There is a lot at stake in the discussion of slavery and capitalism. If slavery was essential to the origins of capitalism, what does that tell us about capitalism? Slavery is much older than capitalism, but the form of slavery that coincided with the rise of capitalism had new features, including the systematic kidnapping of Africans and forcing them to work as slaves in the New World. What does the origin of capitalist slavery tell us about the nature of racism? It took revolutionary struggles to overthrow slavery, but why didn’t they overthrow capitalism as well? This talk will address these and other questions about the relationship of capitalism to slavery and slavery to capitalism.