“Conditions in the United States": W.E.B. Du Bois Speech to the Moscow Peace Conference on August 25, 1949
By W.E.B. Du Bois
Editorial Note: Anti-imperialist delegates gathered in Moscow a few years after World War II to promote global peace in the face of a rising and aggressive imperialist power, the United States of America. This meeting launched the World Peace Council, which still exists today. W.E.B. Du Bois notes in the speech (linked below) the two great advantages of the US empire: its vast natural resources and its coerced labor force. Chattel slavery and the subjugation of Africans created the wealth that would power US imperialism.