FRUSTRATED PEASANTS, MARGINALIZED WORKERS:

FREE AFRICAN VILLAGES IN GUYANA, 1838-1885

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BY

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WAZIR MOHAMED
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BSC, University of Guyana, 1997

MA, Binghamton University, 2003
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DISSERTATION

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology
in the Graduate School of
Binghamton University
State University of New York
2008
 3320171

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IE
EV
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3320171
2008
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 Copyright by Wazir Mohamed 2008

All Rights Reserved

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IE
Accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology
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in the Graduate School of
Binghamton University
State University of New York
2008
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June 27, 2008

Dale Tomich, Sociology Department, Binghamton University

Denis O’Hearn, Sociology Department, Binghamton University

Richard Lee, Sociology Department, Binghamton University

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 ABSTRACT

This dissertation is an attempt to recalibrate and re-orient the understanding of the history

of nineteenth century Guyana out of which current social and ethnic relations emerged

and can be understood. Without speaking directly to current ethnic conflict, it links it

with the social and class relations that emerged in the decades after slavery ended.

It posits that out of this history new thinking must emerge. Such new ways of

thinking it argues must attempt to and seriously adumbrate the conjunctive role of the

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world sugar market which influenced Guyana’s rise to prominence as a sugar producer

and the special environmental and ecological determinants, and how these shaped, over
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time, the particular historical and political outlook of the social relations within the state
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which has, in turn, consumed the sociological and political elasticity of the national

space. From the background of history this work focuses on the social relations that

emerged and developed on the ground as Guyana’s potential for sugar was forged in the
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context of slave abolition and emancipation, and the emergent concrete totality of new

and forming multiple actors within the national space..

It expands the breadth of the already established analytical literature which has

concentrated either on the role and impact on history of the plantation, the colonial state,

the village movement, the African and or the East Indian indentured servants.

In extolling the role of the local and global economy in the shaping of social and

ethnic relations in Guyana, it spotlights how the growth of the “second slavery” in Cuba,

Brazil and the United States in the throes of the abolition of the slave trade served as an

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important backdrop through which the processes of African marginalization emerged and

took root in Guyana.

Finally, this work exposes the manner in which the sugar economy and the

environment provided the means and context for the encirclement of African labor after

emancipation. It exposes the limits of existing literature which assumed that a

“peasantry” developed because of land availability. It thus joins in the critique of existing

literature which was begun by Walter Rodney in 1978.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The dissertation research and writing process is the culmination of a period of personal

and collective struggles, ups and downs, and soul searching. While this document by

definition revolves around the author, such an approach usually excludes the larger group

of associates, individuals and institutions whose support was vital. I would like to express

my appreciation to these people, in particular Nanda Gopaul, Head of the Public Service

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in Guyana.

My sojourn here has been fruitful thanks to my dissertation supervisor and chair
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Dale Tomich whose foresight and timely intervention made my admission possible, and

my attachment here memorable. Words cannot express my debt to Dale for his warmth,
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his generosity, and his guidance of my work. As my mentor, Dale is more than the

supervisor of the final product. Through his friendship and support over the years my
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intellectual horizon has been sharpened and extended. Through his friendship I have

learned to look beyond the spoken and written words; I have learned to look beneath the

debates for the true meanings of social reality. Those of us who have worked with Dale

over the years would have a deeper understanding of what his friendship means. His

contribution to my growth is beyond measure.

While Denis O’Hearn and Richard Lee joined my committee at a late stage, they

have provided invaluable support and guidance for this project. I want to single out Denis

O’Hearn who read each chapter as they came off the mill and was able to afford his

insight and criticisms at critical moments. I owe a debt of gratitude to Phil Kraft who

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took me under his wing very early and gave me valuable advice which helped me to

navigate my way in the troubled waters of the always politically charged atmosphere of

the sociology department. I am extremely grateful to all these professors, and to my

external examiner Darryl Thomas. Darryl has been there as a supervisor and friend

through thick and thin.

I would like to thank in particular Richard Yidana and Nigel Westmaas. The

examples of Richard and Nigel served to give me strength and encouragement over the

last couple years. I owe these brothers a debt of gratitude for being there at critical

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moments for me and my family.

It is also necessary that I give special thanks to one of my earliest mentors and
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friend, Professor Arnold Gibbons of the University of Guyana and Hunter College.

Arnold was always there to give encouragement and support.

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Coming to the concrete jungle from a poor country with a young family was no

easy task. To achieve the right kind of comforts much support had to come from an
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extended group of friends and family. I want to single out the invaluable contribution of

Rohit and his family both to my intellectual growth and to the material well-being of my

family. Rohit has been there for us throughout. My salute to Rohit, Shanaaz, Shazar, and

Siddique. Let me also single out the contributions of Errol and Kumari, Zally and Guy,

Neville and Diane, Zirul and Nat, Vicky and Brian, and other members of our extended

family on all sides who have contributed to our success. I take this opportunity to salute

the work of the Islamic Organization of the Southern Tier. We take our hats off to you for

the support you have given over the years to our family.

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 I would also like to thank my extended Walter Rodney collective of friends and

colleagues for your encouragement and support. I extend my thanks to you and other

colleagues of the WPA at home and abroad for your role in molding me.

I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Nazir and Hamidan Mohamed whose

examples as small rural farmers inspired me to think about the construction of the social,

economic, and ethnic divide which act as a barrier and which has separated decent human

beings from each other in Guyana. I cannot repay them for the inspiring childhood which

established the foundation for my eventual career. It is the multi-racial upbringing of my

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childhood which inspired my rebellious character. This work is also dedicated to my late

sister Azmat. To my sister Zirul and brothers Shabir, Ameer, Shakir, and Saeed.
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Last, but certainly not least, this dissertation is dedicated to my two sons, Abil and

Aqib, and Shamie, my wife for their patience, dedication, warmth, persistence, love and
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support. Together their sacrifice has been immeasurable. I am eternally grateful for their

love and affection.

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Wazir Mohamed
July 2008

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: Framework and Overview 1

Chapter One 17

Chapter Two 87

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Chapter Three 154

Chapter Four
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Chapter Five 255

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Conclusion 297

Appendices: A, B, C, D
A: Rules and Regulations Governing the Employment of Laborers 307
B: Sugar Production for British Guiana 309
C: Comparative Sugar Production – British Guiana and Jamaica 310
D: Timelines in the History of British Guiana 311
E: Glossary 313

Bibliography 315

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 Introduction: Framework and Overview

This dissertation sets out to show that the Freed African Slaves of Guyana were frustrated

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and marginalized by the planter dominated sugar economy over the period 1848-1885.

Frustration and marginalization in this context connotes two outcomes for the African
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Creole population which took place simultaneously. Firstly their desire to diversify the

economy through the establishment of a peasantry was frustrated; and secondly this was
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accompanied by a parallel process, the introductions of indentured workforces who were

used effectively as wedges to side-line and marginalize Africans1 as workers and citizens
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in their own right. As such their efforts to involve themselves in the local economy

through small farm agriculture, and small business development was sharply curtailed;

while at the same time their desire to operate as wage workers free from debilitating

contracts became impossible as the nineteenth century wore on. In this stead this work

establishes the inherent connection between the defeat of the African workforce in the

sugar strike of 1848 and their subsequent marginalization.

The term marginalization has been chosen to dramatize the impact of indentured

immigration and the imposition of land control laws and mechanisms on the dreams and

1
In this dissertation the term of African is used in its Guyanese and Caribbean context to represent the
descendants of slavery who were forcibly brought to the region.

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desires of the African Creole workforce for independence. From this standpoint this study

utilizes archival source materials and other written works of the post-emancipation

struggles to recalibrate the impact of this history on the structure of rural social relations

in Guyana. In effect the implication of this study is that current divisions, economic and

political are directly descended from the outcome of the struggles of that early period. In

this connection while this dissertation does not draw a parallel between the village

structures as they evolved in the 1850s and that as it exists today; it draws a parallel

between the village and plantation structures of the nineteenth century. This is done

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through the use of maps and village plans which opens the possibility for the reader to

draw the conclusion that nothing much has changed over the last one hundred and sixty
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years since the African work force was defeated in the sugar strike of 1848.

Furthermore it establishes the connection between African marginalization from

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the comparison which it draws between the structures of the village with that of the

plantation. It exposes the nature of the colonial state and its collusion with the planter
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class in the marginalization of the African villages and hence the African population. It

enables the onlooker to question the role of governments in the age of the expansion of

global capital. From these standpoints it indicts the nature and character of the British

Colonial State, the sugar growing planter class; and succeeding post-colonial ruling elites

with regard to their role in structuring the post emancipation order.

As such this dissertation rethinks the nature and character of social history and the

analyses that have flowed out of such histories. Contextually, this work challenges the

interpretation of an important aspect of Guyanese history. It is an attempt to advance the

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conversation of Walter Rodney who challenged previous interpretation of the life, nature,

and character of the Creole African work force of Guyana between 1838 and 1848.

This is a call for young scholars to challenge the conventional wisdom,

interpretation and spin which have flowed out of an incorrect reading of history. This

dissertation develops and advances the academic work of Walter Rodney who questioned

the basis upon which Guyanese historiography and analyses have been established. It

thus contributes to the remaking of a public history that challenges conventional wisdom

and stereo-typing, and the divisions and conflicts which accompany it.2

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While the history of ethnic division is not being dealt with directly in this

dissertation, ethnic division is implicated in this research because it arises from the
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marginalization of the African villages of the nineteenth century. The history of

nineteenth century Guyana offers an avenue to historicize and analyze the growth of
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ethnic division as a mechanism of the tactic of divide and rule an important hallmark of

colonialism as it began to transform itself out of slavery in the 19th century. Most directly
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this tactic has been used in many areas of the world. History has demonstrated that where

populations were splintered by religions, as with Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in India-the

British used this tactic. It was also used in places where societies were divided by so-

called tribes, as with the Ibos and Hausa in Nigeria, and as in Ireland between Protestants

and Catholics. In other circumstances foreign ethnic groups were imported and used as a

buffer between the colonial authorities and the colonized. That is how large numbers of

East Indians ended up in Kenya, Trinidad, Fiji, South Africa, British Guyana, Mauritius,

2
In two works in particular Walter Rodney confronted the nature of Guyanese historiography which led to
what he termed an incorrect understanding of the social reality and life of the African population. See
Walter Rodney, History of the Guyanese Working People, 1881-1905 (Baltimore: John Hopkins University
Press, 1981); Walter Rodney, “Plantation Society in Guyana,” Review IV, 4 (1981).

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Malaysia, and Uganda. The case of on-going ethnic strife and divisions between East

Indians and Africans in Guyana offers an important avenue to look at post emancipation

history, post slavery history in the Americas.

While this dissertation does not confront directly the current stasis of racial and

ethnic suspicion, division and conflict in the society, the core of its findings will lead I

hope to an understanding of the issues and problems which confronts modern Guyana.

After visiting Guyana again in January 2007 to walk the villages and take a firsthand look

at the structures of everyday life I became convinced of the damage the miss-

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interpretations of history have done to the psyche of the nation. In one of my many field

interviews, a group of East Indian Guyanese confirmed my worst fears about the damage
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of such interpretations. On a rainy Sunday morning I engaged four East Indian Guyanese

young people in my home village of LeDestein on their view of the African village of
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Farm next door and how they came to the conclusion that these people are “lazy.” This

was the exact interpretation colonial and planter officials gave after the 1850s for the
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stagnated condition of most of the African villages. In this context when these young

people were asked the question, what do you think about the African village; the answer I

got was that they are “lazy.” When asked how they came to such a conclusion, I was told

“the village was in bush,” that “the people are not farming the land.” When confronted to

draw a parallel between their conditions in the East Indian village with that of the African

village, I was told, “We have money, machinery and more land.” When asked to look

back in time, one of them revealed the following, “as a child when my parents were

digging the canals with machinery, the villager was using fork and shovel.” When asked

how much land each farmer has in the village of LeDestein, I was told that one had seven

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acres, while another had ten, and all the others had upwards of twenty acres each. When

asked to compare that with the individual holdings of the people of the village, the

answer was that “most people have a dam bed here and a small plot there.” When further

pressed to compare the life of the East Indian landed villager with that of the African

landed villager, this is what one of them said, “I inherited forty acres from my father, but

I am now making a living by driving my truck, the land cannot compensate, it is too

little.” He then concludes by saying, “this conversation has made me see the situation of

the African villager more clearly…I have never been taught to look at the situation in this

way. This has opened my eyes.”3

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The above passage bares the psychological and practical issues which the society
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must confront in any attempt to answer the damage history have done to the idea of

“nationhood.” From this standpoint this dissertation is an attempt to recapture the essence
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of the understanding of the history of the nineteenth century, through which I posit the

present can be understood. This research is my way of attempting to recapture that

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history in order to contribute to filling the huge gap which exists in the reading,

comprehension, and understanding of history. I speak here not of any small gap in our

understanding of why these communities have been locked in underdevelopment and

stagnation.

These concepts are structurally integrated to the nature of the construction of our

villages. In most respects, especially with regard to the rural communities, the

organization of life bespeaks of a historical frame of reference that represents the view

that one group of the population is lazy, while the other group is hard working and

3
Interview with Syad Rahman, Aslim Rahman, Twahir Alli, and Komal Pitama, residents of Ledestein East
Bank Essequibo.

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thrifty.4 I dare say that these constructs are directly related to the view of the planters who

in 1838 argued for the continuation of slavery on the basis that in their belief the African

population would abandon the plantation at the time of emancipation.

This work exposes how the society came to accept this erroneous viewpoint. It

illustrates how this fallacy of what happened at emancipation came to be gospel, and how

the approach and position of the planter class became the foundation upon which

Guyanese historiography of the nineteenth century rests. 5 It illustrates the fallacy that

because the Africans withdrew from the plantations en masse an indentured immigrant

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workforce had to be imported. The historical evidence contests this position from two

angles. It points to the fact that ex-slaves did not abandon the plantation e masse, but
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were pushed through draconian labor control tactics. It also points to the fact that East

Indian labor did not replace, but supplemented the African workforce thereby
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contributing in a dramatic way to the cheapness of wage labor between 1848 and 1885.

The approach I have taken in this dissertation is not new. I came to this topic after
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perusing the writings of Walter Rodney who in two pieces of scholarly research began

the expose of the fallacy of the positions scholars before him had taken. In speaking

about two of these scholars, Alan Adamson and Jay Mandle, Rodney had this to say,

Jay Mandle would, I believe describe himself as a Marxist. But on the

crucial question of what Blacks did after the abolition of slavery, his
vision (like that of Adamson) is the planter vision. He has accepted lock,
stock, and barrel the view that after slavery had been abolished, slaves fled
the plantation.6

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History, both written and spoken most times does not do justice to the fact that the villages as they exist
were bought by ex-slaves who pooled their savings to pay for them. This is the very group of the
population who is supposedly lazy and not thrifty.
5
Walter Rodney, “Plantation Society in Guyana,” Review 4, 4 (1981): 643-666.
6
Ibid.

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This has lead to an incorrect understanding of the approach of the African population to

work, and to a wrong and warped sense of who and what the African people are, their

historical contribution to the society, and their capacity to take their rightful place as

equals in the society. Having accepted this approach to the understanding of the history,

like Rawle Farley they committed themselves to the position that the African villages

constituted what these scholars called “the Guyanese peasantry,” which then places them

in comparative terms to the East Indians who were given the opportunity to develop the

rice industry. This also places them in comparable position with the outcomes of ex-

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slaves in other land endowed colonies of the West Indies and brings them in line to be

labeled and counted like them.

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This notion that Guyana is equal and shares a similar history to the other West

Indian territories is challenged in this work. This dissertation brings out the unique
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character of Guyana’s plantation development and places it in comparative terms to the

experience of Cuba, Brazil, Mauritius and the new sugar colonies of the nineteenth
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century world economy. It establishes that African marginalization in Guyana must be

understood from the standpoint of the growth of its sugar plantation economy in the era

of slave abolition on the one hand and the rise of slavery outside of the British Empire on

the other. This dissertation thus posits that African marginalization in Guyana was related

to the growth of what Dale Tomich has called the “second slavery.”7

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The term “second slavery” relates the growth of slavery in the nineteenth century outside the British
Empire in the era of slave abolition. While slavery and slave labor was abolished and downplayed in the
British colonies, it grew in non-British colonies whose production was geared to foster the rise of British
Hegemony over the world economy. While Britain held aloft the banner of wage labor as the main
organizing tool of capitalism, its trade practices permitted the growth of slave labor in zones outside its
direct political control. The second slavery was related to the growth of British Hegemony over world
trade. See Dale Tomich, Through the Prism of Slavery: Labor, Capital and the World Economy (Lanham:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2004), 56-71.

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 Guyana’s uniqueness is also discussed from the standpoint of its ecological

characteristics which favors the structuring of plantations into large centralized units to

manage water and production. In this regard this dissertation posits this layout as one of

the structural reasons for the non-functioning of the village infrastructure. From the

ecological standpoint it emphasizes how this factor influenced the location of villages and

population centers in their relationship to the plantation. It spotlights the role of land

laws which were developed from the backdrop of the ecological determinant which

influenced where settlement could take place, and how lands were to be allocated. Land

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laws had a direct relation to the needs of the plantation to access labor cheaply. It thus

brings to the forefront the correlation between the land laws of the mid nineteenth century
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and the environment in the marginalization of the African workforce. In this stead this

dissertation establishes the relation between ecology and African marginalization. It

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argues that marginalization of the African workforce was related to ecology which

hemmed plantations and villages into the narrow confine of the coastal area which was
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reclaimed from the sea in the 18th century. As such the environmental factors are not

anecdotal. They were used to limit the movement of the African workforce in the colony

and to restrict their capacity to expand themselves economically. The nature of the

environmental terrain and how it was used by the planter class to foster their interests

help us to raise and ask sharp and important questions. Furthermore the environmental

factors imposed social mixing and social relations between planters and laborers within

the single coastal and or plantation space. This raises issues of community formation, of

frustration, and of race making.

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 This work is written against the background of the historiography of Adamson,

Clive Thomas, Walter Rodney, Jay Mandle, and others. Having said that what I bring to

the table that is new? I believe it is useful to look at the organization of space which

Adamson, Mandle, and others do not address, but begins to be addressed by Walter

Rodney just prior to his assassination.8 In this connection this dissertation brings a deeper

appreciation of the organization of the plantation space in Guyana which produces racial

division and difference between Africans and other groups of imported labor, especially

the Portuguese and the East Indians. In the final analysis the Portuguese and the East

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Indians have the ability to create and accumulate wealth, but the Africans do not.

Objectively this dissertation attempts to draw out the discussion of plantation structure as
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inimical to village layout to its logical conclusion, a place at which no other study has

reached at this time. It establishes how fragmentation of land as represented by the

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structure of the African villages after 1850 has contributed to their marginalization.
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Temporal Boundaries

This dissertation concentrates on post emancipation Guyana over the period 1838-1885.

This period has been identified because it was the formative period of modern Guyanese

history. It was in this period that the two major ethnic groups of the country, the Africans

and East Indians became familiar with each other. It was also in this period that the

African villages of today were established.

1838 is chosen as the starting point for symbolic and strategic reasons. First it was

the year of emancipation and as such offers a necessary bridge to the pre-emancipation

history which informs the outcomes in the post emancipation period. In this regard while
8
See 1978 Lecture by Walter Rodney, “Plantation Society in Guyana,” Review 4, 4 (1981): 643-666.

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1838 has been chosen as the starting point, the historical record of the development of

plantation sugar which predates emancipation is used to discuss and analyze post

emancipation outcomes. Strategically this starting point is also chosen because it is a

watershed for understanding the post-emancipation period, the historiography of which

was marked by planter prejudice and fear that the ex-slaves would abandon the

plantations en masse and become uncivilized by choosing to runaway to the interior.

1885 is chosen as the cut off date because it was in this period that the colonial

state began to decide that governmental responsibility should include the construction

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and maintenance of sea defenses, and drainage and irrigation works which were vital if

the African villages had a chance of becoming self sustaining. The choice of this date
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signals the period of interregnum when the villages as described in the reports of

succeeding governors and colonial officials were sheets of water. Such reports which are
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dealt with in the dissertation speak to the nature of the issues affecting the village

populations.
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Organization

Over this period several broad thematic categories are identifiable for dissertation

purposes: The emancipation of slaves in 1838. The sugar strikes of 1842 and 1848 which

underscored the working class struggles as the ex-slaves contended with plantations over

rights to unfettered living and subsistence spaces. The defeat of the black working class

by the end of the 1840s through the implementation and use of land control mechanisms

and the introduction of indentured labor and penal contracts. These broad themes are

fleshed out through the use of historical, ecological, and economic data. From this

standpoint frustration and marginalization, the two simultaneous processes which

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underscore the outcomes for ex-slaves over the period under review are explained. As

such much attention is given to the struggles which ensued after the planter class

attempted and imposed tenant at will, or serf like conditions on ex-slaves who had

continued to reside on plantations after emancipation. Attention is also given to the

impact on the labor struggles and on the African workforce in the wake of the sugar

duties act which equalized duties on free and slave produced sugar entering the world

market.

Consequently this dissertation examines the related issues which can be viewed in

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historical terms as the factors that served to create the spaces that delineate the processes

which aided the frustration and marginalization of the African workforce. It thus brings to
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the forefront the confluence between indentured immigration, the ecology and land laws

in the construction of frustration and marginalization.

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The first chapter of the dissertation provides a sense of the historical and

theoretical conceptualization of the African population. Without exhausting the debates

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on the nature of conceptualization this chapter provides some insights into the debates on

the historical characterizing of rural peoples of the Caribbean and of Guyana. It examines

the historical underpinning of the term “Caribbean Peasantries” and how this relates to

our understanding of Guyanese rural life. From the vantage point of Guyana’s divergent

plantation history it explains how and why the ex-slave population could not be construed

as having constituted a peasantry. It thus explains the misplacement of Guyana within the

paradigm of the famed decline thesis. The decline thesis places the plantation system of

Guyana within the historical and analytical scope of that of the old colonies in the West

Indies. This comparative examination is provided to explain the uniqueness of Guyana as

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an important sugar colony which did not fit into the decline paradigm. As such this

chapter explains that with the plantation system on the rise and in control there was

neither place nor space for the growth of alternative crops and for a peasantry to develop

in Guyana.

The second chapter situates the frustration and marginalization of Africans in

Guyana in the context of the country’s ecology and the changes within the world sugar

market in the period 1791-184. It brings into sharp focus the ecology of Guyana, and the

growth of the world sugar market in the nineteenth century, and the processes that created

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an ethnically divided nation. It also brings to the fore the dominant role of the world

sugar market in the marginalization of ex-slaves in Guyana and how this was made even
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more pronounced because of the challenges that the ecological landscape presented. It

looks at Guyana through the lens of the local ecology and the world sugar market, both of
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which provides us with the ability to rethink and comprehend the overarching racial and

ethnic relationships which have consumed this nation. In this stead the chapter is divided
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into three sections. The first section examines how the harsh ecological and

environmental factors shape working and living conditions in Guyana. In this section it is

argued that the ecological constraints extant in the colony played a major role in the

increasing control the planter class was able to exercise over the African workforce and

population. The natural landscape of the colony which limits habitation and agricultural

pursuits to a single location, the coastal plain, was an overpowering determinant of why

the ex-slaves could not develop any realistic degree of independence from the sugar

plantations. Because of this ecological constraint the planter class, who had access to

capital was able to contain the demands of labor for autonomy and independence.

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 The second section situates Guyana in the ferment of the world economy which

took on a new momentum in the final decade of the eighteenth century with the collapse

of French domination over world sugar production. I posit that Guyana’s emergence as a

sugar colony was shaped by world events including the American War of Independence,

the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolutionary war, and the Haitian Revolution on

world trade and on the world sugar economy. I establish the connection between the rise

of British hegemony over the world economy and the growth of divergent forms of labor

extraction, namely, slavery, wage labor, peasant-proletarian, and sharecropping; all of

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which developed and intensified in different zones of the colonial world in the production

of raw materials to satisfy European demand. Contextually this section examines the
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relationship which was forged in the world market between slave and free grown sugar

and brings into sharp focus the paradoxical growth of the sugar revolution in Guyana
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after the end of slavery within the British Empire. Furthermore this section explains how

the growth of the sugar revolution in Guyana shaped and reshaped the conditions of life
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for African labor.

The final section examines the labor question as Guyana emerged on the world

scene in the ferment of the anti-slavery struggles at the end of the eighteenth century and

the beginning of the nineteenth century. It examines and initiates the discussion of the

struggle for labor which was taking shape at the time of abolition and which intensified in

the period following abolition as sugar production triumphed over coffee and cotton. This

leads to the third chapter which prefaces the rise of the village movement as a result of

the struggle over labor power.

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 The third chapter discusses the rise and growth of the African Village Movement

and the struggles which erupted in the first decade of emancipation. This was the period

when the African working class emerged and challenged the planter class over their right

to control of their labor power. This chapter thus examines how the growth of the villages

were implicated in the struggles between the African workforce and the planter class over

their rights to a living wage and the necessity for them to counterbalance this right with

untrammeled access to land for housing and for independent subsistence production. On

this score this chapter discusses how the growth in the first ten years of emancipation of

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pre trade union struggles over the price of wages were related to the demands for rights to

ownership of living and subsistence spaces. In this chapter I show how these struggles
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resulted in the rise of two types of villages, the proprietary and the communal village.

Finally this chapter lays the basis for this discussion which follows in chapter 4 that is the
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onset of decline of the village movement after the 1848 sugar strikes.

The fourth chapter examines indentured contract labor in terms of its role in
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restructuring post-emancipation society and labor and its impact on the free movement of

the African workforce. Rather than concentrate on the experience of indenture-ship and

how it affected the subject groups, attention is narrowly placed in this chapter on the

impact it had on African labor and on the society. This chapter thus examines the

introduction and proliferation of indentured contract labor and how this circumvented the

possibilities for the establishment and the enlargement of freedoms for the ex-slave

African labor force. This chapter brings out how the introduction of indentured contract

labor prepared the ground for the entombment of the village movement in the 1850s.

From this angle it examines some of the factors why alternative labor was introduced,

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