The Indian, the Métis and the Fur Trade Class, Sexism and Racism in the Transition from “Communism” to Capitalism

Native peoples' modern history has as its basis class exploitation and oppression. As a consequence of class exploitation, their struggle has been one against racism and national oppression. Native peoples' social and material productivity, and their varied forms of labour, arise from their relationship to different forms of capital and to the resulting exploitation of their labour by capital. To understand the historical, political and economic existence of the native (including mixed-blood) people in North America, it is necessary to analyze them within the context of the political economy of mercantilism.