The Black Jacobins
En 1789, les deux tiers du commerce extérieur de la France se faisaient avec sa colonie antillaise de Saint-Domingue, laquelle représentait le plus grand marché de la traite européenne des esclaves. La plus grosse colonie du monde, fierté de la France et objet de convoitise de toutes les autres nations impérialistes, faisait partie intégrante de la vie économique d'alors. Tout cet ensemble reposait sur le labeur d'un demi-million d'esclaves. Au mois d'août 1791, après deux ans de Révolution française avec ses répercussions à Saint-Domingue, les esclaves entrèrent en révolte. Leur lutte dura douze ans. Ils mirent tour à tour en déroute les Blancs locaux et les soldats de la monarchie française, une invasion espagnole, une expédition britannique de près de 60 000 hommes, et un contingent français identique, commandé par le propre beau-frère de Bonaparte. La défaite des troupes napoléoniennes, en 1803, permit l'installation de l'État nègre d'Haïti, qui s'est maintenu jusqu'à nos jours. C'est la seule révolte d'esclaves dont l'histoire ait enregistré le succès. Les obstacles qu'elle dut franchir témoignent de l'importance des intérêts qui étaient en jeu. La transformation des esclaves, qui auparavant tremblaient par centaines face à un seul Blanc, en un peuple capable de s'organiser et de défaire les nations européennes les plus puissantes de l'époque, constitue une des grandes épopées de la bataille et de la réussite révolutionnaires.
Stats for nerds
5recommend
10mentions
10people
2008–2026years
50% recommend50% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I would recommend anyone interested in Haiti's revolutionary history to read CLR James' 'The Black Jacobins'.
Theirs is the only successful and durable slave revolt in history and an incredible story.
- If you have come to a point of discomfort in seeing Marxism discussed within the context of Black Lives Matter, then you are where you need to be. Sit with it.
It is a radical movement, the larger goal of which, discussed in [1,2], is the complete dismantling of white supremacy. What would a United States look like in which all life was equally valued? We don’t know, none of us has experienced that world, and that is why (I would contend) there is an urgent need to consider all options. The movement is not just about anti-Black policing, it is about bringing about a United States (a world?) where Black life (or the life of any marginalized person) is as valued and as treasured and held as sacred as any other.
You might also consider that Black radicalism has a long intellectual history [3,4,5].
In sum, I am saying to take a moment to understand the long historical context that birthed this movement. Sit with the discomfort that goes along with the process that will bring that world into being.
[1] “When they call you a terrorist: a black lives matter memoir”, Patrice Khan-Cullors, Asha Bandele
[2] “Stay woke: a People’s Guide to Making All Black Lives Matter”, Tehama Lopez Bunyasi, Candis Watts Smith
[3] “The Black Jacobins”, C.L.R. James
[4] “Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition”, Cedric Robinson
[5] “Black Reconstruction in America: 1860-1880”, W.E.B. DuBois
- There's only one book you need to read. The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James (the story of Toussaint L'Ouverture and the Haitian revolution)
- No, that was their final destination. Brazil had by far the largest slave population in the world. Haiti was the crown jewel of the French empire and the envy of all nations. The caribbean slave trade began to decline when Toussaint L'Ouverture rose to power in Haiti (The Haitian and French revolution were very closely intertwined) and slavery was abolished.
The seminal book on this period of Haitian history is "The Black Jacobins" by CLR James.
- I'll briefly recommend "The Black Jacobins" by CLR James: A classical quasi-Marxist study of Toussaint L'Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution (the only widely successful slave revolt). Toussaint hacked the slave trade, colonial oppression, and the pernicious influence of the French, Spanish, English, and self-interested bourgeoisie mulattoes.
I'm about half-way through it right now. Good book.
- Yeah, one of those Scotsmen is my ancestor, along with the enslaved woman he raped. And then he enslaved his own child.
Look into:
- the Mau Mau in Kenya (https://radiolab.org/podcast/mau-mau)
- prerevolutionary Haitian society from the Black Jacobins by CLR James (https://politicaleducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CL...)
- what King Leopold of Belgium did to the Congo
- what happened to Rapa Nui (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCyzrie_les)
- Heart of Darkness on British imperialism in the Congo
The cost of the socio-economic mobility provided to lower classes in colonizing societies was absolutely staggering. Unimaginable cruelty, suffering and destruction was visited upon the native populations.
