RESOURCES, ORGANIZATIONS, AND STYLES: SOCIAL CLASS AND PARTISANSHIP IN

Patrick L. Baker RESOURCES, ORGANIZATIONS, AND STYLES: SOCIAL CLASS AND PARTISANSHIP IN DOMINICA

by

Patrick L. Baker Department of Sociology and Anthropology Mount Allison University,New Brunswick

Paper presented at the Studies Association Conference St. Kitts 30 May - 2 June 1984 "From the point of view of the sociologist, the societies of the Caribbean are among the most interesting and important in the world. This point alone behoves us to reject simplistic "models" and assumptions and begin immediately to build up an adequate theoretical frame- work" (Cross 1968: 397).

This paper examines fieldwork material (1972-1973) and its historical context in terms of "adequate theoretical frameworks." Caribbean societies experience interrelated internal and external dialectical relations. The external component in sociology has traditionally been presented as history and used to explain 'anomalies' in the structural analysis of the internal component. Wilson attempts to break this tradition in his study of Providencia with his model of two dialectically related value systems: an imposed 1 "respectability" and an indigenous 'reputation'. But his analysis remains essentially 'internal'. The 'dependista' or neo-Marxian perspective, however, emphasises external relations as integral to an adequate analysis of the internal structure. But this emphasis ignores the impact of the spread of rational-legal domination. This paper explores the appropriateness of these ideas for an analysis of emerging political parties in Dominica up to 1973. 2

The Past in Dominica's Present From its prehistory to the present, Dominica has expetienced actual or attempted external dominiation and been modified accordingly. The Spanish discovered the island in 1493, but it was the landing of Izndonniere in 1564 and Hawkins in 1565 who set the shape for the Anglo- French confrontation that lasted a hundred years and had a permanent impact on the island's culture and institutions. The island was finally ceded by France to Britain in 1763. Britain unsuccessfully attempted to make it a sugar island and the white proportion of the population has consistently dwindled since then. In 1763 it comprised 21% of the population. In 1970 it formed 0.4% of the population. What is significant about Dominican history is that whites did not establish a significant productive foothold on the island. The topography of the island thwarted ongoing attempts to establish viable estates and inhibitea the formation of a white plantocracy. Whites passed through the island; as government officials, as representatives of merchant houses, as would-be planters or as entrepreneurs. They represented the values of "respectability" (see Wilson 1973:9) but their transience' emphasized the external source of such values. Those who stayed, particularly the French, tended to lose their colour and contribute to the increasing number of wealthy coloured people. There emerged a coloured 'respectable' 3 class who boasted plantation houses, fine clothes, "perfumes from Paris", fine furnishings, maids, education and the like. As 'The Mulatto Ascendency" they became a significant force in island politics. They saw themselves as the defenders of Dominican interests against the rapacious interests of the metropole and its local representatives. In contrast there was the mass of people who were to play a significant role in the changes of the 1950s and 1960s. Emancipation in a poorly developed plantation society resulted in a majority of the population becoming subsistence farmers spread around the island in some 30 peri-island villages. These horticulturalists existed on the fringes of a cash economy either as independent 'farmers' 2 or in a 'metayaae', sharecropping relationship with an estate owner, reminiscent of feudal-like society. There arose, therefore a positively privileged propertied class comprising of expatriate whites or their coloured descendents. They had the ability to acquire high priced consumer goods,to control capital formation and to send their children abroad for costly education. Their resources were income from land and slaves. But land was a precarious resource in Dominica, and emancipation technically ended the slave resources. So this class was never strongly entrenched. There was also a positively privileged commercial class made up typically of merchants, bankers and professionals. Armytage observed that "the British merchants...belonged to 4 a large extent to a different society from the planters in their great houses...No doubt many of the men...spent only a few years in the , and found little difficulty in leaving when the trade was obviously in decline" (Armytage 1953: 6-7). This pattern in Dominica led to a commercial class of transient whites and permanent mulattoes with an increasing proportion of the latter includlng coloured professionals. The picture was significantly modified by the advent of Syrians from the early 1900s. Several of these became highly successful merchants and dominated the commercial class. Further changes occurred with the "Dominicanization" of the civil service following internal self-government in 1967. The commercial class was confined to Roseau, the capital and its success was related to a cash- flow situation largely controlled by the metropolitan market situation and until 1967 colonial office wages. In sum the topography of Dominica inhibited the development of a strong positively privileged propertied class and the restricted cash-flow inhibited the development of a strong commercial class. As such Dominica, substantiates Roxborough's observation that "the class structures of the third world differ from those of the advanced nations in two principal ways:they are more complex and the classes themselves are usually weaker (Roxborough 1979: 72). Besides categories of individuals who were influential 5 because of their 'class situation' there were also "communities" of persons in Dominica whose status accorded them social influence. Bell describes a style of life associated with 'circles' of white or light coloured people that was 3 identified as 'society' in Roseau, early in this century. It included an exclusive style of entertainment centred around more or less regular visits to Government House, "garden parties, dinners, and small dances are fairly frequent and enable us to get into more or less intimate touch with the pleasantest people in our circle" (Bell, 1946: 48). There was'also 'club life'. One immigrant observed, "Matthew...and some other young men, were elected to the Dominica Club which was for white men only" (Hawys, 1968: 168). Coloured persons of the 'Government House Set' were not to be outdone and formed 4 their own Dominica Union Club. What is evident, here, is the existence of circles of people with a conscious group-identity and a clear sense of exclusivity. They have a specific life style and restriction on their social intercourse. To this extent they clearly exemplify what Weber meant by Stgnde (status group), and are not coterminous with the economic categories or classes we just noted. But classes and status groups are usually related. "Property as such is not always recognized as a status qualificiation, but in the long run it is, and with extra- ordinary regularity." (Weber 1978: 1932). These different classes and status groups were the major 6

resources for political activity in Dominica. Borome expertly portrays the earlier vicissitudes of local politics which

led to Status in 1898. "With the passage of the 'Brown Privilege Bill' in 1881 which granted full political

the next year of three coloured men to the Assembly, whose gradual increase in numbers gave them a majority by 1898, the House proved more disposed to support legislation promoting the welfare of the dominant elements of the population: the long freed people and newly emancipated slaves. But the white attorneys, merchants and traders allied with the numerous absentee owners constantly threw up legislative roadblocks in the Assembly and the Council alike." (Borom41969: 26). Politics represented metropolitan versus local and propertied versus commercial class interests. But they also 5 represented status group and ethnic interests in the community. Two political parties, conservative and liberal, developed rapidly, supported by two newspapers, the Colonist (white) and the Dominican (coloured) respectively" (Borome'1969: 26). When Fleming proposed Crown Colony government for Dominica in 1898, William Davis, a prominent coloured politician and journalist, was greatly alarmed. He announced the issue to be one of whites and non-whites and declared a race-war. So, broadly speaking, parties represented metropolitan and local class interests:the latter cross-cut by local status 6 group and ethnic interests. 7

Interpretations How are we to interpret these phenomena? Bloch has argued that as anthropologists became more aware of the impact of on the societies they were studying, they became increasingly critical of structural-functionalism as an adequate perspective and the appropriateness of conceptualizing societies as integrated wholes. (Bloch 1983: 144-145). This tendency can be seen in the Caribbean in the work of M. G. Smith and Leo Despres who criticized the Parsonian model and adapted Furnivall's, colonially generated plural society concept to the Caribbean experience. (M. G. Smith 1965; Despres 1967). However, M. G. Smith was at pains

to show, contra Furnivall 1948, that it was not race nor stratification which created the plural segments in Caribbean society but 'the structural co-existence of incompatible institutional systems.' What incorporates the plural segments into the society is government (see Smith 1969: .3) and not value consensus. It might equally be said that government policy had created the segments! Wilson has criticized the plural society concept for treating the plural segments as separate and not as dialectic- ally related. In its stead he proposed two anthithetical 7 systems of legitimation: reputation and respectability.

(Wilson 1973: 2). In this view social life is to be understood as an interplay of the two. But it also involves a ranking of respectability over reputation. As Wilson puts it, " A 8

Caribbean social system provides us with what is possibly the clearest instance in history of a dialectical social system. What I have been describing is, in effect, a precariously tensile structure of relations between antithetical systems. On the one hand there is the imposed, alien structure of domination premised on inequality and stratification while facing this is the authochthonous structure premised on differentiation and equality, a structure of subordination and reaction. Neither structure is independent of the other and what is uniquely the Caribbean social system is the dynamic dialectic between them." (Wilson 1973: 219). Recent changes, particularly political independence have removed white metropolitan power and drastically reduced the backing of respectability. Wilson tentatively predicts the increasing dominance of reputation over respectability, its acquisition of political power and its subsequent transformation (Wilson 1973: 224). These 'pluralist' views are traditional in that they concentrate on internal relations. Neither Smith nor Wilson gives more than a token acknowledgement to the ongoing structure of extra island relationships. They, therefore, pay insufficient attention to the relationship between the internal structure of the colony or ex-colony and that of the metropole or the developed western world. This dimension was provided 8 by the neo-Marxian, 'dependista' perspective; a view first proposed by Eric Williams in his analyses of Caribbean history in the 1940s (See Williams 1942, 1944). 9

In the 'dependista' view, Caribbean societies' dependence on developed western countries created certain internal structural features. Their major units of production were metropolitan subsidiaries. Labour and experts were imported. Metropolitan demand dictated the level of the domestic economy. Skills were inherited. Land remained monopolized. Imported products were in demand. The State was used to promote law and order. (See Levitt and Best 1975: 41-45). Significantly the national propertied class were, thus, born into a 9 situation in which they were unable to innovate. Amin sums up this view: "Since the peripheral economy exists only as an appendage of the central economy, peripheral society is incomplete: what is missing from it is the metropolitan bourgeoisie whose capital operates as the essential dominating force." He goes on, "Because of the weaker and unbalanced development of the local bourgeoisie the bureaucracy appears to have much more weight." (Amin 1976: 345)

This dynamic, dependent relationship formed the so . called Marxian "externalist perspective" in the sociology of development. Typically development involves class struggle against foreign and domestic agents of monopoly capital and detachment from the global system of capitalist exploitation. 10 But Marx himself was ambivalent about colonialism. "It could be claimed," Turner writes, that"Marx thought that...the expansion of capitalist relations of production had 'progressive effects." (Turner 1978: 16). These effects would be lost if 10 one opted out of global capitaltsm. Whatever, the case, economic relations of exploitation and dependency between developed and developing countries form the focus of interests in this perspective. But can this explain all colonial situations? If we return for a moment to Dominica, O'Loughlin observed that "there is little doubt that the acquisition and retention of the Windwards was primarily of strategic value." (O'Loughlin 1968: 36). Dominica's economic history is one of repetitive mono-crop failure and we have noted the depressed state of export agriculture and commerce. Can one invoke economic interest to explain continued colonial interest in what had proved to be an economic liability? Interest in Dominica could form part of a broader plan to protect regional economic interests. But could there be 11 another reason? Weber, under the influence of Sombart, argues, "Experience teaches that claims to prestige have always played into the origin of wars...the realm of 'honor' which is comparable to the 'status order' within a social structure, pertains also to the inter-relations of political structures." (Weber 1978: 911). There could be, then, something other than economic interest in Britain's decision to wrest and retain Dominica from the French, or in her similar stance to the Falklands and Argentina. National prestige and honour could be involved. This possibility has important implications for the argument 11 so far. For if the set of internal relations are themselves affected by the external relations then the variable content of the external relations (whether economic or honorific) would have some effect on the nature of the internal relations. Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism are intimately linked to capitalism. To understand Dominica better we shall turn to two figures whose life's work was an attempt to under- stand Capitalism: Marx and Weber. It is not altogether inappropriate to mention Marx and . 12 13 Weber together. Much is made of their differences. Marx is the father of radical sociology; Weber the father of bourgeois sociology (see Il5with 1982: 18). Marx sees capitalism as a distinct form of society; Weber sees it as a special type of orientation to economic activity (see Roxborough 1970: 5). Marx appears to side with the colonized lower classes; Weber defends the imperialism of the (German) metropolitan elite (see Mommsen 1974: 44). But both Marx and w ,abar were fascinated by the two faces of capitalism. They both saw the development of modern Europe as leading to the domination of entire societies by the capitalist impulse. They both hAd a purpose: "something kin to empancipation" (Lowith 1982: 22). Marx recognized the tremendous productive potential of capitalism. But he also saw its tendency to create poverty, alienation, a class divided world. He saw the State emerge to protect capitalist interests and take on a certain autonomy, making the relationship of politics to economics uneven and 12 contradictory. Emancipation meant a societal revolution in which the proletariate freed itself from bourgeois oppression. Political activity was a means to achieve this end and entailed eroding the compliance of the working class through% the formation of revolutionary class consciousness. Marx disassociates himself from a simple 'vulgar' economic, technological, material- istic, determinism. His emphasis on the role of class conscious- 14 ness, the 'independence' of the State and of bureaucracy are examples of sophisticated dialectical analysis of ideal and material factors in social analysis. In contrast Weber sees rationalization, particularly in the form of bureaucratic organization, as the dominant characteristic of capitalist development. Bureaucracy had potential for great efficiency but it could also subvert means to ends, lose sight of its purposes and become an iron-cage for its- personnel. Democracy should protect individuals from such tyranny. But democracy requires legal provir.i.:,ns in order to implement its procedures and so "The extension of democratic rights demands the growth of bureaucratic centralization.' (Giddens 1972: 18). Nevertheless, emancipation, for Weber, meant freedom from the iron-cage through the operation of the charismatic leader and the political expert in the democratic process. Zeitlin, commenting on Weber, writes, "whether in business, politics or military affairs, great leaders had to be created as an antidote to b - 4reaucracy" (Zeitlin 1968: 158). 13 Both theorists clearly were interested in power and domination. Marx presented a three-fold scheme of this. Capital, he claimed, exerts 'economic' and 'social domination' on certain institutions. The State creates and maintains the legal, legitimized basis for bourgeois rule and thereby exercises 'political domination'. Finally ideas that support the status quo and the interests of the dominant class are disseminated and become the dominant ideas of society, thereby exercising 'ideological domination.' In each case it is the ruling class that controls these forms of domination. (See Swingewood 1975: 140). We find a parallel set of ideas, albeit with some differences, in Weber's work. Marx's economic and social domination is reflected in Weber's discussion of the power of classes and status groups. Marx's political domination parallels Weber's discussion of party and 'domination'. Finally Marx's interest in ideology is reflected in Weber's interest in the Protestant Ethic and his.sociology of religion. This circuitous theoretical journey brings us back to Dominica. Its purpose has been to follow certain theoretical

approaches taken in the Caribbean and see where they lead us . One suggestion is that they can take us to Weber, a theorist who, apart from Singham's The Hero and the Crowd - where Weber's notion of charisma is put to use (Singham 1968) - has not been 15 used in the region. It hopefully has indicated also that arriving at Weber does not mean discarding all of Marx, or Wilson, or M. G. Smith, or for that matter, adopting all of 14

Weber. Elements of each may have a contribution to make in under- standing the changing social situation in Dominica and are congruent with each other. We have seen very briefly some of Dominica's history. What happened after the war up to the 1970s?

The Banana Revolution

Bananas were grown on a very modest scale prior to the

1940s, but this changed when Geest Industries, a U. K. based firm, introduced a new strain of banana in 1948 and provided shipping. Subsequently, the growth of bananas paralled the growth of Geest. In 1962, 28,239 tons of bananas were exported for a figure of $4.1 m B.C. In 1969, 47,677 tons were produced for a figure of $10.2 m E.C.: an increase of some 150%. (See Government of Dominica, Annual Statistical Report No. 4). It was particularly significant for Dominica's social structure that most of this increased production came from - peasants. In Dominica there is a saying, "Everyone have land" and this reflects the reality, although often this is 'family land'.

Seventy-three percent of the farmers owned freehold land and

94% of the land was freehold. The number of under 10 acre farms increased while the number of 100 acre or more farms together with total acreage in used declined. (See Clarke, W. 1962: 15).

This was because larger estates chronically found labour problems as peasants increasingly grew bananas for themselves. The banana is an ideal crop for peasants. It is non-seasonal and can be harvested and marketed weekly, thereby providing the 15

peasant with a small but steady source of cash. The extent of this phenomenon can be judged from the fact that 90% of Dominican banana growers were owners of 5 acres of land or less and the majority owned less than three acres. Thus the subsistence farmer created by emancipation now entered the cash economy on a regular basis and became the backbone of Dominica's major industry. The expansion of the banana industry had several effects. A major programme of road-building was undertaken to facilitate the transport of bananas to the carrier. This considerably reduced the social isolation of communities. Banana production was itself 'rationalized.' A bureaucratically organized Association,to provide assistance to growers,was formed whose representatives negotiated a contract with Geest. 'Boxing plants' were created whither bananas were brought, 'dehanded' (removed from their stems), selected, graded and boxed. Finally, the expansion of bananas as a peasant product had an important impact on local community division of labour and social inequality. In a study of 65 communities, Rodgers (Rodgers 1971: 245) investigates the proportion of choices of vocational special- ization and finds that while the tradiOnal 'specialties' of peasant, teacher, fisherman and priest were somethat similar to the past, there was a a considerable increase in the number of people choosing shopkeeping (65%) and drivers (49%). These increases can be seen as a direct result of the 'banana boon'. 16

Driving became a rewarding occupation, both in transporting bananas, but also ferrying people into Roseau to shop and carrying back produce to the local stores. Shopkeeping became a remumerative occupation now that the cash flow was considerably increased. This ready cash had a tremendous impact on retail trade in the capital. Several Syrian stores suddenly grew in size and specialization. As one merchant put it, "You suddenly found country people in your store, saw trucks leaving for the country full with stoves, electric lights, fridges, table and chairs. It made a great difference to my business." But the banana industry was a cooperative venture. It was not the product solely of domestic peasant enterprise. The industry was also the product of VanGeest, his entre- preneurial ability and distribution network to the British 16 market. He thereby affected peasants intimately. He set shipment dates. He negotiated prices. He demandea quality' controls and so on. So a metropolitan entrepreneur and the purchasing habits of British society were intimately linked to class elaboration in Dominica. Such a view follows easily from a 'dependista' perspective. But, as Roxborough might have predicted, the ensuing class structure was 'complex'. And as Weber might have emphasized the source of the changes were intimately 17 related to the market. For these reasons a class analysis of the kind already presented for interpreting Dominica's 17 history is appropriate: one that emphasises propertied, commercial and social classes. (See Weber 1978: 302). Moree- over, because class and status group are closely related, a change in class structure is likely to affect status group identity, and,as already noted, colour has been an endemiq differentiator of respect and influence. Finally, a 'party' was formed to foster and protect the banana growers interests: the Dominica Banana Growers Association. The banana industry was a dialectical development of external and internal interests. What was particularly significant was its involvement with a mass of peasant producers who had themselves been an indirect product of the clash between topography and metropolitan economic interests. The topography of the island continued to play a role in the present context: the island was too mountainous for bananas to be a commercially viable crop on estates. Many estates that started planting bananas soon either quit them or interspersed them with citrus. A second problem with bananas is their susceptibility to wind damange, which can be consider- able since Dominica lies in the hurricane belt. Small scale producers can absorb such damages better than large scale producers; for they can revert to subsistence farming.

Politics: Democracy and Domination Major political changes occurred in the fifties and sixties. In 1951 adult Dominicans were given the franchise 18 which they exercised five times prior to the fieldwork period of 1972. In 1967 Dominica gained internal independence as an Associate State with Great Britain. The franchise was not received enthusiastically, in fact a local newspaper criticized Britain for thrusting adult suffrage on an unready people when they should have been paying more attention to the nascent banana industry. (See The Chronicle April 5, 1950: 5). There followed a period (1951-1957) of 'no-party' politics in which prominent people ran for office in areas where they had a following and usually lasted only one term in office. This was a period of both traditional and charismatic leadership. Party politics were born in 1955 but did not influence elections until 1958. In 1955 Phyllis Shand Allfrey, a Dominican creole white residing in England, founded the Dominica Labour Party and returned with it to Dominica in 1956. She succeeded in convincing the electorate that she : had the poor and the workers interests at heart and narrowly 'won the Federal Election. When Caribbean Federalism failed LeBlanc took over leadership of the Party and won the 1961, 1966 and 1970 elections. Although the 1959 constitution required the formation of political parties there was very weak or no' opposition party until 1968. Then a protest group calling itself the "Freedom Fighters" rose in response to the government's attempt to muzzle the media and after further protests they managed to form a solid opposition to government and contested 19 the 1970 elections. The 1970 election was the first to be held under the 1967 constitution of internal self-government. LeBlanc, an ex-agricultural inspector, led his party to victory again on his appeal to rural (banana) and urban lower class interests. Half of those who won seats identified themselves with agriculture; one as a peasant. The remainder was a trade Union Leader, a Tailor, a Pensioner and the only Professional - a Lawyer. All but one of these were associated with different geographical areas. The governing Party identified itself with rural banana growing areas. The newly created class of peasant entrepreneurs was the major resource for the Party. In contrast, the Freedom Party Opposition was led by a successful lawyer and identified with successful urban businessmen and agricultural interests in southern,non- banana producing areas of the island. It was particularly colored 'old-family' members who supported the Ci:position, although few were actually involved in politics. The Syrians were split. Some successful Syrians saw the future in terms of a more proletarian Dominican culture and sided with the government. Others identified with traditional values and supported the opposition. In this context the Freedom Party articulated the concerns of both the privileged commercial class and status groups. Parties are voluntary associations organized for "the pursuit of interests" (Weber 1978: 285) . They may represent 2Q a variety of interests: "In an individual case, parties may represent interests determined through a class situation, a status situation, and they recruit their following from one or the other. But they need be neither purely class or purely status parties; in fact they are more likely to be 18 mixed types, and sometimes neither." (Weber 1978: 938). We have seen how they represented very different interests in the community. The 1970 election appears to corroborate Wilson's prediction that reputation would win out over respectability. The Premier was famous for his informal style, for his use and legitimation of patois, his rejection of a tie, his frequent 'escapes' from Roseau in the country, his genuine interest in and identification with Dominican peasant growers. In many instances his ministers shared several of these features. In contrast the leader of the Opposition emphasized tradition; support of the Catholic Church Lajas educative role, upper class, status and urban values. She always spoke in English. At the time of study the Freedom Party appeared a weak Party and so the reputable less 'respectable' values of the government appeared to be dominant. The situation, of course, has reversed itself since then with Miss Charles now leading the government. But besides Parties representing broader community interests, they are also internally constituted, lead and appeal to certain principles of legitimation. This takes us 21 19 from the concept of party to that of domination. Again, there is a great difference between the Parties. LeBlanc 'legitimized' his exercise of power through appeals to his 'charisma'. His presentation of self as a man of the people, with peoples interests at heart was the Key to hip success. In contrast Eugenia Charles appea,led to traditional criteria;her economic success, her education, her colour.. Weber observed that, "according to the kinds of legitimacy which is claimed, the type of obedience, the kind of administrative staff developed to guarantee it, and the mode of exercising authority, will all differ fundamentally ...(Weber 1978: 213). Thus charisma and tradition tend to generate their own type of staff or "apparatus". Charisma generates a support staff of disciples.. That was. not strictly the case with LeBlanc, but LeBlanc's campaigning insured some ministers their election and there was a sense in which LeBlanc was somehow different from the :Ithers. They were 'indebted' to him and even 'believed' in him. Eugenia Charles claimed recognition on the grounds that she filled the traditional requisites for leadership in class and status criteria, except for her sex! Traditional domination generates patriarchalism. There was, however, a third type of authority that Weber noted - rational-legal authority and its 'apparatus' was bureaucracy. Was this evident in the Dominicancontext? 22

In order to cope with internal self-government the Civil Service had been doubled in twenty years, and its composition had changed. There were 920 civil servants in 1950. There were 1,786 of them in 1970. Thirty-one positions had salaries in excess of $10,000. E.C. and sixteen of the new positions fell within this category. There were also

changes in the background of top civil servants. In 1956 ,. besides expatriate civil servants, there were seven senior civil servants from old coloured family backgrounds and several positions were held by West Indians from other islands. In 1972, there were no expatriate civil servants and only two from old coloured families. In 1972 the civil service had become unionized as the Civil Service Association. During 1972 certain tensions were evident within the civil service and between it and government. Some younger 'experts' with university education had received rapid promotions which disturbed other senior civil. Servants:who valued 'experience'. Some civil servants found it difficult to 'rationalize' their decisions to fit in with the local political demands of their ministers and in some of these cases they resigned. Tensions erupted over an overnight 'transfer' of a Radio Announcer to the position of clerk at the largely ' white-staffed Technical College. The announcer had provided air time for Black Power youth. The Civil Service Association took up the announcer's cause, went out on strike and the Premier declared a State of Emergency in July 1973. A factor 23 that exacerbated the conflict was a feeling among some civil servants that there was an unjust status imbalance between themselves and their ministers (some of whom had not completed a secondary education). The significance of these events lies in their demonstration that Mtimal-legal domination was increasing in strength shortly after democracy had been introduced, and indeed was confronting government. The growth of bureaucracy is inevitable with democracy for it is its principle of administiation. But a bureaucracy(the Dominica Banana Growers Association) had also accompanied the expansion of the banana industry. Thus rational-legal domination was expanding. Weber had argued that in both democracy and capitalism, "the primary source of the superiority of the bureaucratic administration lies in the role of technical knowledge which, through the development of modern technology and business method'S in the production of goods, has become crImpletely indispensible." (Weber 1978: 223). Among Dominican civil servants precisely this phenomenon created a problem, the bureaucrats were, on the whole, more expert and experienced in administering than their political bosses were in 'governing' and resented their superiors. This, however, was not the major problem of bureaucracy for Weber. Weber sees bureaucracy as a status group with vested interests that takes part in the three way struggle between ruler, staff and ruler. But in the process "Bureaucracy 24 develops the more perfectly, the more it is 'dehumanized', the more completely it succeeds in eliminating from official business love, hatred, and all purely personal irrational and emotional elements which escape calculation. This is appraised as its special virtue by captialism" (Weber 1978: 20 975). The salvation from bureaucratic tyranny is the charismatic leader. "Charisma is, to Weber, the source of all creative individual leadership, and for that very reason no other type of political domination, be it predominately traditional or of purely bureaucratic cast - can ever work without at least an element of charisma" (Mommsen 1974: 78). As Lachmann ovserves, "It is precisely his ability to Improvise solutions for such new problems which distinguishes the Weberian political leader from the able bureaucrat." (Lachmann 1970: 131). But in Dominica charisma of the political leader did not, this time, win over the bureaucracy. The Deputy Premier resigned during the State of Emergency and the Premier within the year. In general the situation corroborated Amin's observation that, "Independence suddenly increases the specific weight of the new state bureaucracy in the national society...The bureaucracy inherits that prestige of state power that is traditional in non-European societies and is strengthened by the experience of the coloniel administration's power, which seemed absolute, and by the fact that the petty- 25 bourgeoisie from which this bureaucracy stems has a monopoly of modern education and technological skills." (Amin 1976:, 34-346). There is one final observation to make of the political changes of this period which directly relates to politics and the civil service. Education had long been a road of social mobility and the government, through policy, had expanded education. It provided,AcholarshipA for and bonded students at university, principally at U. W. I. On completion of their degrees the major employer of university graduates was government, in civil service and teaching occupations. This increase in university education exposed young Dominicans to the ideas of Black Power which they were then spreading, principally to their peers. Government policy, therefore, could be seen, on the one hand, as inadvertently creating the seeds of its own opposition, if not its own destruction, both by strengthening the civil service bureaucracy and fostering a new political ideology through young people in a country where 49.1% of the population in 1970 was under 15 years old! On the one hand, both the civil service and educated black power leaders could be seen as the emergence of new privileged status groups on the island which, by nature of their exclusivity would be 'opposed' by the mass of Dominicans and, to this extent, not pose any serious threat to the government rule. In sum, the quest for power in Dominica took a. new 26

turn when the metropole granted the island universal adult suffrage and internal self-government. After an initial 'no-party' period political parties arose which represented different class and status-group interests and used different forms of domination.

Conclusion This paper has described various changes in Dominican history prior to 1973. The changes were seen to be as much the interplay of internal and external forces as of those purely internal to the island. Moreover, they involved a subtle interplay between economic, political, organizational and ideological factors. Bananas had increased the island's prosperity while increasing its dependence. While transform- ing the purchasing power of the peasantry it created a broadened successful privileged commercial class_ The broad base of the islands prosperity could be linked with a newly found universal suffrage so that, after a transitional 'no-party' period,the Governing Party came to be associated with agricultural (banana) interests and the commercial urban class felt it was being neglected and largely sided with the Opposition. Government had, unwittingly, created two other sources of Opposition - by expanding and Dominicanizing' the civil service and supporting higher education. 27

The paper also discussed various possible interpretations of this material: in most cases ones that had been used in the Caribbean. There seemed little ground to support a Parsonian consensual approach and so pluralist alternatives were discussed. Their value was that they captured the obvious divisions that existed in the society. . Wilson's proposal of there being two value systems in dialectical relation to each other and identifiable with specific classes in society seemed particularly fruitful. However, it was argued that the approach was too 'internalist' and did not sufficiently accommodate ongoing external relations. For this reason elements of a neo-Marxian, 'dependista' approach were discussed. It was argued that the short-comings of this approach lie in the broad scope of its class concepts. There- fore, in order to capture the complexity of the internal dynamics of the situations, Weberian concepts were used. It was further suggested that there was sufficient convergence in Marx and Weber to argue that Weber could be used to complement a Marxian position. Giddens provides an appropriate quotation with which to conclude: "The fact of the matter , is that Weber's own critique of Marxism...reaches conclusions which are in some respects closer to the original Marxian dialectic than are the deterministic doctrines of some of 21 Marx's declared followers". (Giddens 1971: 244). 28

FOOTNOTES 1. "The principle of stratification that subsumes all others in the Caribbean is, I suggest, the principle of respectability...Respectability has its roots in• the external colonizing society.. There is, however, a particular level of structure which is the dialectical complement of stratification and respectability and which supports the ideal of sociological equality...what I have designated as reputation...Reputation, on the other hand,is 'indigenous' to the colony." (Wilson 1973: 9). 2."Metayage was a relic of French occupation of the islands" (Marshall 1965: 30). It enabled the planter to retain ownership of his estates and secure some • profit from them by paying wages in kind rather than cash. The labourer, for his part, was now in 'partner- ship' with the planter. He used the planter's cart, house, machinery in exchange for labour. " (See Clarke 1962: 16). 3. Bell observes: "Society is composed of the principal officials, planters, professional people and the heads of the chief commercial houses. The majority are of pure European descent, but the proportion of well-to-do people of light colour and good education is steadily increasing." (Bell 1946: 48). 4. This dimension of power has also been affected by the recent changes in Dominica. The Union Club was disolved on the 30th of November 1972. Moreover, the Dominica Club ceased to be a white club and for the first time that year had a coloured President. Many lorg-term whites and members of coloured 'old families' deplored these changes. "Before, people of a certain standing joined the Club. Now they let in all types!" The traditional social life of the Club dwindled in signif- icance and Government House functions became a forum for political patronage by the new political elite. 5. Weber considers an ethnic group as a quasi status-group. "We shall call 'ethnic group' those human groups that entertain a subjective belief in their common descent because of similarities of physical type or customs or both, or because of memories of colonization and migration; this belief must be important for the preparation of group formation; conversely, it does not matter whether or not an objective blood relationship exists...it is primarily the political community, no matter how artificially organized, that inspires the belief in common ethnicity." (Weber 1978: 389). 29

6. Green describes their interaction: "The political battle between the white planter merchant minority and the coloured majority (drawn mainly from small proprietors, minor civil servants and artisans) had been fought with a degree of scurrility extradrdinary even by West Indians standards" (Green 1976: 378). 7. A slightly different meaning to and relationship between these terms was presented in a earlier work. (See Wilson 1969). 8. It is difficult to separate economic-structuralist and Marxian influences in this perspective on Caribbean societies. Oxaal argues that "Marxism in its deeper theoretical aspect is scarcely read, let alone understood, in these former colonies. It is an alien tradition... (Oxaal 1976: 47). However, Foster-Carter cautions that "one of the most striking features of many neo-Marxist writers...is how little they quote from or otherwise attempt to articulate themselves to the classical canons of Marxism" (Foster-Carter 1974: 84). Certainly, Girvan, in outlining the convergence of Latin American and Caribbean structuralist dependency theory, hints at a collaboration with African and Asian Marxist scaolars (see Girvan 1973: 25-26) specifically mentioning Amin and Rodney (Ibid: 29) and Cumper writing on the New World Economists maintains, "they make free use of a class terminology adapted from Marx" (Cumper 1974: 469). 9. In the Latin American context an investigation of this phenomenon was undertaken by Andre'Gunder Frank. (See Frank 1972: 23). Booth argues that it was a statement to this effect made in the declaration of the Firc Conference of the Latin American Solidarity Organization that set Gunder Frank in search of theoretical and documentary support for such a position. (Booth 1975: 69). 10. On the one hand Marx cquld write, "The profound hypocrisy and inherent barbarism7bouregois civilization lies unveiled before our eyes, turning from its home, where it assumes respectable forms, to the colonies, where it goes naked." (Marx 1972: 583). On the other hand, he realized that colonialism held the seeds of its own destruction." (Capitalism) produces new forces in colonial societies which will be capable of overthrowing external dominance and of using the positive achievements of the developed world as a basis for the elimination of their own back- wardness and subordination." (Brett 1973: 283). 30 11. Roth argues that Weber was influenced by Sombart who had written,"...it is incorrect to say that all history of society is merely a history of class struggles...we find the same striving for wealth, power and prestige among communities as among individuals..."(Sombart 1896: lf. Quoted in Roth 1978: LXXXV). 12. Not only, of course,are their interests in economics similar, but Weber was consistently concerned with what Marx had written and what Marxists were saying. According to one scholar, Max Weber became a sociologist" in a long and intense debate with the ghost of Marx" (Salomon 1945: 596) . and another that "the main character of his total life's work was shaped by his debate with Marx (Zeitlin 1968: 111). It is probably more correct, however, to see Weber as influenced by and attaining "what might be called a dialectical stand- point" between Marx and Nietzsche, (Mommsen 1974: 104). 13. The awareness of their differences is at least partly attributable to Parsons, who was a major source of Weber's ideas for the English-speaking world earlier this century. Indeed, according to Horowitz, "the role of Parsons in the dissemenation of the spirit of Max Weber can scarcely be overestimated...He sees or creates, as the case may be, Weber in his own image." (Horowitz 1968: 188). This implied distortion has been more clearly identified. "The crux of Parsons misinterpretation is his overwhelming emphasis on the category of the normative...to a severe understatement of the importance of non-normative aspects of social action and structures of dominance." (Cohen 1975: 241). "A correct understanding of Weber's general sociology is impossible unless founded on a faithful reading of his theory of domination(Herrschaft). Yet Parsons' pronounccr ,lants on, the, latter are mutually inconsistent and in some instances inaccurate...in a key passage in which he rejects Bendix's (1960) decision to translate Herrschaft as 'domination'. (Parsons uses the term leadership), Parsons (1960: 752) reduced power to a subordinate position in the Weberian scheme"• (Cohen 1975: 237). Parsons' interpretation of Herrschaft tended to suggest that legitimacy was the element of paramount concern for Weber. 14. Lefevbre comments on Marx:"Setting itself above society, the State has interests of its own and its own social support, namely its own employees, its bureaucracy (Lefevbre 1969: 124). He goes on, "of special interest to political sociology . today are Marx's notes on bureaucracy. Max Weber is frequently credited with having first drawn attention to the importance of bureaucracy and having initiated its analysis. And his achievement is the more impressive for the fact that he did not know Marx's critical notes on Hegel's Philosophy of the 31

State" (Lefevbre 1969: 138). Swingewood observes, "In his scattered comments on bureaucracy Marx emphasized its semi- autonomous status and argued that in certain circumstances it may appear as a completely independent force" (Swingewood 1975: 143). 15..Bendix observes, "Today the concern with economic develop- ment outside the Western world gives renewed significance to Weber's study of cultural variations in the development of civilizations" (Bendix 1962: XXIII). 16. The matter, in fact, was somewhat more complex, for the British Government assisted VanGeest by guaranteeing Windward Island banana sales on the British matket. This itself may have been prompted by American interest in maintaining regional stability! 17. For a recent discussion of the importance of market analysis and development in the Caribbean see Reid 1984. 18. Weber did not confine 'party' to . It is restricted to this narrower sense for this paper. 19. Weber distinguishes, "Two diametrically contrasting types of domination, viz. domination by virtue of a constellation of interests (in particular: by virtue of a position of monopoly) and domination by virtue of authority, i.e. power to command and duty to obey" (Weber 1978: 943). However he is principally interested in the latter and it is this idea that will be used in this paper. 20. Weber detested most of what he saw in the way of bureau- cratization of society..."It is horrible," he wrote,"to think that the world will one day be filled with nothing but those little cogs, little men clinging to little jobs and striving toward bigger ones..." (Nisbet 1982: 34). 21. The operation of power in the social context involves a dialectical relationship in which, for better use of a term, leader and follower are mutually transformed by the relation- ship. Weber discusses classes and status groups under the aegis of power and while the dialectical relationship between classes is less clear in his market definition of the phenomenon, he specifically states: "If classes as such are not groups, nevertheless class situations emerge only on the basis of social action. However social action that brings forth class situations is not basically action among members of the identical class: it is an action among members of different classes." (Weber 1978: 931). This is close to Marx's dialectic definition of class. 32

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