"But if, to re-establish slavery in San Domingo, this was done, then I declare to you it would be to attempt the impossible: we have known how to face dangers to obtain our liberty, we shall know how to brave death to maintain it."
CLR James has written the seminal English language text on the Haitian Revolution. After re-reading it for the third time, it becomes clearer how influential his analysis and prose of the text was to understanding Toussaint Louverture. The Black Jacobins places the Haitian Revolution in the broader history of revolution, compares it with the French and Russian Revolutions, notes parallels between Saint Domingue and colonial Africa (predicting decolonization), and still manages to put together social and class analysis within a broader critique of slavery, capitalism, and colonialism.
His influence on the work of Eric Williams is conspicuous in how the author links the merchant bourgeoisie of France to the slave trade and the ulterior motives of British abolition of the same trade. James's second edition of the work includes an appendix with a brief analysis of the Caribbean after the Haitian Revolution to the Cuban Revolution, thereby placing the 'Black Jacobins' into the larger picture of Caribbean history and struggle, too.
Of course, The Black Jacobins has its flaws, too. It is a product of its time and the particular colonial British West Indian education of James, who occasionally refers to the black masses of Saint Domingue as lacking in culture, and the like. Considering the original publication in the 1930s, and the type of education and knowledge accessible to Caribbean scholars regarding Africa, it is no surprise James does not really delve deeper into African influences and cultures in Saint Domingue beyond Vodou.
His treatment of the Haitian Revolution is most certainly centered on Toussaint Louverture and the military leadership of the blacks, as well as how Enlightenment ideology and the French Revolution shaped the political beliefs and ideals of the 'Black Jacobins.' James's portrayal of Toussaint is complex and certainly one of the more significant influences on how Madison Smartt Bell approaches the historical figure in a biography I reviewed here.
Unfortunately, Dessalines is not given the equal attention, nor are his motives and interests as clear, so James reduces Dessalines to a 'soldier' who did what was necessary to consolidate independence. Rigaud, Sonthonax, Leclerc, the early slave uprising of 1791, Toussaint receive far more coverage and more nuance than Dessalines, who James even refers to as 'barbarian.'
While one could take issue with his overt political bias and sometimes unnecessary wit, James manages to dismiss with thorough research many white supremacist takes on the Haitian Revolution. For instance, many European and North American scholars saw the blacks of Saint Domingue as unusually violent and savage in their reprisals against French colonists, but it was truly inherent violence and barbarism of colonists and the French forces that exceeded the responses of the oppressed. James also elucidates how white Americans and British influenced the massacres of the remaining whites in Haiti after independence, blaming the business interests of the two nations in wanting to prevent a strong French presence.
On the color and race question, James, coming from a Marxist perspective, sees the latter as subsidiary to the former. And while, at times, alluding to racism among the three groups in Saint Domingue, James is careful to note class distinctions and status among blacks, mulattoes, and whites that complicate easy assumptions about race relations. At times I felt as if James was stretching the truth to refer to the working masses of France as having abolitionist sympathies, given how weak the abolitionist movement in France was, say, compared to Britain. However, James complicates easy assumptions about Toussaint Louverture's conflict with Rigaud, preferring not to blame color as some lazy analysis might.
Overall, James has written a timeless study of the Haitian Revolution. His political bias notwithstanding, James persuasively links capitalism, slavery, and colonialism in a compelling narrative that explains the who, where, when, and why of Toussaint Louverture. While new sources have come to light that challenge some of the assertions of the author (Bell suggests Louverture had been free several years by 1791, and was a successful free black who owned a few slaves) and scholars know they must study the African dimensions of the Haitian Revolution and the role of subaltern agency.
Below are a few favorite quotes from the text:
"Men make their own history, and the black Jacobins of San Domingo were to make history which would alter the fate of millions of men and shift the economic currents of three continents" (25).
"But he accomplished what he did because, superbly gifted, he incarnated the determination of his people never, never to be slaves again" (198).
"General Hédouville does not know that at Jamaica there are in the mountains blacks who have forced the English to make treaties with them? Well, I am black like them, I know how to make war, and besides I have advantages that they didn't have; for I can count on assistance and protection" (221).
"The cruelties of property and privilege are always more ferocious than the revenges of poverty and oppression" (88).
"The struggle of classes ends either in the reconstruction of society or in the common ruin of the contending classes" (128).
"The rich are only defeated when running for their lives" (78).
This is a very good and balanced review of CLJ James' seminal Black Jacobins. I believe there is a tendency, even in academia, to downplay the problems with James analysis, especially in regards to Dessalines, as you pointed out, because his work of of such importance. I think we can appreciate his research without forgetting to voice much needed criticism.
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