CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY IN COFFEE PRODUCTION IN MINAS GERAIS: DEGRADATION AND LABOR OVEREXPLOITATION IN BRAZILIAN DEPENDENT CAPITALISM

Abstract

Since its colonization, Brazil has participated in the international division of labor as a primary producer, and slavery has been a fundamental part of this reality. The goal of this paper is to discuss the reproduction of contemporary slave labor on coffee plantations in southern Minas Gerais, analyzing its permanence and economic functionality as part of the expansion strategies and dynamics of the global coffee production chain. We draw on the approach of historical and dialectical materialism and critical sociological reflection on the social contradictions between modern and archaic relations in Brazilian dependent capitalism. We use secondary data from sources such as Global Slavery Index 2023; Information and Statistics Panel of the Labor Inspection in Brazil (Radar SIT); Smartlab platform and "Lista Suja" (register of employers who subjected workers to conditions analogous to slavery). Our main argument is that contemporary slave labor on coffee farms in southern Minas Gerais is a significant and current social problem that involves systematic violations of workers' human rights. The practice is aimed at maintaining the profitability of the national coffee sector by compensating for the economic losses caused by the overexploitation of labor. This is a typical reality in dependent capitalist societies, where labor over-exploitation serves the purposes of expanded capital expansion strategies.