The conditions of the Transvaal ordinance under which Chinese Labour is now being carried on do not, in my opinion, constitute a state of slavery. A labour contract into which men enter voluntarily for a limited and for a brief period, under which they are paid wages which they consider adequate, under which they are not bought or sold and from which they can obtain relief on payment of seventeen pounds ten shillings, the cost of their passage, may not be a healthy or proper contract, but it cannot in the opinion of His Majesty's Government be classified as slavery in the extreme acceptance of the word without some risk of terminological inexactitude.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Churchill argues that voluntary labor contracts with fair wages and exit options do not qualify as slavery.
- In plain terms
- He says paying workers well and letting them leave means it is not slavery even if the work is hard.
- What can you take from it?
- Definitions of exploitation depend on consent and alternatives available to workers.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What makes labor truly free?
- Can contracts ever be fully voluntary?
Another view
The argument ignores power imbalances that make 'voluntary' choices less meaningful.
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