Between the abolition of slavery, 1834, and World War I, more than a half-million laborers were introduced to the British West Indies under terms of indenture. Indenture implies unfreedom, the exploitation of people forced into exile by misfortune or misadventure. It is an alien concept in modern Western society, and the transoceanic transport of thousands of African and Indian workers during the nineteenth century appears a further testimonial to European racism, to the arrogance of great power, and to the political influence of the West India planters and their merchant associates. In recent years, a growing number of scholars have characterized the whole process of nineteenth-century indenture as a “new system of slavery.”

中文翻译：

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从奴隶解放到契约：帝国道德问题

从 1834 年奴隶制废除到第一次世界大战期间，超过 50 万劳工根据契约被引入英属西印度群岛。契约意味着不自由，意味着对因不幸或不幸而被迫流亡的人们的剥削。这在现代西方社会是一个陌生的概念，十九世纪成千上万的非洲和印度工人的跨洋运输似乎进一步证明了欧洲的种族主义、大国的傲慢以及西印度种植园主的政治影响力。以及他们的商业伙伴。近年来，越来越多的学者将十九世纪契约契约的整个过程定性为“新奴隶制”。