Capitalism and Slavery

The ugly racial history of the U. S. has obscured Slavery as an Economic relation, comprised of 1. A owning the work--both the process and the product--of B, and 2. B being forced to work for A.  Now, the most immediate manifestation of such force is the threat of violent harm, usually in the context of imprisonment  But, the alternative to working being impossibility of survival, even if no detention is involved, can be just as effective as a direct threat.  In other words, the difference between the expense of rooming and boarding a slave, and that of subsistence-level wages to an employee is inessential to the power relation involved.  Marx's insight is to recognize the latter variety, even if unanticipated by Smith, as the inevitable foundation of Capitalism, reinforced by Theology and/or the Ideology of "Freedom".