HEAD-ON CONFRONTATION LOOMS IN HAITI
Recent news bulletins reporting an counterposed to those of the broadest
By Livio Maïtan attempt on the life of "president-forlife" Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc") and an emigre landing on the Ile de la Tortue have raised the question of what lies ahead in Haiti (1).
The interview with a Haitian Workers Party (PTH) leader published in this issue of International Viewpoint, provides some information on the 1977-80 period. It shows that JeanClaude Duvalier ended his controlled "liberalization" and launched a new exploited masses. Who could believe that these big landowners would serously consider the slightest meaningful "liberalization"?
### REPLACEMENT PROJECTS
Schemes for a bourgeois alternative are under discussion in the emigre milieus of the United States and among Washington's "specialists." Toward the end of 1980, a document started circulating, written by Philip than with parties who take their cue from maneuvers inside the ruling classes. In this respect, groups like that of Colonel Paul Magloire, that of Daniel Figuele, who stood in the 1957 elections, or that of the Haitian National Democrats (DNH), do not seem to be in a good position.
At the Socialist International regional conference held in Santo Domingo in March 1980, two Haitian organizations were listed among the participants as "fraternal organizawave of repression in November 1980, Abbott Luce, who is known to be precisely because social conflicts had become more and more explosive, and the mass movement was undergoing an important recomposition and upturn.
Duvalier's attack was all the more brutal since in the present international context, he could not count on any improvement of the economic situation in the short term that would have enabled him to alleviate even slightly the poverty of the overwhelming majority of the Haitian people.
The question, therefore, arises whether it is possible for the Haitian ruling classes and the imperialists - - at least certain sectors of these forces--that would like to avert yet another major political crisis in a region of the world already racked by major upheavals to move in the direction of alternative solutions. Can they take steps to prepare the way for the replacement of the Duvalierist regime by a less discredited one that could resume and broaden the liberalization Jean-Claude Duvalier himself was forced to initiate in 1977? Unquestionably, such projects either already exists or are being elaborated, But can they become concrete realities?
To begin with, we can note that. there is a conflict between two basic sectors of the ruling class, the industrial and comprador bourgeoisie on the one hand, and the landowners on the other. However, we shouldn't forget that the landowners were losing ground under Duvalierism (see the interview with the PTH leader below). How could any serious observer believe that these big landowners are capable of supporting an attempt to overthrow the regime, when they are the sector that most directly confronts the exploited peasantry, the overwhelming majority of the country's working people? What is more, they oppose Jean-Claude Duvalier on the basis of positions diametrically quite close to U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig. It examined the possibility of a "native coup d'etat, "to be organized by refugees who "support capitalism. " According to Luce, they would subscribe at the same time to the ideals of "liberty, equality, fraternity" and of... Milton Friedman, the man who inspired the economic policy of General Augusto Pinochet and other dictators of the same
Such alternatives would include the old colonel Paul Magloire, 75 years old, who was overthrown in December 1956 by Jean-Claude Duvalier's father, Francois Duvalier ("Papa Doc"). Another possible presidential candidate is Clemard Joseph Charles, a former Duvalier minister, who founded the first Haitian private bank and was later jailed by the dictator and then exiled to the United States in 1977. It is not yet known whether these figures have actually agreed to be the candidates for "change." Nevertheless, their ability to muster any real support among the Haitian masses and implement any would-be reform is questionable.
During the "liberalization" period (1977-1980) two parties were able to carry out some legal or semilegal activities: the Christian-Democratic Party (PDC), led by Sylvie Claude; and the Social-Christian Party (PSC) led by Gregoire Eugene. They were later suppressed and their leaders were jailed, or forced into exile.
it is a fact that a strong Christian current still exists in the resistance. Its key activists come mainly from a sector of the clergy especially in the last few months, have taken a militant stance, using even their Sunday sermons to denounce the poverty of the people and the suppression of all democrat-
Such currents are far more likely to establish links with the opposition that looks to the workers movement tions"--the MRTN represented by Jean- Claude Bajeux; and the Haitian Democratic Liberation Movement (MODELH) represented by its best known leader, Louis Eugene Athis, and by Salvador Pineyro Roque.
The MRTN is a shadow organization, MODELH has done some work among Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, which has been possible thanks to the protection of the "brother" government of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD)--a member of the Socialist International. But it has never gone beyond smallpressure-group activities designed to earn its members and sympathizers a few small favors. It has no solid mass influence.
By contrast, the left opposition, much of which is influenced by organizations claiming to be Communist, has done and continues to do important work among the exploited masses, especially the peasantry. It has been active through different channels and under different names for several decades. Moreover, it can hark back to a long and glorious tradition of peasant struggles and as well as to the workers and student struggles of the 1977-80 period.
It should not be forgotten that in the early 1960s, the Cuban revolution had a great impact in Haiti too. This was reflected in several attempts to initiate armed struggle which were rapidly crushed. Since then, major debates have taken place, especially on the question of the relationship between armed struggle and mass struggles (later on, Maoist ideas 1. The French television network, Antenne 2, announced January 8, the attempted assassination of JeanClaude Duvalier. On January ll, an armed commando of supporters of Bernard Sansaricq, a Haitian refugee living in the USA and the leader of the People's Party (PP), landed on the Ile de la Tortue, off Haiti.
23
gained a certain influence). All these experiences--as well as a series of experiences involving the international workers movement- -have influenced the evolution of a wing of the Communist movement. This is especially true of the PTH which, after breaking with the pro-Soviet CPs, went on to adopt a critical position toward Peking and Tirana.
The issues debated in the Haitian workers movement are of crucial
They involve at once the nature of the revolution, the problem of alliances, and the relationship between armed struggle and mass struggles. These issues have by no means been clarified. For example, the program of the Union of Haitian Democratic and Patriotic Forces (IFODAPA), which includes the PTH, pledges to extend fiscal guarantees and privileges to Haitian capitalists and to "rationalize" the activities of foreign firms. But the debate is moving forwa d on the basis of more
Cades of rich experiences and in clost connection with genuine work among the masses, even though because of repression this work has to be conducted through strictly clan-
The chances of a bourgeois alternative to the Duvalierist regime have to be looked at above all in the context of an analysis of the contending social forces and their dynamic in the Haitian situation. The so-called national bourgeoisie is notably weaker in Haiti than, for example, in the Dominican Republic, or even other Central American countries. It is tied very directly, as a social class in its near-totality to the Duvalierist regime. Any mass movement against the regime will lead to an early both on the political and social levels, with the bourgeoisie.
So, I do not see on what mediations and instruments a section of the ruling classes or imperialism could rely to set up a conservative bourgeois alternative to Duvalierism. i. e. a "democracy", even if it be extremely timid.
That does not mean that some section of the ruling class and the imperialists will not try to move toward some arrangement that seems more democratic. Such moves may take place both on the national and international levels (the MitterrandMauroy government might have something to say about this--but such attempts most likely will be doomed to failure.
Nor does this exclude the possibility that some bourgeois groups may oppose Jean-Claude Duvalier and agree to collaborate with the workers and peasant opposition. It would be absurd not to exploit such opportunities in the anti-dictatorial and anti-imperialist struggles.
But, in Haiti even more than elsewhere, the fundamental dynamic of the revolution will be one of permanent revolution. From the earliest stages the anticolonial and antiimperialist struggle will inevitably be combined with a struggle against capitalism. Therefore, there is a need for a clear strategy for the workers
HAITIAN WORKERS PARTY:
organizations. Under no conditions, can they renounce their leading role or subordinate the paramount necessity of mobilizing the masses to the needs of any tactical agreements that may be concluded with bourgeois groups.
For revolutionary Marxists, the question is not whether there will be mass struggles and explosive conflicts in Haiti, but whether these struggles and explosions, which are objectively on the agenda, will be utilized, in time and successfully, by a revolutionary leadership. Of course, the outcome of the struggle in Haiti depends to a very large extent on the development of the ongoing revolutionary struggles in Central America and other Caribbean countries.
The native ruling classes and the imperialists are perfectly conscious of this fundamental truth. That is why they have taken measures to bolster collaboration between Haiti, the U.S. A. and the Dominican Republic. This is also why they still hesitate to abandon Jean- Claude Duvalier, despite the weakness of his regime, just as the same forces hesitated until the very last minute to part with an Anastasio Somoza already at bay. It is not a question of how much these forces "understand." They have to choose between what exists--which assures their economic and strategic interests if only in the short term--and a "change" that nobody can guarantee can be "controlled. "