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    The Evolution of Revolution

    The Shaping of the Caribbean

    Jason Pilarski

    Patrick Taylor

    HUMA 3320

    March 23rd 2010

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    Revolution is something that has shaped the Caribbean in many

    ways, and is something that is necessary to understand in order to

    study the Caribbean and Caribbean Thought. As the Caribbean was

    created through slavery and indentureship rather than a natural

    progression, the Caribbean is home to many different groups, with

    each island having its own unique composition. People on the islands

    speak different languages, have different religious beliefs and

    histories, and are a multitude of different colours. Beginning with the

    Haitian Revolution organized by Toussaint Louverture in the late

    seventeen and early eighteen hundreds; leading all the way up to the

    Cuban Revolution of Castro and the gang, this essay will look at the

    differences in the revolutions, as well as where they were successful.

    It will also note the effects that the revolutions have had on Caribbean

    Thought as a whole, both from the people on the island itself, people in

    the Caribbean Diaspora, and outsiders thoughts as well. The main

    ideas for this came through several books on the Cuban Revolution,

    namely by Che Guevara and Oscar Lewis, and those are the basis of

    the fundamental ideas in this piece.

    The natural starting place of any paper on the topic of revolution

    in the Caribbean would have to be the Haitian Revolution. While there

    were myriad instances of petit and grand marronage on all islands, the

    Haitian Revolution was the first grand marronage that was actually

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    successful, and culminated with Toussaint Louverture being in control

    of Haiti. As Franklin Knight states in The Haitian Revolution, After

    1793, under the control of Pierre-Dominique Toussaint Louverture, ex-

    slave and ex-slave-owner, the tide of war turned inexorably, assuring

    the victory of the concept of liberty held by the slaves. We see this

    relationship and this progression in The Black Jacobins, as well as his

    ever-important relationship with Dessalines. Toussaint was strategic in

    his efforts to maintain a strong leadership position while still

    demonstrating political awareness, and expelled the French from Haiti

    immediately. He was far more humane to them than they were to the

    Haitians, and this was a smart political move on his part. While his

    second in command Dessalines disagreed with this overly humane

    response, Toussaint did what he thought was necessary to ensure the

    optimal survival of his people on Haiti. Toussaint was more privileged

    than most of the other slaves, as CLR James says, both in body and

    mind he was far beyond the average slave.

    Many islands also had revolutionaries and groups of individuals

    uniting against the powers, but in only a few cases was the rebellion

    successful. One of the most infamous groups of rebels are

    interconnected to the course in a series of ways, through the ideals

    they stood for as well as their place in the Caribbean. Through reading

    The Farming of Bones, wed learned and read a lot about the Parsley

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    Massacre, the tyranny of Trujillo, and the need for rebellion. Especially

    with being on the same piece of land as Haiti; the only one up until this

    point to have a successful slave revolution, leadership and figures of

    justice were crucial, and the Mirabal Sisters and the Butterflies were

    crucial in the Dominican Republic. Killed as martyrs not unlike

    Toussaint was, ambushed by Trujillos thugs much like Toussaint was

    tricked by Napoleon, the morals and ideas they had fought for would

    be ingrained in society and Caribbean Thought permanently.

    Much like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, two of the most integral

    leaders of the Cuban Revolution, one thing that can be seen in

    common of the leaders is the fact that they were more educated and

    able than the average person. The people who were leading these

    revolutions were generally more learned, scholarly, and tactical

    because of that fact. This can also be further extrapolated to look at

    an even more recent body of power and revolution, though not as

    successful as it was quickly overthrown: the New Jewel Movement of

    Grenada. They were as well an especially educated and learned group

    of people. The leadership would be almost a sort of aristocracy,

    including males and females alike, like Jacqueline Creft, who was

    educated in Ottawa at Carleton University.

    This privilege held by Toussaint was one of the things that led to

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    his ability to lead, and as we see in amazing detail in Thorntons piece

    African Soldiers in the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint was considered a

    stagecoach, and that higher responsibility and trust let him traverse

    between the settlements and plantations more often, giving him more

    ability to move as well as talk, listen, and understand what the

    situations were like across several of the Haitian plantations. His

    article in fact gives one of the most omnipotent viewpoints, letting us

    watch the revolution unfold, seeing Toussaints charisma rally the

    people. It shows the word spreading through the plantations of what

    was going to happen, and the revolution occurs as almost a wave of

    slaves, constantly growing and crowing until it erupted.

    As important as what he did to cause and lead the revolution is

    what he did after, and the idea of Caribbean Thought that is integral to

    that thinking. While many leaders in history have led a coup or

    revolution and taken full control over the island in hostility, Toussaint

    still maintained a level of compliance with humanity and openness

    towards the French hed expelled. Toussaint still wanted to remain in

    contact with government leaders, especially with regards to peace

    treaties with England and France, as well as where Haiti would stand as

    an independent colony. His actions were crucial to contribution to

    Caribbean Thought, as we have seen throughout the course; several

    different authors speak of the importance of the Haitian Revolution,

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    and how it was truly the origins of Caribbean Thought. This is

    extremely important and true, as this is in fact the first time the people

    of the Caribbean were a people in the sense of the word, and were

    free. They instilled hope in people of all the other islands, and they

    themselves had been finally freed from mental and physical slavery. It

    was this change that brought about the birth of Caribbean Thought and

    identity, because the Caribbean was no longer a set of islands of

    slavery; they were a people of their own.

    Franklin Knight had an extremely well documented paragraph

    about post-Haitian Revolution influences, and it is one that is well

    suited to be an addition to these arguments.

    The impact of the Haitian Revolution was both immediate and

    widespread. The antislavery fighting immediately spawned

    unrest throughout the region, especially in communities of

    Maroons in Jamaica, and among slaves in St. Kitts. It sent a wave

    of immigrants flooding outward to the neighboring islands, and

    to the United States and Europe. It revitalized agricultural

    production in Cuba and Puerto Rico. As Alfred Hunt has shown,

    Haitian emigrants also profoundly affected American language,

    religion, politics, culture, cuisine, architecture, medicine, and the

    conflict over slavery, especially in Louisiana. Most of all, the

    revolution deeply affected the psychology of the whites

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    throughout the Atlantic world. The Haitian Revolution

    undoubtedly accentuated the sensitivity to race, color, and

    status across the Caribbean.

    We see this charisma and education shine through in his Final

    Proclamation, where we see a calculated amount of restraint, logic,

    and political play in order to be what he thought was the most

    successful leader possible for his people not bad at all for a now ex-

    slave. Toussaint new the importance of building the strength of the

    colony not only in arms, but in mind as well, and this ever important

    idea of Patria that he was working with, though it wouldnt be called

    that until later, would not be the last we see in the Caribbean. Unlike

    Dessalines and his ruthless approach we see in The Black Jacobins,

    Toussaint is extremely political and idealistic, and although his goals

    were slightly unrealistic and unachievable, Toussaint had a dream for

    Haiti which the Caribbean would be modeled after, and that was

    independence, freedom, and strength of the people. This was the idea

    of Patria.

    The notion of Patria, later used by Marti, was one that all

    revolutionary leaders would need to use in one form or another, and

    one I feel is epitomized in the Cuban Revolution. While Haiti was

    generally a much more black group, Cuba was one of much mixing,

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    leaving many different groups of white, mulatto, and black. This would

    not be a problem, however, as Marti had defined the Patria as a

    homeland where every person could achieve fulfillment because major

    social differences, such as those of an economic or a racial kind, would

    be overcome by everyones love for their common country, and so,

    presumably, for each other. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Raul Castro

    and several others fought viciously to bring down Fulgencio Batista and

    his tyrannous regime. Marti was an extremely idealistic person that

    should be looked at as a revolutionary much like Toussaint and

    Dessalines, though he was more of an idealist than a realist. Many of

    his ideas would have been wonderful had they been implemented, but

    many were simply too unrealistic. The inspiration, however, was

    crucial, and many of the ideals and necessities that he deemed were

    important to the creation of a Patria were the things not unlike those

    that Fidel Castro and Che Guevara fought for in the Cuban Revolution.

    The revolution that Fidel Castro and his followers started began

    with a colossal failure that would later turn out to be one of the most

    important in the war. The 26th of July Movement signifies the day that

    Fidel and Raul Castro, Che Guevara, and several others would attempt

    to storm the Moncada Barracks in Santiago, Cuba. This proved to be

    an unsuccessful mission, and many of them were either killed or

    arrested in the attack. While arrested, Castro defended nearly one

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    hundred of the captives, and when asked about who started the attack,

    Fidel was quoted as saying "the intellectual author of this revolution is

    Jose Marti the apostle of our independence". Eighty two men wouldregroup in Mexico after being given Amnesty, and this is where Raul

    would introduce Fidel to Che Guevara.

    Many revolutionaries, people who had fled from dictatorships,

    and other ex-soviets were in Mexico, and many of them like minded

    individuals not unlike what we saw occur in the Haitian Revolution and

    New Jewel Movement. Fidel Castro was able to continue to use Martis

    morals and ideals throughout his campaign, and effectively worked at

    creating a Patria. With communist views as his only way of equality,

    Fidel did his best to make sure that the people of the Patria believed in

    the it. When there were great successes, they were all of their

    successes, not merely his, and this was what made the Cuban

    Revolution so powerful. Fidel managed to do exactly what Toussaint

    did, and that was to take the people who were suffering, unite them

    against the cause, and lead them from the front risking his own life.

    With two successful revolts, one of slaves and the other of

    people overthrowing their own corrupt government, one must then

    look at the after effects of the revolts were, both to its people and to

    the world around. Haiti I would say has benefitted immensely from

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    their revolution, though you wouldnt know it from the way Haiti is

    today. While they might have been in a dire and desperate situation

    from the revolt, it is arguable that there is nothing worse than slavery;

    and any choice, no matter how bad it is, is better than having none.

    How the world took it, however, is not as simple. In Silvio Torres-

    Saillants book, he has a chapter called Haiti In The Antillean World,

    where he mentions that Western discourse has generally viewed the

    Caribbean through Haiti and has often invoked Haitian experiences

    generically to represent the whole regionthe West did not forgive the

    slave insurgents of Saint Domingue Saillant talks about

    Americanness, Englishness, Whiteness and Blackness, and relates it to

    the revolution. The main reason this is crucial, is because even in

    modern Caribbean Thought, we can still see that pigmentocracy is still

    an ever-present player in the hierarchy of social structure.

    Cuba as well suffers from several interesting perspectives on the

    revolution, both from inside and out. Inside of Cuba you have many

    people of the party who are pro-Castro, the revolution, and everything

    that it stands for. We also see the other perspective of those who

    suffer under the regime. In Four Men, we see Oscar Lewis and others

    attempt to go into Cuba with permission from Castro and document

    people and workers from within Cuba. They are constantly having

    pressure put on them and their work modified and checked, as Castro

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    refused to have anything to damage the regimes name published if

    avoidable. When Oscar Lewis got too deep into things that Fidel didnt

    like, he was expelled from Cuba without being able to expose the

    poverty and suffering for what it was. Regardless of which side you

    are on, it is still unavoidable to look at the positives of the Revolution,

    most importantly the Literacy Brigades, the Land Reformation, and the

    fact that Cuba has free healthcare and schooling for all, coupled with

    some of the best doctors in the entire world. Cuba also has helped

    many countries in revolutionary situations, volunteering in Africa and

    South America as well as on other islands. The literacy rate jumped

    massively when Fidel went into power, compared to when Batista was

    in power. According to Fidel when Batista had arrested him, thirty

    percent of Cubas farm people couldnt even write their own names.

    Compared to the nearly perfect literacy rate today, it is hard to say

    that Fidels revolution wasnt a massive success in many ways.

    The outside world is where Cubas situation becomes even more

    interesting, because of its involvement with the Soviet Union in the

    Cold War era. The United States still imposes an embargo on Cuba,

    and this is one of the only situations that this occurs in. The rest of the

    world still freely deals with Cuba, and communism is certainly not the

    issue for the states. How could it be when they openly deal with China,

    one of the richest countries in the world yet still a communist state?

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    This separation from the United States, something that Cuba has that

    no other Caribbean island has, is something that has driven it into

    becoming its own segregated community, and something that has

    really forced Cuba to evolve differently, both in its ways of thinking as

    well as the way in which the country operates.

    In conclusion, we can see that both countries were extremely

    important in their Revolutions, and their revolutions helped to change

    the Caribbean and Caribbean Thought forever. The Haitian Revolution

    is said to be the beginning of Caribbean Thought as a whole, as before

    that there truly was no free Caribbean people like there are today,

    there were merely slaves. That revolution helped to inspire faith in the

    other islands, and that is the true birthplace of all the things of

    freedom and inspiration. The Cuban Revolution followed in its

    footsteps nearly a century and a half later, and Castro had done things

    very similarly to Toussaint Louverture, and that was to inspire the

    people to rise up behind him, not for him. Both were able to build

    countries on the backs of the people for the people, and their success

    stories are known because of that. While there were many

    aforementioned coups and revolutions, the Haitian Revolution was

    clearly the standout here, as it was the first and only slave rebellion to

    take over an island. The rest were inspired from it, and it goes without

    saying that the Haitian Revolution truly was the birthplace of

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    Caribbean Revolutions; and it redefined then what revolution and

    fighting in the Caribbean has become since it. The Haitian Revolution

    truly did start the Evolution of Revolution.

    Works Cited

    Bolland, O. Nigel. The Birth of Caribbean Civilisation: a Century of Ideas

    about Cultureand Identity, Nation and Society. Kingston [Jamaica]: Ian Randle, 2004.

    Ch Guevara, Episodes of the Revolutionary War in DavidDeutschmann, ed, Che Guevara Reader, (Melbourne and New York:Ocean Press, 2003)

    C.L.R. James. The Black Jacobins. In The CLR James Reader, 67-111.Ed. Anna

    Grimshaw. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992.

    Danticat, Edwidge. The Farming of Bones. New York: Penguin, 1998.(novel)

    "FRANKLIN W. KNIGHT | The Haitian Revolution | The AmericanHistorical Review, 105.1 |." The History Cooperative. Web. 23 Mar.2010..

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    LOuverture, Toussaint. Toussaints Final Proclamation (Proclamationof 29 Frimaire the year X (1801). Trans. Mitch Abidor. Web. August30, 2009. . (Source : Francois Roc, ed.Dictionnaire de la Rvolution Haitienne. Montreal: Les Editions

    Guildives, Montreal 2006.)

    Oscar Lewis, Ruth Lewis and Susan Rigdon, Living the Revolution: AnOral History of Contemporary Cuba (Urbana: University of IllinoisPress,1977)

    Torres-Saillant, Silvio. An Intellectual History of the Caribbean.Basingstoke, Hampshire, England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

    http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/toussaint-louverture/1801/final-proclamation.htmhttp://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/toussaint-louverture/1801/final-proclamation.htmhttp://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/toussaint-louverture/1801/final-proclamation.htmhttp://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/toussaint-louverture/1801/final-proclamation.htm