Lect 7 Plantation Economy PDF

THE GENESIS OF CARIBBEAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT : AN OVERVIEW Plantation Economy Model What is the Caribbean? The answer is often a matter of perspective and of context. Some usually speak and think of the Caribbean as meaning the English-speaking islands, or the member of states...

THE GENESIS OF CARIBBEAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT : AN OVERVIEW Plantation Economy Model What is the Caribbean? The answer is often a matter of perspective and of context. Some usually speak and think of the Caribbean as meaning the English-speaking islands, or the member of states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). What is the Caribbean? Among scholars, 'the Caribbean' is a socio- historical category, commonly referring to a cultural zone characterized by the legacy of slavery and the plantation system. It embraces the islands and parts of the adjoining mainland - and may be extended to include the Caribbean Diaspora overseas. ‘There are many Caribbeans.’ It is reflected at the level of regional organizations. CARICOM is primarily an Anglophone grouping, recently expanded to include Suriname and in principle Haiti. Cariforum, which groups the Caribbean signatories to the Lome Convention, includes CARICOM, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The Association of Caribbean States (ACS) embraces the entire basin. The Caribbean Development and Co-operation Committee (CDCC) of ECLAC majority of the dependent territories in the Caribbean. ‘There are many Caribbeans.’ CBI Caribbean Basin Initiative. ACE Association of Caribbean Economists. ACP African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of countries signatories to the Lome Convention with the European Union (E U). Civil Forum of Civil Society of the Greater Caribbean. CPDC Caribbean Policy Development Centre, an umbrella grouping of NGOs of the insular Caribbean. CRIES Regional Coordination of Economic and Social Research, a network of research centres linked with NGOs. CSA Caribbean Studies Association. The evolution of Modern Caribbean Society: The Disturbances A Failed Political System General Labour conditions in the Commonwealth Caribbean A lack of constitutional and adequate labour relations machinery for redressing grievances The Effects of the Great Depression. The evolution of Modern Caribbean Society: The Disturbances Restrictive Migratory Patterns The Impact of local Nationalist Agitators The Impact of Garveyism Racism/Colourism Over Population in the West Indies The Italian Invasion of Ethiopia General Labour conditions in the Commonwealth Caribbean The period 1838-1938 showed that west Indian labour has always struggled against poverty and governmental inaction. The riots convinced the west Indian worker that only through direct political activism could he resolve the entrenched social injustice which has characterized his relationship with the state. General Labour conditions in the Commonwealth Caribbean Another grievance was the need for land reform since the black wage earners could not gain access to the fertile lands which they needed for agriculture. The Economy The Great Depression created even worst poverty in the West Indies, wages were cut, unemployment soared, the cost of living went up as the prices for West Indian primary products on the world market declined. The Economy Economic depression caused a fall in the declining prices of West Indian commodities and resulted in falling wages, increases in taxation and widespread unemployment. Emigration avenues were closed to Brazil, Panama, Cuba, and the US ceased to provide outlets for the redundant population of the West Indies. Plantation Economy Model George Beckford (1972), Lloyd Best (1968), and Best and Levitt (1975) represent the major articulation of dependency and underdevelopment thesis of the Plantation Economy school of thought Plantation Economy Model A plantation economy is an economy which is based off of agricultural mass production, usually of a few staple products grown on large farms called plantations. Plantation economies are usually dependent on outside forces, due to the fact that the products being harvested en masse are cash crops to be exported. Plantation Economy Model From the outset the plantation was designed as a unit of authority with control over all aspects of the lives of people within its territory. Heavily reliant on immigrant labour of different ethnic and cultural origins the plantation also provided “the locus of rules of accommodation between different groups. ” What results is a power structure which bequeaths to the plantation “...all or many of the characteristics of a small state with a classification of people into different statuses together with a formal definition of the relationship between them....the institution affords the very means of survival. Everyone owes their existence to the plantation.” To rebel is tantamount to biting the hand that feeds. Plantation Economy Model Beckford emphasized the institutional setting, the mode of production and social relations of the plantation. These were the most important variables in his plantation analysis. “Underdevelopment derives from the institutional environment – the nature of economic, social and political organization. Not surprising because it’s through institutions that human activity is organized.”(1972; 9 Plantation Economy Model For Beckford (1972) the key to an understanding the plantation economy lies in the fact that it is (from the very start), an extension of the metropolitan capitalist economy. The Plantation Economy is a theoretical construct (derived from historical circumstances) where “internal and external” factors... “dominate the country’s economic, social, and political structure and its relations with the rest of the world” (1972: 12) Plantation Economy Model Decision making is highly centralized business and the pattern of management organization is authoritarian. Workers and decision makers are separated by social and cultural differences. Further the plantation is geographically isolated and so those who live within its boundaries cannot easily enjoy interaction with the outside world. Because of this isolation, “people living and working on a plantation make up a distinct community which derives its full flavor from the system itself.” Plantation Economy Model Thus, in addition to being a system of production, the plantation is a community. And as the community exists because of the unit of production the resulting social structure and pattern of interpersonal relations reflects the type of economic organization that governs production. The authority structure that characterizes the pattern of economic organization extends to social relationships and what is left is a “...inherently rigid system of social stratification...” normally with Europeans as owners or managers at the top, culturally mixed skilled personnel in the middle and culturally different (black) unskilled laborers at the bottom (Beckford, 1972, 53-54) Plantation Economy Model The predominant social characteristics of all plantations areas of the world is the existence of a class – caste system based on differences in the racial origins of plantation workers on the one hand and owners on the other. Race was thus a convenient means of controlling labour. (ibid 67)6 Plantation Economy Model Plantation economies usually benefit the large countries to which they are exporting. They usually take the raw materials grown on the plantation and return manufactured goods, making a profit. The Plantation as a `total economic institution.' The plantation produces a single crop. Accordingly, the hinterland is composed of a single industrial sector fractured into plantations. The Overall Mercantilist Framework The relations between plantation hinterlands and the metropoles are defined by institutional rules of exclusivist trading arrangements. These serve to secure the transfer of a surplus to the metropole. The Overall Mercantilist Framework Cont’d The overall rules of the game in plantation hinterland can usefully be classified under four headings: 1. Division of Labour: The first rule specifies the division of labour. The hinterland is confined to terminal activity: primary production at the one end of the spectrum, and distribution or assembly of consumer goods at the other end. The Overall Mercantilist Framework Cont’d 2. Carriage of Trade: The second rule relates to the carriage of trade. Here goods are almost entirely transported by metropolitan carriers and associated services are provided by metropolitan intermediaries. This is the Navigation Provision. The Overall Mercantilist Framework Cont’d 3.Monetary System: The third rule defines the character of the hinterland monetary system. The banking system is dominated by metropolitan bank and non-bank financial intermediaries. Hinterland currency is effectively backed by metropolitan assets and freely convertible into metropolitan exchange at fixed parities. The Overall Mercantilist Framework Cont’d 4. Imperial Preferences: Finally, hinterland trade is conducted within a framework of imperial preferences. Exports enter the metropole at lower tariffs than rival output, and are typically accorded larger quotas. Facilities in the metropole are specific to the processing and distribution of materials drawn from the hinterland. Income and Employment Dependence This self-contained character of the production unit results in specific patterns in the markets for commodities, labour, land and capital, and corresponding patterns of price and wage formation, capital accumulation and technical change. Income and Employment Dependence Cont’d Labour is imported and land is engrossed so that the labour force has little option but to sell its wage-services. Education and training are made specific to the production of the staple. Tasks requiring expertise of a kind which gives occupational flexibility are reserved for a temporary imported cadre. Income and Employment Dependence Cont’d The dependence on metropolitan entrepreneurship and capital in the dominant sector of the hinterland implies that almost all property incomes from this sector accrue in the metropole. The Staple Cycle The commodity structure of output, the typical unit of production concentrates its resources on the direct production of the staple. Since it is established when export prices are high, provisions and supplies tend to be imported. The Staple Cycle Cont’d Under these conditions, the diversion of land and labour to the production of these intermediate goods is more expensive than importing. Thus land and labour are from the beginning highly specialized in the direct production of the staple. The Staple Cycle Cont’d From this pattern of commodity production and supply, within the hinterland there are few backward linkages and limited forward linkages to further stages of processing. The Staple Cycle Cont’d What is more, when capacity is established to supply goods and services ancillary to the extraction or elabora­tion of the staple, these activities tend to be undertaken within the metropole. Thus, on both counts, the spill-over or `spread' effects on the local economy are relatively feeble. Character of National Economy This national economy is circumscribed by the conditions under which it is founded: 1. Its endowments of skills and crafts are limited by the previous specialization of the labour force in plantation work. Character of National Economy Cont’d 2. The amount of land which the plantations make available to the residentiary sector is limited. The planters must keep land in reserve and they must secure access to wage labour in the event of a temporary revival of the staple. Land must be withheld from the newly created- quasi-peasantry to ensure their incentive to offer wage-labour services to the planters. Character of National Economy Cont’d 3. Much money went into high levels of consumption rather than being ploughed back in the productive process. The high propensity to import has been characteristic of this type of economy and has done nothing to stimulate the local economy. Character of National Economy Cont’d 4. Failure to invest in technical improvements in production wasteful consumption by the slave oligarchy 5. Finally, the instruments of the state are highly specialized to the provision of law and order rather than to the promotion of economic transformation. Character of National Economy Cont’d The overall effect is that the national propertied class is born in circumstances which restrict its capacity for innovation and self-assertion, and stunt its growth. The national economy emerges with a bias towards the production of output requiring traditional plantation skills and serving traditional markets. Character of National Economy Cont’d The new sectors either produce minor staples for export with the assistance of metropolitan distribution agencies or they produce services for residentiary consumption including distribution and other commercial services associated with importation. References Barrow-Giles, C. (2002 ed.) Introduction to Caribbean Politics, Jamaica: Ian Randle Belle, G. (1988) ‘The Struggle for Political Democracy, 1937 riots,’ in Emancipation, Lecture Series III, Bridgetown: Cave Hill. Carter, R. (1987) Public Amenities after Emancipation, in Beckles, H. et. al.( 1987) Emancipation II, Bridgetown: UWI Cave Hill. Caute, D. (1972) Fanon, London: Fontana Publishers. Lewis, G. K. (1968) The Growth of the Modern West Indies, London: Monthly Review Press. Munroe, T. (1985) Introduction to Politics, Jamaica: UWI. Munroe, T. (1982) Decolonisation in the Caribbean State System, Mona: ISER. Murray W. (1971) The Politics of the Dispossessed, London: Clarendon Press. References Levitt, K. and Witter, M. (1996) ‘The Critical Tradition of Caribbean Political Economy’Jamaica: IRP. Robotham, D. and Munroe, T. (1977) Struggles of the Jamaican People, Jamaica Workers Liberation League. Robotham, D. (1996) ‘Nineteen Thirty-Eight’ in Levitt, K. and Witter, M. (1996) The Critical Tradition of Caribbean Political Economy, The Legacy of George Beckford, Jamaica: IRP Ryan, S. (1972) Race and Nationalism in Trinidad and Tobago, Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Ryan, S. (1989) The Disillusioned Electorate, Trinidad: Imprint. Singham, A. (1968) The Hero in the Crowd in a Colonial Polity, New York: Yale University Press. Stone, C. (1971) Decolonisation and Political Change in Jamaica and Trinidad, USA: Sage Publications. Sunshine, C. (1996) The Caribbean, Survival, Struggle and Sovereignty, Washington: Epicon.