In this article I use Marx's concept of the surplus population to examine the goals of the externalisation and militarization of the EU borders in Africa. We focus on Italy, the lead EU power in Libya. We first argue that Marx's Capital sheds light on the role of colonialism and racism in the reproduction of the surplus population and of global class relations. The 2011 NATO intervention in Libya created the conditions for mass impoverishment, displacement and an ongoing civil war. The militarization of EU borders in Libya is a means to manage and discipline not only this surplus population but also the workforce in immigration countries. This emerges clearly from a 2012-14 research project on forced labour in Europe, which highlights the links between immigration restrictions and super-exploitation in Italian agriculture.