An Introduction to the Thought of Edmond Paul

 

Sometimes, the internet will surprise you. This short video does a nice job explaining the thought of one of the most important minds of 19th century Haiti. Edmond Paul's influence lingers into the present day, and the more we read of his work, the easier it becomes to spot his influence in various schools of thought in Haiti. While David Nicholls has written perhaps the most extensively in English on Paul's writings on political economy, this video is a great addition, particularly as it avoids the problematic or controversial "mulatto legend" theory associated with Nicholls. 

While perusing some of Paul's essays, one sees even more clearly how he diverged from others in the Liberal Party, agreed with people like Delorme on some issues (such as the need for an elite to guide the nation and the masses, but more of a technocratic elite), and influenced people like Alix Lamaute, Jacques Stephen Alexis, Etienne Charlier, Christian Beaulieu, Jacques Roumain, and various others in the annals of Haitian economic and social thought. For instance, already in the 1860s, Paul called attention to the caste or caste-like nature of Haitian society and the need for educational reforms, industrialization, and state intervention in the economy to protect local industries and sectors. It is due to this caste system and the wide cultural and educational gap that incapable "black" rulers and "mulatto" elites could not come together to govern effectively. This caste-like approach and its understanding of the role of class and color in Haitian society had its problems, but one can see how later writers like Christian Beaulieu and Jacques Roumain struggled with the question of a transition from caste to class and the eventuality of a fairer, more egalitarian society (at least that was what socialists and Marxists ultimately wanted). 

Paul also defended the prohibition of foreigners to owning land in Haiti, a measure which demonstrates his wisdom in understanding the threats of foreign economic penetration of the Haitian economy. As he predicted in the 19th century, the Haitian cultivator, converted to a serf of foreign capital during and after the US Occupation, endured an even worse fate as a "rural proletariat," migrant laborer in Cuba or the Dominican Republic, or a life in the burgeoning slums of Port-au-Prince. Paul even foresaw the continued racial component to economic imperialism. Some of the measures favored by Paul were also clearly of some appeal to artisans, laborers, local industrialists of a nationalist bent, and proponents of economic and educational reform. Artisans, beginning as early as the 1870s in Port-au-Prince, petitioned the government for protectionist measures to protect and expand local industries and workshops, a measure which would be repeated in later decades by various organizations, journalists, government officials and, in the 20th century, labor unions. 

Thus, one wonders if Paul served as one of the conduits of Saint-Simonianism in Haiti. It may explain the Saint-Simonian and socialist aspects of La patrie et les conspirations, published in 1890, which appears to be written by someone of less formal education than Paul but influenced by Saint-Simonian emphasis on industry, production, and improving the economy to prevent toilers and artisans from engaging in political violence. Paul's influence can be seen even more obviously with Blanchet, Hudicourt, Charlier, the PSP, and Lamaute in the 20th century, with various representatives openly embracing more socialist or Marxist variants of Paul's dream of an industrial Haiti.