Class Structure and Class Conflict in Haitian Society

This paper describes and analyzes the class structure of Haiti. It reveals that the disparity between the privileged and nonprivileged segments has not changed greatly since colonial days. Approximately six percent of the population share the power and wealth of the country. Class conflict is manifest not so much between the "haves" and "havenots" but within the ranks of the privileged: between the traditional mulatto bourgeoisie which has the wealth and prestige and the new "brown" middle class which has gained the political power in recent years. A brief description of each stratum illustrated by case studies is given. T _ he Caribbean republic of Haiti, with about four million inhabitants, mostly Negroes with a small percentage of mulattoes, achieved its independence from France 160 years ago after the only successful slave rebellion in modern history. Haiti was also the first country in Latin America to establish its independence and was the world's first Negro republic. Despite such an auspicious beginning, Haiti has not been able to rise out of its political and economic chaos but has managed to survive as a viable nation. At the present time, the situation is more desperate than ever under the Duvalier dictatorship. In our judgment, the fundamental key to an understanding of the Haitian social structure is its class system. No other social institution is as basic. The class structure divides the society roughly into two social groups the "haves and have nots" and permeates all other social institutions such as the family, economy, politics, religion, education, folkways and value system. A process of de-africanization occurs as one moves up from the black peasant mass to the urban mulatto bourgeoisie. EVOLUTION OF THE HAITIAN CLASS SYSTENM Social stratification in colonial times consisted of three main strata: the whites, the free people of color (affranchis), and the slaves. The whites were subdivided into grands blancs who were government officials and planters and petits blancs who were whites of smaller means and lesser social importance, such as shopkeepers, etc. The free people of color made up the second stratum. These were the descendants and offspring of white fathers and Negro or mulatto mothers. These affranchis held a relatively advantageous position. Many had been free for generations, owned considerable property, and some were educated in France. They enjoyed many rights but were excluded from public office and some occupations. Many were slave owners and identified with the whites rather than the Negro slaves. Others were artisans whose social aspirations were with the whites but were forced at times to identify with the slaves. The third stratum comprised the slaves, who in turn were differentiated between house servants and field hands, ancl those born on the island and the newcomers. The latter were * Presented before the twenty-seventh annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society in Asheville, North Carolina, April 17, 1964. The field work for this project was done by Roland Wingfield from September, 1961, to June, 1963, while on a teaching and research assignment under an Inter-American Cultural Convention Grant to Haiti. The data analyzed in this paper will constitute a chapter in his forthcoming Ph.D. dissertation, Haiti: A Case Study of an Uuderdeveloped Area which is being prepared as an Institute of Population Research project under the direction of Vernon J. Parenton, Department of Sociology, Louisiana State University. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.223 on Wed, 24 Aug 2016 05:58:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms CONFLICT IN HAITIAN SOCIETY 339 derisively called neg bossal (raw Africans) while the former neg creole (creole Negroes). In 1789, on the eve of the slave rebellion, Moreau de St. Mery estimated the population composition of St. Domingue (Haiti) as follows: 40,000 whites (8%), 28,000 free people of color (5%), and 452,000 slaves (87%).1 The colonial stratification pattern set the stage from which subsequently evolved the present day Haitian class system. The St. Domingue Revolution annihilated the whites. They were either massacred or fled the island. The f ree people of color simply filled the vacuum left by the former ruling class and became the new elite while the slaves became the peasant mass. For over a century, i.e., until two decades ago, Haitian society remained essentially a two-class society with an urban mulatto elite and a peasant mass. Between these two classes there existed a small group of skilled workers, ruined politicians, etc., who were usually moving up or down between the bourgeoisie and the mass. They did not constitute a middle class but simply a transient group with no particular class identification of