(1917) - What Socialism Means to Us - Hubert Harrison

In this work, Harrison focuses on the problem of economic exploitation, particularly the exploitation of workers under the capitalist system. Hubert Harrison analyzed the current exploitation of workers through wage-slavery, comparing it to the previous system of chattel slavery. He argued that while chattel slaves were physically bound to their masters, modern wage-slaves are bound by economic necessity, forced to work for survival. Harrison critiqued the U.S. Civil War, stating that it was not fought to end slavery, but to protect Northern capitalist interests, which mirrored the exploitative systems of the South. He claimed that socialism would emancipate the wage-slaves so workers must unify for socialism to end economic and racial oppression.