rcle, whereby slavery produces more rich people, who could in turn support more slaves. As indicated earlier, the super-rich in our societies are withdrawing from public obligation. The reintroduction of slavery, however, could re-ignite a sense of noblesse oblige among the rich, inspiring personal support for the poor by way of slave-ownership. Here the principle of mutual obligation would be satisfied and be seen to be satisfied: slaves would labour at the whim of their masters (or mistresses); and masters (or mistresses) would provide for their slaves. Indeed the new slave system could be seen as a sort of privatised extension of the work-for-the-dole schemes currently fashionable in Australia and parts of America.Another benefit of slavery would be increased security for wealth. Members of under-classes quite often and naturally resort to crime, especially crimes against property. Crime and vandalism worsen as our societies grow more unequal, as the poor are constantly provoked by the contrasting conspicuous consumption of the rich. Lurking behind rising crime rates is the even worse threat of social revolution. A system of voluntary slavery, however, would help safeguard wealth and property from both crime and revolution. It would turn a goodly proportion of the underclass itself into property, thereby placing many of the poor under the direct control of wealthy slave-owners, who would be armed with powers of summary punishment. It would provide a private alternative to developing a massive state prison system like that in the US, which functions as a system of state slavery. Not that powers of summary punishment would be needed as much as police and prisons are now, for the new slaves, enjoying material security for the first time in their lives, would be less liable as well as less able to commit crimes. We should also remember that crime threatens the less well-off even more than the very wealthy, as they are less able to protec...
