That’s an entirely separate philosophical discussion about the meaning of “slavery.” I’m speaking to the historical and material reality that the structuring and maintenance of wage labor was informed and defined by the existence of slavery in the U.S.

And of course it still is - slavery is legal as a form of punishment in this country and we have prisoners working at pay and conditions below those of other forms of wage labor. Is it your hypothesis that the two don’t interact with each other? How could they not in a market context where forced labor persists in competition with other low wage labor?