this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2026
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Colonialism was absolutely an aspect of capitalism. You are correct that these high standards of living are paid for by capitalism, just that it's stolen value from the labor of the global south through imperialism, not through European labor.
Private property and freedom of association are core aspects of capitalism, colonialism did none of those things. Capitalism didn't arrive in the colonies until the colonists left.
You're confusing values espoused by liberalism with the consequences of economies dominated by private property. Colonialism was driven by capitalism, and justified by liberalism. Further, I am talking about ongoing imperialism, not just colonialism.
just what exactly is liberal about invading foreign countries and submitting them to production quota's at the threat of death?
The free movement of capital and the pursuit of profits is the purpose of liberalism, including the devastating impacts on the working classes that come from that. Liberalism is the justification for capitalism, not capitalism itself, and the necessary consequences of capitalist plunder is intrinsic to capitalism.
I recommend reading Domenico Losurdo's Liberalism - A Counter History.
Liberalism is the ideology of advocating for liberty.
Invading foreign coutnries and submitting them to production quota's at the threat of death is not liberty.
I recommend reading a dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/liberalism
I'm well aware of the history of liberalism and how its apologists try to hide its use to justify colonialism, imperialism, crushing worker movements, etc. I've read the dictionary definitions. You aren't changing the way liberalism functions in real life, just trying to avoid complicity in the damage its caused by trying to paint a better picture of it.
Slaves were considered private property in the USAmerica, right?
Was USAmerica a colony during their civil war?
The US Empire is still a settler-colony, to be clear.
Private property alone doesn't make capitalism, by that logic the ancient civilzations of egypt and sumer would already be capitalist. Capitalism is a collection of ideas, from the right to own private property to freedom of association, none of which is compatible with slavery.
Which is a big reason why the capitalist countries were the first to outlaw slavery.
Capitalism is a mode of production built on private ownership as the principle aspect of the economy. You're confusing the values espoused by liberals with the actual system itself as it exists in the real world, and as such are trying to pretend the same system that created the triangle trade is somehow anti-slavery. Capitalism caused and accelerated the slave trade when the colonizers needed agrarian labor for the land they were settling after genociding the natives.