Movement for the Organization of the Country
Movement for the Organization of the Country Mouvement pour l'Organisation du Pays | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | MOP |
| Leader | Greger Jean-Louis |
| Founder | Daniel Fignolé |
| Founded | 13 May 1946 |
| Ideology | Populism Syndicalism Historical: Fignolism[1] Noirism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| Colours | Green Red |
The Movement for the Organization of the Country (French: Mouvement pour l'Organisation du Pays, MOP) is a political party in Haiti, founded by Daniel Fignolé in 1946 as the Peasant Worker Movement (French: Mouvement Ouvrier Paysan).
History
[edit]Organization and ideology
[edit]Fignolé's MOP became the most organized labor movement in Haitian history, as well as the largest political organization in the pre-Duvalier period.[2] Alexander states that MOP membership reached its peak during the 1946-1950 period, with approximately 5,000 members.[3] The party's ideology is defined as a mixture of socialist and négritude principles, with a populist and anti-elitist approach.[4] Fignolé's MOP could mobilize a crowd of supporters known as a rouleau compresseur, sometimes used to spread terror against its opponents.[3]
The MOP openly supported women's rights in Haiti, establishing in 1948 a section called Bureau d'Action Féminine, the women's wing of the party led by Carmen Jean-François Fignolé.[5]
The flag of the MOP features a green background with a red sphere centered.[6][7] Green represents the Haitian people's hope for justice, while red symbolizes the blood of all historical leaders who sacrificed their lives for the people's struggle.[6]
In politics
[edit]
The MOP was officially formed as a political party on 13 May 1946,[8] and its founders were Daniel Fignolé, a teacher; François Duvalier, a physician; and Clovis Désinor, an economist.[9] According to Smith, the MOP initials originated from an English word, implying 'sweeping out of the old order in Haitian politics', later becoming an acronym for Mouvement Ouvrier Paysan.[8] The Mouvement Ouvrier Paysan aimed to unite urban and rural workers, as well as small peasants, into a single party.[10] The MOP's initial core group consisted of Fignolé's supporters, including his former students, along with political figures like Lorimer Denis.[2]
The MOP party was part of the Haiti's new political forces that emerged in the wake of the Revolution of 1946.[11] Its leader, Daniel Fignolé, was unable to run in the 1946 presidential election because he was too young for the position of president. Eventually, the MOP party joined forces with a progressive coalition and supported the candidacy of Démosthènes Pétrus Calixte,[12] a former Garde commander implicated in a plot to overthrow Vincent's government.[13] A joint statement by Fignolé, Duvalier and Désinor confirmed Calixte as the 'only candidate acceptable' to the MOP.[13] The presidential race was led by Dumarsais Estimé with 25 votes, while Edgar Numa (PSP) secured 7 votes and Démosthènes Calixte (MOP) garnered 6 votes.[14] Estimé won easily with a plurality of votes in the second round.[12][14]
A coalition cabinet was initially established by the Estimé administration to appease Haiti's political factions.[15]
The MOP underwent a significant split in 1947, sparked by Fignolé's approach toward the Estimé government,[3] leading to Duvalier and Denis's exit from the party.[16] After leaving the MOP, Duvalier held government positions in the Estimé administration, including Under Secretary of Labor (1948) and Minister of Public Health and Labor (1949).[11] A new MOP bureau was formed in 1948 following the split, with Fignolé remaining as party president and featuring Michel Roumain and Arnold Hérard.[3]
In 1949, the MOP joined forces with other democratic groups to oppose Estimé's attempt to revise the constitution to allow his re-election.[3] A constitutional crisis arose from the proposed amendments, resulting in Estimé's removal by a military coup in May 1950.[17] The MOP supported Paul Magloire as presidential candidate in the October elections, securing a 99% victory over Estimist candidate Fénélon Alphonse.[18] Daniel Fignolé also won a seat in the Haitian parliament that year.[1] The MOP-Magloire alliance had a brief existence. On December 30, 1950, the Magloire government banned the MOP, citing its alleged communist affiliations and dangerous maneuvers as justification.[19][20]
According to Smith, Magloire as president sought to "eliminate all forms of radicalism".[21] In the face of increasing anti-radicalism, Fignolé reconsidered some of his earlier political positions, beginning to present himself as a "National-Democrat" in 1952.[22] Based on the MOP, Fignolé formed a new party called the Great National Democratic Party (French: Grand Parti National Démocrate).[23][3] Its ideology was anti-communist, pro-labor and opposed to dictatorial policies.[22][23] Despite Fignolé's attempt to create a new party, the MOP's successor continued to face problems at the hands of the Magloire regime.[3] In the 1955 parliamentary elections, rigged by Magloire, Fignolé lost his seat in the Chamber of Deputies after running for re-election as a deputy.[24][25]
After Magloire's overthrow in the 1956 Haitian protest movement,[25] the MOP experienced a brief revival during the 1957 crisis.[3] Fignolé reformed the party and, in 1956, renamed it to Mouvement Organisation du Pays, representing a less militant direction.[26] As the 1957 presidential candidate, Fignolé accepted the provisional presidency following May's political unrest.[27] Fignolé's presidency lasted only nineteen days, ending abruptly when Antonio Kébreau's military coup forced him into exile in June.[7]
The Kébreau junta, besides imposing other authoritarian measures like a ban on strikes, outlawed the MOP party.[28] The Haitian army held a contentious election months later, disqualifying Fignolé as a candidate and securing Duvalier's victory amid allegations of fraud.[29] Under the Duvalier regime, the remaining MOP supporters were subjected to persecution and elimination.[1] Following his overthrow, Fignolé, in exile, became an active actor in the opposition to the Duvalier regime.[3] After 29 years in exile, Fignolé returned to Haiti in 1986, but died shortly afterward.[30]
The MOP was revitalized under Gérard Philippe Auguste's leadership,[30] registering on October 22, 1986, and gaining official recognition as a political party in April 1987.[31] Its leader, Philippe Auguste, came third in the 1988 presidential election, but later joined Manigat's government as minister.[30] These events led to a split within the party.[32] The MOP's split resulted in two internal factions: one linked to the anti-Aristide opposition, led by Philippe Auguste and Franck Adelson, and another associated with the Lavalas movement, led by Gesner Comeau and Jean Molière.[33] At the October 1989 Party Congress, Greger Jean-Louis was elected the new leader of the MOP by the Bel Air branch.[32]
In the 1995 general elections, the MOP joined the Lavalas Political Platform, a coalition with the OPL and PLB.[34] The MOP, through a statement issued in 2002 by Secretary General Franck Adelson – a member of Convergence Démocratique, demanded Aristide's resignation during his second term.[33]
Electoral history
[edit]Presidential elections
[edit]| Election | Party candidate | Votes | % | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Démosthènes Pétrus Calixte | 6[14] | Unknown | Lost 
|
| 1950 | Paul Magloire | 527,625 | 99% | Elected 
|
| 1988 | Gérard Philippe Auguste | 151,391[31] | 14,30% | Lost
|
References
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]- ^ a b c Mielke 2013, p. 537.
- ^ a b Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall 2012, p. 268.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Alexander 1982, pp. 467–469.
- ^ Gad Heuman & Malcolm Cross 1988, p. 95.
- ^ Sanders Johnson 2023, p. 16.
- ^ a b Smith 2009, p. 123.
- ^ a b "Junta Takes Over; Fignole In New York (pages 1–2)". Haiti Sun. 1957-06-16. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
- ^ a b Smith 2009, pp. 93–94.
- ^ James Saint Germain (2022-10-26). "Le fignolisme ou l'activisme d'émancipation des classes populaires". lenational.org. Archived from the original on 2023-04-25. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
- ^ Nicholls 1996, p. 10.
- ^ a b Adélaïde-Merlande 2002, pp. 33–34.
- ^ a b Metz 2001, p. 285.
- ^ a b Nicholls 1996, pp. 185–186.
- ^ a b c Smith 2009, p. 97.
- ^ Dupuy 1989, p. 151.
- ^ Smith 2009, p. 104.
- ^ Nicholls 1996, p. 192.
- ^ Gad Heuman & Malcolm Cross 1988, p. 100.
- ^ Pamphile 2017.
- ^ Smith 2009, p. 155.
- ^ Smith 2009, p. 153.
- ^ a b Smith 2009, p. 158.
- ^ a b Nicholls 1996, p. 193.
- ^ Smith 2009, p. 167.
- ^ a b "Haitians strike and overthrow a dictator, 1956". Global Nonviolent Action Database. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
- ^ Smith 2009, p. 179.
- ^ Adélaïde-Merlande 2002, p. 38.
- ^ Alphonse Férère, Gérard (27 May 2019). "Il y a 62 ans, l'éclatement de l'armée d'Haïti". AlterPresse (in French). Archived from the original on 2023-09-24. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
- ^ Metz 2001, p. 287.
- ^ a b c Phil Gunson, Greg Chamberlain & Andrew Thompson 2015, p. 140.
- ^ a b "Les Partis politiques". Haiti-Reference (in French). Archived from the original on 2024-08-16. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
- ^ a b J. Ray Kennedy, Marta Maria Villaveces & Jeff Fischer 1991, p. 31.
- ^ a b "Un parti d'opposition invite le président Aristide à démissionner". metropole.ht (in French). 27 February 2002. Archived from the original on 2024-04-16. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
- ^ Metz 2001, p. 446.
General bibliography
[edit]- Smith, Matthew J. (2009). Red & Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict, and Political Change, 1934–1957. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0807832653.
- Nicholls, David (1996). From Dessalines to Duvalier: Race, colour, and national independence in Haiti. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-2240-1.
- Mielke, Siegfried (2013). Internationales Gewerkschaftshandbuch (in German). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-8100-0362-1.
- Alexander, Robert J. (1982). Political Parties of the Americas. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313214743.
- Gad Heuman; Malcolm Cross (1988). Labour in the Caribbean: From Emancipation to Independence. Macmillan Caribbean. ISBN 9780333447291.
- Sanders Johnson, Grace (2023). White Gloves, Black Nation: Women, Citizenship, and Political Wayfaring in Haiti. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9781469673691.
- Dupuy, Alex (1989). Haiti In The World Economy; Class, Race, And Underdevelopment Since 1700. Westview Press. ISBN 0813373484.
- Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, ed. (2012). Haitian History: New Perspectives. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781135766559.
- Adélaïde-Merlande, Jacques (2002). Histoire contemporaine de la Caraïbe et des Guyanes (in French). Éditions Karthala. ISBN 9782811122423.
- Pamphile, Leon D. (2017). Contrary Destinies: A Century of America's Occupation, Deoccupation, and Reoccupation of Haiti. University Press of Florida. ISBN 9780813063072.
- Metz, Helen Chapin, ed. (2001). Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. ISBN 978-0-8444-1044-9.
- Phil Gunson; Greg Chamberlain; Andrew Thompson (2015). The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of Central America and the Caribbean. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317270546.
- J. Ray Kennedy; Marta Maria Villaveces; Jeff Fischer (1991). Republic of Haiti: IFES Election Project, July 1990-April 1991, Final Report. ISBN 9781879720442.
