The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Capitalism Can Profit from Anything

Sep 8, 2003

Slavery and prostitution, as well as forced enrollment in armed groups, indentured servitude and begging are growing throughout the world, according to the latest annual report by the U.S. State Department.

More than eight million youngsters worldwide are exploited by networks which steal children, and each year another 800,000 new victims are grabbed in their own countries. In western Europe alone, a half million prostitutes are brought from Eastern Europe.

This disgusting traffic in humans is supposed to be worth more than seven billion dollars per year, in so far as the amount can be known. All the countries concerned, whether those of the victims’ origin, those seeing the traffic come through or those of the traffickers’ destinations, scarcely oppose this traffic in humans–and sometimes the corruption involves their own police or others at the highest levels of the country.

It’s not so astonishing. Human traffickers and such mafias are nourished by social catastrophes which cover many countries of the world, catastrophes thanks to the pillage of the planet by the big multinational corporations and the governments which support them. To rid the world of such traffic in human beings, it is necessary to sweep away capitalism, which by definition is all about buying and selling.