Haitian Maoism
For nearly forty years after the advent to power of Dr. François Duvalier ("Papa Doc") in 1957, Haiti was governed by successive dictatorships (his, that of his son Jean Claude, and succeeding military regimes). In these circumstances, the possibility of organizing a successful Communist Party, or any party at all, were slim, and at best intermittent.
During this period Communist parties loyal to Moscow were organized on several occasions. It was dissidents from one of these, the Parti Populaire de Libération Nationale (Popular Party of National Liberation; PPLN) that established the country’s first Maoist party, the Parti des Travailleurs Haitiens (Haitian Workers Party; PTH) . It was founded in 1986 by exiled members of the PPLN.
Leslie Pean noted that “the only weapon of the organization was the dedication of its militants who were committed to the ideals of relying on the peasantry to take up arms against the tyranny of Duvalier.” Pean also noted that “After launching of the government’s so-called liberalization policy after François Duvalier’s death, and the ideological shifts resulting from the political changes in China after Mao’s death, the PTH engaged in severe introspection to determine a new course.”[407]
The PTH continued to exist, and continued to be Maoist. The East German Communists estimated that in 1983 it had about 350 members. The same source categorized the party as advocating “ultra left elements of Mao Tse-tung Theory” by the 1980s. It also noted the existence of a splinter group of the PTH, the Groupe Haitien Révolutionnaire Internationaliste (Haitian Revolutionary Internationalist Group; GHRI), which was said also to be “ultra left Maoist.”[408]
In the spring of 1986, the PTH and GHRI issued a joint “Appeal to the Haitian Revolutionary Movement” in which they argued, “To assume the historic tasks of the working class there is needed an avant-garde party guided by Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought. … But a party must be constructed on a solid base. It must in particular differentiate itself from all tendencies allied with the Soviet Union, Cuba, Albania, the China of today or social democracy. It must be based on the international plan of the forces regrouped in the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement.”[409]
In spite of this joint endorsement of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM), the organization of the orthodox Maoist supporters of the Gang of Four, only the Groupe Haitien Révolutionnaire Internationaliste was listed among the founding organizations of the RIM.[410] In December 1986, the GHRI was still its only Haitian affiliate.[411]
In the winter of 1987—1988, the GHRI issued a pamphlet elaborating on its program and policy. That document stated: “…Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist, we are not idealists but materialists who begin with a concrete analysis of Haitian society to draw up the responses and solutions of the problems of Haiti and of the Haitian masses. This is indicated in four points: 1) that the revolution in Haiti must be a revolution of new democracy having for its objective the overthrow of the dominion and power of the imperialists, exploiting classes which they support, including the comprador bourgeoisie and large landholders; 2) that this revolution can be possible only by the outbreak of a popular war; 3) that for the purpose of launching the popular war and carrying out the new democratic revolution, a united front of all classes presently oppressed in Haitian society is necessary, with its spinal column the alliance between workers and peasants; that to assure the victory of the new democracy revolution, it is necessary to have a revolutionary party at the head of the popular war and the front, so as to make the revolution advance to its second stage, socialism,”[412] (emphasis in the original).
In spite of its Maoist endorsement of “popular war,” there is no indication that the Groupe Haitien Révolutionnaire Internationaliste (or any other organization) actually undertook to launch such a conflict.
Honduran Maoists
In the 1960s, the principal leftist dissidents from the pro-Moscow Honduran Communist Party were sympathetic to the Castro regime in Cuba. By the end of the decade they had split away to form the Honduran Communist Party (Revolutionary). There also existed another small Castroite group, the Francisco Morazán Movement.[413]
However, by the early 1970s, there also existed the Honduran Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist), or PCH(ML). It was reported to have its principal strength among the country’s students.
In July 1971, the Central Committee of the PCH(ML) proclaimed the Chinese Communist Party to be “the bulwark of the world revolutionary movement in the struggle against imperialism, modern revisionism, and all reactionaries,” and praised it for defending Marxism-Leninism against the “deviations of modern revisionism” of which the CPSU was guilty.
William E. Ratliff reported in 1973 that “The party has outlined its objectives as the destruction of the existing government through mass movements and armed struggle, and the establishment of a revolutionary government which would carry out agrarian reform, recover the national wealth, give state power to the people, establish economic independence for the country, and carry out a cultural revolution.” The PCH(ML) denounced the Honduran pro-Moscow party as being “right opportunist” and accused it of “betraying the fundamental principles of Marxism and the interests of Honduran people.”[414]
In September 1973, the PCH(ML) sent greetings to the 10th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, and praised its “persistent and just struggle against imperialism, colonialism and revisionism.”[415]
The Chinese gave some publicity to the statements of the PCH(ML). This was particularly the case after the death of Mao Tse-tung, when they publicized a letter sent by that party’s Political Bureau on October 31, 1976, expressing support for Hua Kuo-feng in “the struggle against the ‘ Gang of Four.’” In 1977 a delegation from the PCH(ML) visited China and Chairman Hua hosted a banquet in their honor.[416]
The New China News Agency announced that in June 1978 the PCH(ML) had sent greetings to the Cambodian government of Pol Pot, and that in July it had a “friendly meeting” in Honduras with a delegation from the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Argentina. Those two parties had issued a joint declaration branding the USSR “the principal warmonger” and calling for unity of all Marxist-Leninist parties against it.[417] In April 1980, the New China News Agency announced a “cordial and friendly” meeting in Beijing between Xi Xiannian, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Central Committee, and an unnamed delegation of the PCH(ML).[418]
There is no indication that the Honduran Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) had any significant influence in the country’s labor movement, and it certainly played no role of any importance in Honduran politics. Nor, in spite of its revolutionary rhetoric, did the party attempt to launch any kind of guerrilla activity. We have no information as to whether the Honduran party long survived the loss of interest of the Chinese party and government in International Maoism.
Maoism in Martinique
Like Guadeloupe, the West Indian island of Martinique became a department of France after World War II. The Communist Party had considerable strength, as a “federation” of the French Communist Party, until 1957, when it assumed the name of Communist Party of Martinique.
407
Leslie Pean, in Robert J. Alexander, ed.,
409
Groupe Haitien Rélutionnaire Internationaliste, Révolution,
413
Lynn Ratliff, in
414
William Ratliff, in
415
Lynn Ratliff, in
416
Neale J. Pearson, in
418
Neale J. Pearson, in