at the time allow slavery in their own borders? I don't think France is special in that regard.

Czarist Russia had what amounted to slaves -serfs, who had very few rights and were bound to their lords.