Haiti

Haiti, formally known as the Republic of Haiti is a Socialist, Marxist state in the Caribbean. Haiti is one of the fastest growing states in the Caribbean, since the 1924 revolution and the Panama Accords.

**WIP, setup for Haiti is to change, don’t expect them to stay socialist in the future!**

### **Government Structure**

One Party Socialist Presidential Republic

### **Established**

1924 (end of American occupation)1804 (explusion of French forces, declared independent)

## **Haiti, United States Military Occupation**

On July 28th, 1915 United States Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti beginning the occupation of Haiti at the behest of then American President Woodrow Wilson. Lasting 9 years, Haiti drastically changed under the jackboot of the United States. On the one hand, projects to improve the country’s infrastructure, railroads and modernization efforts went underway. For the first 2 years Haiti steadily grew as well as its economy, however in 1917 as economic decay began in the States as the Great War ended, Haiti was pulled down with the rest of the United States.

Plans to integrate the Caribbean state began to fail as America also shifted from funding their occupied territory to downright ignoring it in many cases. Left abandoned yet still a part of the United States, tensions grew throughout the 1920s. Resistance movements, especially after the syndicalists established themselves in German moved more towards the left, aligning themselves with anarcho-syndicalism. Haiti was hotly debated in the rest of the mainland United States, as some wanted America to fully pull out of the country. Others, mostly aligned with the right insisted America keep its occupation policy. As the economic situation grew worse and worse from 1917-1924, it felt as Haiti was a thorn in the side of the country with amplified Haitian resistance movements. Any calls for squashing the rebels almost always resulted in civilians being in the cross fire, outraging not only more of the Haitians but the American public as well. Many human rights abuses within the territory were brought to light, bringing the public opinion of keeping Haiti drastically down.

In 1924, with the election of Republican Calvin Coolidge, one of his promises during the election campaign was to end the occupation of Haiti, and in June of 1924, Calvin began the efforts to pull any and all American forces out of Haiti. Although this was celebrated by much of the public, for the far right it further alienated them, and reinforced their ideas of being shunned and ignored in mainstream politics. When America pulled itself out of the country, the American government quickly planned for a new Haitian government to take the place of the Americans. Directly appointed by Coolidge was Élie Lescot who was pro-American, and promised to remain friendly to the American government. In the reality, the new government of Haiti was forced to make many concessions to the USA, including giving America economic influence in the country.

When the news broke of Lescot being appointed the new president as well as the concessions and sacrifices he was forced to make, it would the stick that broke the camels back for the entire population of Haiti, who wanted the Americans completely gone.

## **The Haitian Civil War**

Overnight, starting on June 17th, many attacks across Haiti from separatist anti-American groups broke the fragile nation. Not wanting a bloody war in his nation, Lescot called on America to send volunteers to Haiti to help pacify the country, but it was no use. Although over 2000 American volunteers arrived in Haiti, over 250 were brutally executed by the immensely popular Anarchist Liberation Movement of Haiti, the biggest Leftist group in the country in 1 week. Because of this sheer brutality, many Americans began protesting to pull out their forces from the country, and this news horrified the remainder of the American forces who did not want to fight for the fear of their deaths. After 1 week of attacks amping up by different movements, the ALMH who had previously executed the 250 American volunteers had been planning for a new revolution since 1922 and had been in contact with the Germans for several months, where they had requested leftover rifles from the civil war, to which the Germans had agreed and made plans to secretly aid the ALMH. As such, in late June in the small port city of Caracol which had been a hotspot for the leftist movement, German arms had finally arrived. With these new weapons, the plans for a revolution went underway.

From July 6th to July 15th, as the new pro-American government had continually failed to control and gain popularity, much of the northeast of the country had fallen to Haitian leftists and anarchists, including Cap-Haitien which was quite easy from the disorganized and undersupplied Haitian national army. As Élie then declared martial law and used brutal force against many deemed enemies of the state, the leftists realized that they will need to swiftly take over Haiti or suffer from the Americans as well, as American arms arrived in different Haitian ports. Taking advantage from the Haitian army, the northern separatists striked down south, taking the north and remaining northwestern provinces over the course of 1 week as well as Gonaïves. Despite Coolidge’s efforts, with the American public turning isolationist in terms of the Haitian Civil War, Coolidge was unable to take any interventionist actions without sacrificing his reputation. The 2000 volunteer units which had disbanded and were sent back into the USA and a small supply of arms was all Coolidge was willing to give in order to remain somewhat popular. Without proper arms, a poorly organized army and lack of civilian morale, much of the American aligned government couldn’t do anything but watch as the rebels quickly annexed city after city. By August after another swift offensive allowed the rebels to march down south and take Jacmel while encircling Port-Au-Prince. Most of the government in the capital likewise fled in exile to the USA as in another week the capital fell with the remaining countryside. After an escalation of events within Haiti, from 1915-1924, the first far left North American country was founded but with loss that Haiti had not felt in centuries.

In addition, their withdrawal from Haiti could have been avoided, as the Dominican Republic had also been occupied by American forces since 1924. However, inspired by the Haitian resistance, nationalistic Dominicans also persued a revolution against their occupiers, forcing the Americans to not only deal with the Dominicans, but it made an invasion into Haiti from the occupied country almost impossible. 1 month after departing from Haiti, Coolidge departed from the Dominican Republic as well.

## **Socialist Haiti**

In the coming years since the forced removal of Lescot's government, many changes marked a permanent shift within the country. Universal education had been provided by the state, but it became discouraged after students passed secondary schools and highly encouraged to get jobs, especially jobs that dealt with repairing anything damaged from the war and from American atrocities. Many of the Haitian minority population, including German and Americans fled within 1 year of the establishment of the leftist regime.

Haiti, instead of taking a more centralized communist approach, under influence from Germany turned away from communism to syndicalism and anarchism. Haiti began to more so focus on different communities, instead of emphasizing direct rule from Port-Au-Prince. For example, universal healthcare had been provided, but instead of being provided by the state itself, the government outlawed any sort of privatized capitalism in many of its autonomous communities, or communes. Life was stagnate, but peaceful, tranquil and slowly improving. With resources provided by Mexico from 1925 and onward, the Haitian economy grew and the standard of life increased as well. To better bolster support for the socialists, once the Great Crash occurred, Haiti was only barely effected by it. The people of the country, seeing a powerhouse like the United States falter and its economy collapse, while a small recovering state was able to avoid any sort of economic repercussions drew much support to the far left as proof of socialist's superiority over capitalism.

One ongoing issue was that of the Dominican Republic. Haiti and the Dominican Republic always had a grudge with each other, especially since the Dominican War of Independence. But, with a leftist radicalist government in charge just across the border, the Dominican Republic felt ever more threatened. Evidently, many authoritarian figures, such as Rafael Trujillo who rallied the people of his country by instilling anti-leftist sentiment which began to devolve into anti-Haitian sentiment and a rise of nationalism. Trujillo made the people believe that the Haitians were planning for a ruthless takeover of the country and in the 1930s elections he ran basically unopposed, at the expense of his political rivals which, after violent measures allowed him to run without any major opposition. On the 16th of August, he was elected, and soon became the dictator of the Dominican Republic.

Tensions were boiling and both sides new a war was coming, and Haiti was quick to prepare, seeing itself as the bastion of Caribbean socialism. In 1932, Haitian expeditions left Port-au-Prince for Sevastopol in the anarchist Makhnovia. Although Haitian troops lacked proper equipment to form a proper army with any proper war techniques, they still had guerrilla warfare to help them. Makhnovia's army had been the most experienced in guerrilla war with constant border wars with their neighbors. After returning to Haiti, the Haitian army began practicing with the new information they learned, and their time in Sevastopol paid off. The Haitian government was seeming more confident with a chance of winning a new war against the Dominicans.