[UNLOCKED] Atlantic Slavery and the Plantation System w/ David McNally

[UNLOCKED] Atlantic Slavery and the Plantation System w/ David McNally

From Upstream by Upstream

March 3, 2026 · 1h 39m

About this episode

The episode features a discussion with David McNally about his book on the capitalist nature of Atlantic slavery and the plantation system.

This is an unlocked version of the Patreon episode "Atlantic Slavery and the Plantation System w/ David McNally." You can support us through Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You'll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. In this episode we're joined by David McNally to discuss his new book, Slavery and Capitalism: A new Marxist History , a systematic Marxist account of the capitalist character of Atlantic slavery. David McNally is a radical socialist activist and award-winning scholar. He currently holds the Cullen Distinguished Professorship of History & Business at the University of Houston. The conversation opens with an introduction to the idea that the Atlantic slave system and the plantation system were forms of capitalism using the example of Barbados and George Washington in Virginia to explain the industrial-scale level of this system and its position in global capitalism as a node of…

People in this episode

Guest: David McNally

Topics covered

  • Atlantic slavery
  • plantation system
  • capitalism
  • Marxist history
  • race-making
  • modes of production

Keywords

  • slavery
  • capitalism
  • plantation
  • Marxism
  • race
  • commodity production
  • colonialism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Houston

Books & works: Slavery and Capitalism: A new Marxist History

Places: Barbados, Virginia

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