Monday, August 14, 2024 marked the 233rd anniversary of the Bois-Caïman pact which took place on the night of August 14-15, 1791 on the Lenormand de Mezy plantation near Morne-Rouge in the Nord department under the direction of Dutty Boukman and Cécile Fatiman.
The symbolism of this Congress, this high-level political event, an example of solidarity, self-denial, unification and the most perfect organization, has a very special importance, indelible in the Haitian collective unconscious. The lesson to understand and learn is the desire of the slave masses not only to revolt against social injustice but also to succeed in wresting from the hands of the executioners of the slave and colonialist system, the freedom to forge a free and sovereign nation.
The Bois Caïman Congress was the result of a certain level of organization. That is why the people found in him a project, a guide capable of making them an irresistible force. Eight days later, they demonstrated it, when slaves from the five largest estates rose up and began the revolutionary struggle: the Other than that original. From this dynamism of struggle for change, we can conclude that as long as there is a strong will and a clear and precise political objective, a real recovery born of class solidarity can occur and can defeat any imperialist project.
Thanks to the organization that framed it in the clear and clear identification of class interests, is not the symbolism of the Bois-Caïman Congress still alive to put in order the Haitian disorder which encompasses at the same time poverty, exploitation, political despair and lack of vision to get out of a labyrinth of imbroglios.
Bois-Caïman remains a formidable asset that has yet to be exploited. It expresses the unwavering will, the loyalty to the commitments made by an entire class of unpaid workers, exalted through a collective awareness of “live free or die”.
The symbolism of the Bois Caïman Congress remains a source of inspiration, a compass showing the class direction to follow towards the victory of the oppressed masses, provided that there is the political will of an “organic elite”, in Gramsci’s words, to unite with the oppressed, to take up the cause of the masses, even if the road must be long. It is in this sense that Vertières represents a kind of apotheosis to the incandescent night of appeal for freedom of August 14, 1791.
200 delegates from different settlements responded to the Congress. They came from the plantations of Limbé, Port Margot, de l’Acul, Limonade, Petit Anse, Plaine du Nord, Quartier Morin, Morne Rouge etc… To participate in the great struggle, receive the message and commune in loyalty and solidarity. Their presence already signified the great importance they gave to the struggle to end slavery. The watchwords of this evening were like an anthem, a national song, an interpretation of the objective conditions of the popular masses of Saint-Domingue. Jean-Jacques Dessalines who was present among the delegates would take the leadership of this movement a few years later to lead us towards total liberation.
According to JC Dorsainville, it was ten o’clock in the evening when the inaugural ceremonies of the congress began.
“All were assembled when a storm broke out. The lightning streaked with dazzling flashes across a sky of low, dark clouds. In a few moments, torrential rain flooded the ground while, under the repeated assaults of a furious wind, the trees of the forest twisted, wailed and even their large branches, violently torn off, fell with a crash… In the middle of this impressive setting, the spectators, motionless, seized by a sacred horror, saw an old negress stand up. Her body was shaken by long shivers; she sang, pirouetted on herself and twirled a large cutlass above her head. An even greater immobility, a shorter, silent breathing, ardent eyes fixed on the negress, soon proved that the audience was fascinated. A black pig was then introduced whose grunts were lost in the roar of the storm. With a quick gesture, the priestess, inspired, plunges her cutlass into the animal’s throat. The blood spurts out, it is collected smoking and distributed to the slaves around; all drink it, all swear to carry out Boukman’s orders.”
« The old black woman with strange eyes and bristling hair, chanting mysterious words in the African dialect, invoked the gods of the ancestors. Suddenly, Boukman stands up and cries out in an inspired tone: “The Good Lord who made the sun that lights us up there, who stirs up the sea and makes thunder roar, listen carefully, you others, this Good Lord there hidden in a cloud, is watching us. He sees what the whites are doing. The God of the whites demands crime, ours wants good deeds. But this God who is so good, orders you vengeance! He will direct our arms, he will assist us. Throw away the image of the God of the whites who thirsts for our tears and listen to the freedom that speaks to our hearts… ».
All the delegates repeated this speech word for word with great fervor. It is the oath that sealed the final resolutions of the congress. The slave has become a man and as a man he will defend his personality, his land and his class brothers. He is no longer the beast of burden, he has become aware that the colonist despite his organizations cannot defeat him; he now thinks as a responsible man and like any man the love of freedom and honor is also strong and powerful in him.
This congress was of great importance. It was a calculated, well-considered political milestone that the slaves had taken. It was the best way to establish trust among them and to indicate to the masses that this struggle was not the business of one man or one clan but the struggle of all conscious and consistent slaves. It was a high-level political act that already signaled the desire of the masses to be not only free, but also independent. Theoretically, it announced the end, the very death of colonial domination, the night that would definitively tear the slave from slavery, Saint-Domingue from France.
Beaubrun Ardouin explains to us that “the slaves of the Chabaud and Lagoscette estates had misunderstood Boukman’s explanations. This is how, in the evening, they set fire to these two estates. The insurrection was to begin with the burning of these sumptuous palaces built on corpses, and of these rich harvests watered with the blood of these unfortunates. A few slaves were arrested and executed promptly, so much were confessions feared.” None of them, despite the repression they suffered, ever denounced the leaders or the main leaders of the revolt. Which suggests that this incident on the night of Sunday, August 14, 1791 was not an error of incomprehension but rather of combative excitement, a form of impatience. Because the spirit of the congress announced to them the colors of hope and the signal that on the horizon the sun of their liberation had already risen.
A week later, on the night of August 21-22, 1791, under the leadership of Boukman, Jean-François and Biassou, the slaves started the revolution. With cries of Vengeance! Vengeance! Death to the Whites! Boukman was the first to take action by setting fire to the homes himself. There were nearly 50,000 of them in the streets, ransacking the colonists’ plantations: two hundred sugar factories and six hundred coffee trees were destroyed, they killed women and children, the blood of the Whites flowed everywhere and in great torrents. The domestic slaves were the first to set fire to their owners’ houses. It is said that slaves with some talent, especially those who worked in bakeries, almost poisoned the dough with which bread was made.
After three centuries of misery and suffering, the slaves had finally overturned the order of things. Armed to the teeth, the slaves of the Trême, Turpin, Clément, Flaville and Noé estates rebelled and took revenge for all the torture they had received from their masters. The areas most burned during this demonstration of ” Bwa Kale » were: The Northern Plain, the Petite Anse, the Morin Quarter and Limonade. The slaves were armed with pikes, cutlasses, sticks, it was a real dismantling of the colonists of the North. This revolt or Bwa kale expressed the hatred of the slave for the master colonist. Jeannot sawed them between two boards. Other slaves, out of gratitude if not pity for their good masters, spared them from the vengeance of fire.
This revolt created a lot of panic in the slave circles. Thus, in the first days of September during a session of the General Assembly, the president, the Marquis of Cadush suggested handing over the colony to Great Britain, the only power according to him capable of saving them from the terror of the rebels. To combat the uprising, the colonists moved to repression on the advice of the Colonial Assembly of the Cape. The partisans of the old nobility united with those of the metropolitan bourgeoisie to stop the fury of the popular masses. The colonists accused the people of color and Governor Blanchelande of being the instigators of the slave rebellion. For this, they massacred a large number of mulattoes; slaves were killed, beheaded; an angry master even killed a slave who was completely loyal to him.
The cruelty of the colonists increased the determination of the slaves, despite their very considerable losses. The General Assembly declared a total amnesty for all the mulatto prisoners awaiting execution on death row, asking them to lend them a helping hand. Marc Chavannes, brother of Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, unscrupulously joined their ranks to fight the slaves. However, many other freedmen preferred to join the slaves’ camp. At Le Cap, two scaffolds and five gallows were built to torture the slaves.
