Social Classes and the Origin of the Modern State: the Dominican Republic, 1844-1930 Author(S): Emelio Betances Source: Latin American Perspectives, Vol
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Social Classes and the Origin of the Modern State: The Dominican Republic, 1844-1930 Author(s): Emelio Betances Source: Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 22, No. 3, The Dominican Republic: Social Change and Political Stagnation (Summer, 1995), pp. 20-40 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2634138 . Accessed: 17/02/2011 20:56 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sage. 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Most studies have assessed economic structuresand generalpolitical development. This studycomplements that traditionby providingan in-depthhistorico-sociological analysis of the formativeyears of theDominican capitalist state. It surveysthe socioeco- nomicstructure of theDominican dominant blocs in themid- 19th century and examinesthe formation of thebourgeoisie and thestate in relationto a combinationof worldevents, including the Spanishreoccupation of the country(1861-1865), the Ten Years' Warin Cuba (1868-1878),and U.S. expansioninto the Caribbean basin. It suggeststhat the structural weakness ofthe local dominant blocs created the historical circumstances for continued foreignintrusion and the emergence of the Trujillo dictatorship in 1930. Standardhistoriography has overemphasizedthe role of externalfactors inthe development of Caribbean nation-states. It treats the Caribbean people as "peoplewithout history" and ignores the role of local class strugglein the unfoldinghistorical process. This interpretationobscures rather than en- hances our understandingof the dialecticbetween external and internal influenceson theformation of Caribbeannation-states. This studyoffers a perspectivethat recognizes the importance of the interplay between external and internalfactors. In contrastto thestandard historiography, the research of Ortiz(1975), Muto (1976), Calder (1984), Sang (1989), and othersprovides excellent descriptionsof theinternal political processes in theDominican Republic between1844 and 1930,but it fails to describe the social forces that brought EmelioBetances, a Dominican,is anassociate professor of sociology and Latin American studies atGettysburg College. He haspublished articles on state formation and contemporary Caribbean politicsin Latin American Perspectives, Caribe Contemporaneo, and Politica: Teoria y Accion. His Stateand Societyin theDominican Republic (1995) is beingpublished by Westview Press as partof the Latin American Perspectives Series. LATINAMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue86, Vol.22 No. 3, Summer1995 20-40 ? 1995Latin American Perspectives 20 Betances/ CLASSES AND THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE 21 aboutsocial changeand theconsolidation of politicalpower. It discusses politicalpower but ignoresits class nature.This articlefocuses on the transformationofclass forcesin relationto theorigins of the modern state. Two schoolsof thoughthave attemptedto explainthe Dominican class structure.Juan Bosch representsa school thatclaims thatthere was no bourgeoisiein the 19th and early 20th century. He arguesthat the U.S. military governmentof 1916-1924"laid theabsolutely necessary and indispensable materialbasis to developa bourgeoisclass in the DominicanRepublic" (Bosch, 1982:214-226). Although, he argues,no suchclass formed,it was uponthis foundation that Rafael Trujillo was able to consolidatepolitical powerand become a substitutefor the bourgeoisie.Interestingly, Bosch maintainsthat there was only one class, the petty bourgeoisie, subdivided into fivestrata: high, medium, low, lower poor, and lowervery poor. The sugar plantationsof thelatter third of the 19thcentury were "sugar islands" or enclaves;the labor force was importedfrom Haiti and theLesser Antilles. The politicalstruggles of the countryoccurred as strugglesbetween the differentstrata of thesame class or withthe vestiges of a landedoligarchy. Thisapproach has beenrightly attacked for its functionalism and itsfailure to recognizethe bourgeoisie that in factexisted (Jimenes Grullon, 1980; Cassa',1986). The otherschool is representedby historiansand sociologistswho con- siderthe merchantsa structurallyheterogeneous bourgeoisie in thatthey receivedtheir profits in surplusgenerated by capitalistand precapitalist relationsof production. Lozano (1976), Gomez (1977), B aez Evertsz(1978), Vilas (1979), Oviedo and Catrain(1981), Cassa (1982), Brea (1983), and othershave argued that within this heterogeneous and complex grouping the capitalisttendency was themost important determinant. Where this group perceivesa strongtendency toward capitalism, Boin and SerulleRamia (1979) and JimenesGrullon (1980) see a full-blowncapitalist economy. Thesesocial scientists,however, do notsystematically analyze the relation- shipbetween class andpolitical power. This investigationperceives a clear distinctionbetween the political regimeand thestate. A politicalregime is definedas the"formal rules that linkthe main political institutions (legislature to theexecutive, executive to thejudiciary,and party system to them all), as wellas theissues of the political natureof theties between citizens and rulers." In highlyabstract terms, the "notionof staterefers to thebasic alliance,the basic 'pactof domination,' andthe norms which guarantee their dominance over the subordinate strata" (Cardoso,1979: 38). In thewords of Oscar Oszlak, "thestate is a social relationship,a political medium through which a systemof social domination 22 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES is articulated"(1981: 5). Focusingon thehistorical origins of thestate and noton the political regime, this study examines the relationship between state andclass-the shapingof class forces in relation to the origins of the modern Dominicanstate. In contrastto the Europeandebate on the capitaliststate, which has consideredthe relationshipbetween class and statewithin the imperial centers,this study attempts to integratethe international dimension of class relationsinto local socialstructures and to showhow they help to shapethe formand functionsof the statein the periphery.State formation in the peripheryoccurs in the historicalframework of an expandingcapitalist system,which needs a local nation-stateto organizean exporteconomy. Foreigncapital and credit become components of local class structuresand exercisedirect political pressure on statepower. However, when local politi- cal structuresare notresponsive to theneeds of capitalaccumulation on a worldscale, imperialist powers force the necessary political restructuring of states.This is thecase inthe Caribbean basin, where the capitalist states often developedon structureslargely imposed from outside through capital invest- ment,financial control, and finally military intervention. This studyemploys the notion of an embryonicbourgeoisie, a notion based on the assumptionthat the conceptof class struggleprecedes the developmentof a full-blownbourgeois class. It is possibleto arguethat the bourgeoisieexisted but only in embryo.Its structural weakness inhibited its abilityto organizea modernstate that could respond to theimperatives of internationaland local capitalaccumulation. This weaknessprompted the U.S. occupationin 1916and the establishment ofa militarygovernment that organizedand centralized local politicalpower. STATE AND CLASS FORMATION Stateformation in theDominican Republic was largelydetermined by a regionalizedprecapitalist economy and weak socioeconomic structures. Al- thoughthe DominicanRepublic is a rathersmall country, historically its agrarianstructure has variedfrom region to region. By themid-19th century cattleraising and subsistencefarming on communallands were the main activitiesin theeastern portion of thecountry. During the colonial period, hateros(ranchers), closely tied to thecolonial bureaucracy, had developed intocaudillos who constituted an economicand social elite. In theCibao (the northernregion), tobacco and, to a lesserextent, cacao andcoffee became the principalproducts. Closely linked to Europeanmarkets, the Cibao gaverise to an embryoniccommercial and agrarianbourgeoisie which by the late Betances/