Unfree Labour, Dissent, Convict-Transportation and the Building of Colonial Capital

Hamish Maxwell-Stewart () and Michael Quinlan ()
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Hamish Maxwell-Stewart: University of New England
Michael Quinlan: UNSW Sydney

Chapter Chapter 1 in Unfree Workers, 2022, pp 3-34 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This is a book on the subordinationSubordination and resistanceResistance of convicts, by far the biggest and most important category of unfree labour in Australia’s history. As such it tries to place this Antipodean workplace struggle within a global context of capitalist development. This chapter sets the context for the book by examining the history and role of penal transportationTransportation as a tool designed to further the ends of criminal justice while simultaneously promoting colonization. It starts with a review of the history of resistance and collective actionCollective action in the metropolitan and colonial world before moving on to map the use of convict labour as a tool of British imperialismImperialism. A key purpose of the chapter is to introduce the concept of ‘convictismConvictism/felonry’ and to explore the similarities between this and other means of justifying labour exploitation, including plantation racism.

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palscp:978-981-16-7558-4_1

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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-7558-4_1

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