The Slave Mode Of Production

It was the Greek city states which, first made slavery “absolute in form and dominant in extent transferring it
from a secondary facility into a systematic mode of production.” The Greeks had successfully transformed
slavery into an institutionalized system marked by large-scale use of slave labor both in the countryside as well
as in the cities. According to M.I Finley, who is regarded as an authority on the topic at hand, the factors that
fostered the growth of slavery were: the private ownership of land, development of commodity production and
markets and the non-availability of labor supply. Besides these factors the beginnings of class differentiation
and warfare also bolstered the growth of slavery.

Infact the oldest specimens of Greek literature i.e. the texts of Homer and Hesiod contain several references to
slavery indicating that they were familiar with the custom from as far back as evidence exists. The Greek world
wasn’t based on the exclusive use of slave labor, we simultaneously also see the existence of free peasants,
dependant tenants, agricultural laborers and urban artisans in varying proportions in the different city states of
Greece, but by the Classical period in particular slave labor was the dominant mode of production. Slavery was
omnipresent in Greece and scholars have made various attempts to estimate the precise size of slave population
but due to the fragmentary nature of evidence have acknowledged that their conclusions are only
approximations. A reasonable estimate of the number of slaves employed in the city state of Athens is pegged
between 60,000-1,10,000 and of these between 20,000-30,000 were employed in the silver mines of Laurium,
the silver extracted and produced from these mines by the slaves was crucial in establishing the economic
supremacy of Athens in the Aegean. Big slave owners usually hired out these slaves to the state; apart from this
the state owned slaves were deployed on administrative tasks. Slaves were also engaged in agriculture, which
was the mainstay of economy and most peasant households had at-least one slave to perform domestic
functions, slaves were also entrusted with the management of large estates, they dominated handicraft
production besides being engaged in a host of other menial tasks. Female slaves were employed to carry out
tasks like weaving and caring for children.

Infact according to Gerda Lerner in her work entitled ‘The Creation Of Patriarchy’ argues that at any given
point of time in any country the female ratio of slaves was higher than males and the logical explanation for this
in her opinion is that the male slaves were always a potential source of danger for they are aggressive by nature
and cannot tolerate subjugation. Another observation made by her was that in ancient civilization freedom could
not be bought unlike in Medieval times and hence slaves didn’t want to marry for their children too would be
condemned to slavery. But Lerner fails to explain that if this was the case then why is there no shortage of
slaves. Infact M.I Finley too points out that slaves were not allowed to have families since slave breeding was
considered uneconomical and often complete denial of kinship ties took the brutal form of disposing of slave
off-springs by selling them in the labor market.

The constant warfare provided a good source for the supply of slave labor and prisoners of war were turned over
to slave leaders who transported them and sold them in the market of various city- states. As far as the attitude
of contemporary Greeks to the institution of slavery is concerned they do not seem to have given much thought
to the matter, though the general perception about slaves was that they belonged to an inferior class and were
born for serving superiors. The great Greek thinkers Aristotle and Plato held slavery to be a natural institution
and therefore good and just.

Scholars have also pointed out a crucial link between slavery and democracy. According to M.I Finley “ one
aspect of Greek history in short is the advance hand in hand of freedom and slavery.” Slaves were a decisive
figure in the politically and economically advanced communities and it was the most effective form of
dependant labor, adaptable to all kinds and levels of activities. On the other hand Helots were to be found in the
more archaic communities and best suited to agriculture, pasturage and household services.

Manumission was the constant hope of the slaves and a manumitted slave acquired the status of a metic but his
freedom of action continued to be hampered by obligations that he owed to his masters family. The most
widespread method of expressing resistance to slaves was to run away, however slave owners are known to have
acted collectively in order to track down their fugitive slaves and moreover with the slaves being ethnically
identifiable and given the resources that could be deployed against him coupled with the harsh punishments
meted out once the slave was caught, would have acted as powerful deterrents to prevent the slaves from taking
flight.
 Slavery proved to be a highly lucrative device, as a commodity slaves were regarded as property and much of
the efflorescence of classical Greece rested on this institution. However in the long run the price for this brutal
and lucrative device was a high one. Slavery tended to paralyze productivity both in agriculture as well as
industry. Although a few attainments can be seen in the slave mode production in the form of the water mill and
wheeled harvester for instance but these were never adapted on a wide scale and thus, both these cases aptly
demonstrate that mere technique itself was not a “prime mover”. Moreover increase in productivity was attained
through greater exploitation of slave labor and hence the desire for technological advance that could bolster
production was missing. Once the maximum capacity of slave labor had been attained there was bound to be
stagnation and eventually decline.

Scholars have tried to understand varying opinions for the decline of slavery. The Humanitarian
argument attributes the decline of slavery to the emergence of Christian and stoic principles as moral agents
which, influenced society to develop a critical attitude to slavery and oppression. This argument does not hold
good for though Christian and stoic principles were critical of slavery these ideas were never put into practice,
something that is exemplified by the fact that the church forbade the manumission of slaves who were its
property and slavery was retained even during the period of Constantine.

According to the Conquest theory once fresh conquests ceased the supply of slaves too dried up. M.I Finley
who asserts that even though conquests ceased war continued has critiqued this hypothesis and the prisoners of
war continued to be sold into slavery. While this theory though is not comprehensive but it does hold some
ground.

A.H.M Jones on the other hands attributes the demise of the slave mode of production to the eight -fold
increase in the prices of slaves between 4 th century B.C and 2nd century A.D, thus forcing employers to turn to
other forms of labor supply. His hypothesis however is based on limited evidence and in the opinion of M.I
Finley to draw a direct connection between increasing prices and a decline in supply doesn’t seem plausible.

M.I Finley puts forward what is called the Structural argument to explain the decline of slavery. He states that
the factors that were favorable in the development of slavery would help in explaining to us its decline as well.
These factors are private ownership of land, development of commodity production and the non-availability of
labor supply. In Finley’s opinion a reversal of these conditions would throw light on the decline of slavery.

Nevertheless, inspite of its inherent problems the importance of slavery as a mode of production cannot be
overlooked for as Perry Anderson points out that the mobility of slaves was a great advantage to the world
where transport bottlenecks were central to the structure of urban economy and more significantly as M.I
Finley acknowledges that slavery constitutes a distinct phase in social formations. It formed the basis of not just
the magnificence of Greek civilizational culture but also formed a basis for the institution of democracy, an
institution that is desired and cherished in many parts of the world and which has its roots in this phase of Greek
history and whose development was made possible by the institution of slavery.