Haiti: The first free nation (Part 1)

In part 1, we look at the first successful slave revolt in history, and one for which Haitians were never forgiven.

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This is part 1 of this long essay. Click here to read part 2 which is a direct continuation of where this one leaves off.

To us living outside of Haiti, the country pops in and out of the news every few years, often in the context of foreign military intervention to provide “urgent assistance” against anti-government forces.

It seems that year after year, Haiti is on the “brink” of collapse, as the London-based think tank Chatham House put it. Urgent “aid” is needed — often in the form of weapons shipment or a direct influx of foreign troops landing on the island.

Military intervention is not quite new in Haiti. The ball got rolling in 1994 under President Clinton, which involved over 20,000 US troops being sent on the ground — for a country of just 7.5 million at the time. Since then, the United Nations sent troops from 1993 to 2000, and again until 2019 — where they were blamed for sexually abusing Haitians and being responsible for a cholera outbreak that killed thousands. In 2022, another potential invasion was being discussed with Kenya (itself under a US comprador government) to send troops to Haiti to quell unrest. But where there is unrest, are unaddressed material needs.

These interventions are just the tip of the iceberg, though. They are presented as a noble but begrudging endeavour — the “fine, I’ll help you, but I don’t want to do it!” of geopolitics. It is paramount, so says Chatham House as well as other think tanks and even the mainstream media, that something be done about Haiti! Thus foreign intervention on the western hemisphere of the island of Hispaniola (or Ayiti in the native name) is something desirable to help the poor Haitians who just can’t seem to take care of their problems, requiring outside powers to meddle in their affairs.

Presented this way by the media, we are led to believe that men with guns can redress food insecurity, illiteracy, lack of access to healthcare, and poverty — all issues rooted in over 200 years of foreign intervention following Haiti's proclamation of decolonization.

Perhaps the belief is that Haitians can digest bullets and this will serve them as food. I understand why imperialists would think that when they took defeat after defeat in their colonies, but I highly doubt anyone is capable of such a feat.

Saint-Domingue uprooted

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. To properly understand the recent history of Haiti, we must first understand the full history of Haiti.

Haiti, then called Saint-Domingue, had been a French colony for well over a hundred years. By the 18th century, it was the most profitable colony in the Americas, due to its vast sugarcane plantations. Sugar cane was not grown to feed the island but to be exported abroad, mainly in Europe and the USA. The majority of the population by 1789 were enslaved people — they made up 500,000 people out of a total 556,000 inhabitants.

Almost all slaves were of African descent. With the triangular trade in full swing, French settlers found it cheaper to work their enslaved workers to death and purchase new ones when they inevitably died. To properly uproot them, the original indigenous inhabitants of the island — the Taino, Ciboney, and Guanahatabey, which we only know about because some of their history survives — were themselves slaughtered by the first Spanish colonists to make way for enslaved Africans.

In this way, by bringing in a foreign population to exploit and then genociding the native population, colonizers hoped to destroy the seed of rebellion. Enslaved Africans did not know the land initially, nor did they all speak the same language; thus they could not revolt.

It is estimated that, as a whole, the triangular trade killed over 2.4 million Africans during transit to the colonies. Keep this number in mind for when we’ll discuss the events of August 22, 1791.

When the pendulum swings one way, it has to come back the other way. Destroying one nation — the Taino and other native groups — and then replacing it entirely created, over time, the conditions to give rise to a new nation: Haitians.

Slavery under the French was harsh in Haiti. As we mentioned earlier, most crops were grown to be exported. This made the enslaved population reliant on their colonizers for food that had to be imported and was rationed out to the forced workers. Haitians worked from dusk until dawn, up to 18 hours a day, doing manual labor on plantations — everything from the planting of the seeds down to the processing and packaging of the harvest. Labor was harshest in sugarcane plantations; machinery accidents often occurred and resulted almost all the time in amputations.

Many pregnancies ended in miscarriage due to the harsh conditions. Women only received “lighter” work on their 7th or 8th month of pregnancy, but were not exempt from labor. Children also worked these “lighter” jobs. None were spared hard labor.

The average life expectancy for an enslaved person upon arriving to Haiti was 7 years.

Boiling of sugarcane in Haiti. More pictures here (PDF)

The penalties for attempting to reclaim one’s freedom and escape from enslavement in Haiti were severe.

On the first offense, the person was subjected to 30 lashes. It should be understood that lashing is not a soft punishment at all, and is meant to scar the skin. It is a debilitating treatment and can easily result in death.

On the second offense, the penalty was 200 lashes and the amputation of both ears.

On the third offense, anyone attempting to free themselves from their colonial overlords would receive 200 lashes and the amputation of a limb. A preferred method was to sever the hamstring muscles, which prevents one from running but not from walking. Thus an enslaved person, whose only crime was to seek their freedom (a right which was afforded to their slaver), could still be put to work until the injuries killed them, but could not seek his freedom again.

Many people preferred to take their own life than face recapture when they escaped these conditions.

Under this system, is it any wonder why Haitians considered any and all means legitimate to free themselves once and for all? The slaver wants to enslave, and the enslaved wants to be free. When it comes down to it, the slaver will find any excuse to perpetuate his system with him in a position of privilege. Thus, calm debate and reason was not going to get Haitians anywhere under this barbaric system that was built expressly to destroy any talks of unrest down in the plantation shacks.

On the night of August 22nd, 1791, Haiti proclaimed decolonization. A carefully orchestrated operation began with as few as a hundred enslaved people in the north of the island. There, seizing weapons and whatever else they could find to arm themselves with, Haitians began setting fire to all plantations they came across. And there were many. By midnight, numerous plantations had gone up in flames. They penetrated into the houses of their old masters, and slaughtered them all in their beds, caught by surprise.

The slavers’ collaborators — overseers and other Haitians working for the slavers — were also killed when found. As the newly free Haitians moved from plantation to plantation, more enslaved people joined the rebellion. By six in the morning, the majority of enslaved Haitians of African descent north of the island had joined in on the rebellion.

Almost overnight, Haiti freed itself. It decolonized.

Haitians didn’t need foreign intervention to achieve this: the people rose up and freed themselves. And they didn’t ask for permission either.

But this was only the first step towards liberation.

As slavers tried to flee to the ports in the coming hours and days, they were caught and executed on the spot. Remember how Haitians lived just days prior, under the colonial system. Every symbol of colonial rule was destroyed on the spot, proclaiming a new era for Haiti. The few remaining slavers quickly ran away to entrench themselves in small fortifications, awaiting their fate, completely cut off from the world.

Within two weeks of the rebellion, Haitians controlled over two-thirds of the island. Over the next few years, they expelled all colonizers and seized the entire territory.

However, when the pendulum swings one way, it inevitably swings back the other way.

Word of the insurrection eventually reached France. In the middle of their own revolutionary process which started in 1789 (and which led to two coalition wars against them from other European powers), France tried to negotiate with Haiti to retain control of the territory, but they were prepared to abolish the colony status. And indeed, slavery was abolished in all French colonies by 1794 under the revolutionary government.

Meanwhile, both the British and Spanish tried to conquer the newly free Haiti for themselves, exploiting the instability and figuring that it would make for easy pickings. They were unsuccessful and were both pushed back. Haiti was not going to relinquish its freedom.

By the closing of the 18th century, Toussaint Louverture rose as a key general of the insurrection and emerged as the de facto leader of Haiti. He was accompanied by his Lieutenant Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

The program was simple: Haiti demanded full independence and sovereignty, and nothing less.

Tactics of revolution

It’s interesting to talk about the tactics Haitians deployed during this struggle. The French, so sure of themselves and their superiority, only made up one-tenth of the colony’s population. However, not all enslaved people joined the rebellion, for various reasons.

First, the Haitian revolution was centralized. While the uprising on the night of the 22nd was a surprise attack, it didn’t happen in the spur of the moment. The date had been carefully picked and prepared for. Haitians also selected their leaders in battle, electing them among themselves — this was quite unique and, of course, democratic. They used geography effectively, and easily made use of guerilla warfare techniques. The colonizer, after all, didn’t care for the land: he didn’t work it, he only ordered it to be changed to suit him. The colonized is the one who knows the land and actually labors on and with it.

Notably, Haitians also made use of African warfare techniques that the French were unfamiliar with — echoing back to the earlier point that they had been uprooted from their African homeland and put into an unfamiliar place but still retained that heritage to their advantage.

Haitians made use of the division within French class society. Plantation owners were generally dissatisfied with the monarchy, as they could only sell to French traders. In turn, the crown was not very happy with its settlers who were starting to grow vocal about their grievances. Starting in 1789, France began its own revolution and quickly faced a coalition war that took their focus away from the colonies.

If there was perhaps a need to say it, we see that Haitians — who were enslaved, working 18 hours days and denied literacy — nonetheless made very intelligent use of their conditions, and came up with their own tactics and solutions. Yet not much has changed; today still, commentators quivering with glee at more bombings and military intervention wish we would believe that Haitians are somehow incapable of governing and thus need foreign governments to decide for them.

Even with continued foreign intervention in the modern day, it is the other way around: Haiti is where slavers come to die. All invasions failed because the first free slave state was not — and still is not — an adversary to underestimate.

Toussaint Louverture, posthumous painting from 1813. Artist unknown

French invasion of 1802

Revolution is a process. In the case of Haiti, this process took over 10 years before reaching a culminating point.

Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in France in 1799, ending the liberal revolution of 1789. At the same time, he faced the Second Coalition War from European powers.

In December 1801, Napoleon attempted to retake Haiti, or Saint-Domingue as he knew it. This, he hoped, would help France in the war.

He sent 30,000 troops to Haiti to destroy the rebellion. They landed in early 1802 with a mission to reassert French control and restore colonial rule. The forces included veterans of prior European conflicts, showing just how important this campaign was to French imperial interests.

When Louverture saw the French ships emerge on the horizon, he gave the order to burn the entire island down. The choice was simple: they faced either liberation or martyrdom. If Haiti were to fall, then the colonizers would find nothing of value waiting for them.

In a letter to Dessalines, he wrote:

...We have no other resource than destruction and flame. Bear in mind that the soil bathed with our sweat must not furnish our enemies with the smallest aliment. Tear up the roads with shot; throw corpses and horses into all the fountains; burn and annihilate everything, in order that those who have come to reduce us to slavery may have before their eyes the image of hell which they deserve.

Fighting broke out as soon as the French landed. They initially found success, achieving victories against Louverture’s troops as he initially hoped to reach a quick diplomatic solution with them. By early February, the French had captured key ports and strategic locations such as Cap-Haïtien, the capital.

As the French advanced, they committed massacres to try and destroy enemy morale. In one event General Leclerc, cousin to Napoleon, ordered the drowning of 1000 Haitians in the harbors of Saint-Domingue on suspicions of being rebels.

Louverture’s mistake was to expect negotiations with the new French forces. He initially ordered his lieutenants to prepare for potential conflict, but otherwise not act. In June 1802, he was captured by France and exiled to Paris where he lived the rest of his life in prison.

As we know from history, however, this did not end the revolution. New leaders emerge. Jean-Jacques Dessalines, one of Louverture’s lieutenants, took over.

Dessalines organized mass mobilization against the French expeditionary forces and encouraged his forces to engage in guerilla warfare tactics instead of traditional battles. He continued the scorched earth policy of not leaving anything behind that could be used by the French, including the poisoning of water supplies.

As fears of enslavement came back within the Haitian population who had enjoyed over a decade of freedom, popular sentiment grew into widespread revolts across the territory, and many joined the revolution. This was undoubtedly helped by the French’s barbarity in regards to Haitians — a common occurrence in history that massacres don’t destroy morale, but instead galvanize it against the enemy.

At the same time, a Yellow Fever epidemic broke out within the French camp. They were not accustomed to tropical diseases, and it’s estimated up to 50,000 people on the French side died from the disease. Note that while the initial landing consisted of 30,000 troops, they of course needed non-combattants to accompany them, such as doctors and sailors. A reinforcement of 4,000 troops was also carried out during the campaign. Finally, a Dutch division and the Polish Danube legion also joined with France in Haiti.

The Polish legion, totaling 5200 troops, ended up splitting apart with some joining forces with the Haitians instead. Upon arriving, they found it unacceptable that they would be fighting against ex-enslaved people fighting for their freedom, especially upon hearing how Haitians were treated under the French system, and considering Poland’s own struggles at the time against foreign invaders. Significant numbers of Polish soldiers joined the ranks of Jean-Jacques Dessalines and were the only white people to be granted citizenship after the war. To this day, a Polish community exists in Haiti, descended from these soldiers.

At the Battle of Vertières in November 1803, Dessaline’s forces marked a decisive victory against the French expeditionary forces. Just one month later, the French forces surrendered their last remaining territories to Haiti and the fighting was over. Haiti had fought for its freedom and won.

On January 1st, 1804, Dessalines proclaimed Haiti’s independence from France, finally renaming it from the colonial name of Saint-Domingue to Haïti, from the native Taino name Ayiti.

In that same event, he proclaimed several new laws:

• The permanent abolition of slavery for all people in Haiti in perpetuity.

• A complete ban on foreign land ownership.

• The exclusion of all whites from the country (except, as we’ve seen, the Polish legionnaires, showing that this was an expulsion on slavers above race).

• The confiscation of property owned by settlers.

And with that, Haiti became the first country in the modern world to abolish slavery and the first successful slave revolt.

Dessalines however did not see much of it, as he would be assassinated by his own officers in 1806.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines

Freedom is seldom forgiven

Despite all their talks of liberty, we find that liberal figures rarely believe in it. Freedom is only for them: the freedom to exploit, certainly.

When oppressed nations want to experience some of that freedom for themselves, they suddenly become dangerous terrorists or rebels.

Haiti was no exception.

Their successful overthrow of the colonial chains inspired other movements in the Americas. Enslaved people in the United States and Jamaica, and even Simon Bolivar in Latin America were inspired by the direct aftermath of the day African slaves utterly defeated and humiliated their colonial masters.

This would not do for France. In 1825, they came back: they had gone through a change of leadership and had restored monarchy. The situation had changed for France and accordingly, they landed in Haiti on that year with warships, bearing two choices: either Haiti would pay France for its independence (the colonial debt, which is a favorite of settlers and is in place in Africa as well to this day), or France would invade.

This debt amounted to 150 million francs at the time, which is estimated to be equivalent to 21 billion dollars (USD) today. Of course, the conversion is not 100% accurate. At the time, there was no worldwide financial mechanism to acquire and loan debt like there is today. Billionaires did not even exist as a concept. Financial systems were still very new; money was backed by the gold standard and could not simply be printed out on banknotes to pay anything with. And of course, Haiti was still very young and rebuilding its economy under a new system. At the time, this debt was over ten times Haiti’s annual budget.

Perhaps a more accurate estimate to underline the absurd amount of the debt (to “compensate” the poor French slavers who saw an end to their brutal exploitation of other human beings) would be 100x that amount, or 2.1 trillion dollars.

In 1836, this ransom was reduced to 90 million francs, but not before Haiti had already paid back some of it.

Every cent of this amount that ended up in French coffers was one cent that could not be spent on rebuilding and developing Haiti, thereby keeping it on shaky foundations. The Haitian government was later forced to take on other loans, which came with their own interest payments, simply to pay back France — effectively locking them into double debt. It was only in 1947, or over 125 years later, that Haiti repaid its “colonial debt”, even as French states succeeded each other — from monarchies to Republics and back — none decided to simply forgive the debt, much less even apologize for it.

This was far from the only punishment to be enacted on Haiti since independence, but it was strike one.

Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the United States tried to isolate Haiti to prevent their example from being followed at home. In 1915, the US invaded Haiti with occupation lasting until 1934. Much like they had done in Cuba, US bourgeois (capitalist) interests were economic: Haiti was after all a fertile ground to grow crops (as was Cuba), and they wanted to bring plantations back for their own sugar supply. U.S. Marines landed on the island and governed Haiti through a military regime with a comprador President at the helm.

U.S. officials oversaw the entire economy of Haiti, deciding for the people what was to be done to them. The constitution of 1804 was rewritten to allow foreign land ownership, allowing US companies to implant themselves on the island and drive local producers out of business. A system of corvée labor was also implemented, forcing labor for public infrastructure projects aimed at extracting more wealth from Haiti and towards the United States.

This was essentially a colonial system much like it existed in the 18th century. And at the same time this was going on, 40% of Haiti’s national gross product was being paid back towards the colonial debt.

But, we’ll see all of that in Part 2 of this series right here:

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