| Abstract: | This article explains how the British colonial state used debt to finance and subsidize indentured labor migration to British Guiana after the abolition of slavery. It uncovers, for the first time in detail, the legal and financial structure of state subsidies for indenture, and the extent to which those subsidies made indenture possible on a large scale. It argues that state subsidies indirectly transferred wealth from former slaves back to the plantations and, further, that they played a crucial role in restructuring the post-emancipation economy. In the process, it reflects on the nature of liberal imperialism and the importance of state economic restructuring in the era of free trade. |
