42. Labour and Democracy, Ancient and Modern│Ellen Meiksins Wood

Jack and Dan continue their adventure through the classical Marxists modes of production. This week the lads find themselves in the slave states of ancient Athens and Rome once again under the trusted tutelage of Ellen Meiksins Wood. To what extent does this ancient civilisations mode of production deserve the descriptor ‘slave’? To what extent was production dominated by slavery and how did the peculiar and unique civil, legal and political status of the free citizen affect class relations. Contrast is also drawn between the democracy that defined politics in the ancient world and its modern iteration. In what way do the economic class relations of capitalism and particularly its historically unique form of exploitative class relation preclude in a modern context a form of democracy analogues to that found in the ancient world. Reading: Ellen Meiksins Wood, Labour and Democracy, Ancient and Modern. From Democracy Against Capitalism, Renewing Historical Materialism (1995)