Forced Labor 599-600 Summary

In my reading, it talked about unpaid, forced labor during the colonial era, on public projects. Some examples are building railroads, constructing buildings, or transporting goods. In French Africa, natives were required to do statute labor for 10-12 days a year. this as greatly disliked, but continued until 1946. The most cruel and infamous examples of forced labor occurred during the early 1900s in the Congo, governed by Leopold II of Belgium. Villagers there were forced to collect rubber from the forrest, because of the great demand for bike tires and car tires. If they weren't successful, they were severely punished. Some were shot, some were dragged off with ropes around their neck, and some had different parts of their bodies removed. There is a picture on page 600 of two young boys whose hands were severed because of their village's lack to provide the required amount of rubber. Another instance of the forced labor was in Indonesia, in the 19th century. Peasants were required to devote 20 percent of their land to cash crops like sugar and coffee in order to meet their tax obligation to the state. The crops were then resold by the Dutch to the world market and was very highly profitable to the shippers, traders, citizens, and state. This highly benefitted the dutch economy and provided capital for their industrial revolution. But for the peasants it meant a double burden to the state and local lords. the demands along with the loss of land and exclusion from food production led to famines killing hundreds of thousands. the forced cultivation of crops was successfully and largely resisted in various places. A massive rebellion occurred in 1905 and ended the forced cultivation of cotton and other plants in many places.

Ways of the World By Robert W. Strayer