The Third World & Plantation Economies

Underdevelopment is a factor of the current socio-political and economic global environment that must be fought on all fronts. Unfortunately many of the systems that we have come to embrace as legitimate contribute towards the establishment of adversarial entities to the development of our Caribbean societies. It is also a historical fact that eras such as slavery, colonialism, indentureship and fuedalism were all praised during their time of glory and went on to be subsequently condemned by the schools of thought that followed. Two credible concerns for us living in this day and time are i- does the current epoch contain as many or even more undesirable traits as the past ones and ii- if yes, have we merged the more harmful attributes of past state systems with the worst of what is present today? This is the reality of the modern plantation societies in the 21st century. Plantations are not effective in combatting underdevelopment, as a matter of fact they contribute towards, and permanantly engrave underdevelopment as a signature of third world societies. While this is done, the state of underdevelopment is merely transformed from one manifestation to another.

Lloyd Best identified three periods or eras of Plantation Societies dating back to almost 400 years; from 1600  to 1838 where there were basic traditional Plantation Economies. From 1838 to 1938 we saw a modification, and from around 1938 to the present day; we have been experiencing a further modification. In Trinidad & Tobago, for example, we no longer depend as heavily on primary agricultural commodities such as sugar and cocoa, but our economy is more centred around oil, bauxite and asphalt. So even though a different method of labour is required for this, the relationship between the labour force and the controllers of it has not changed. There is now a “new and imporoved” version  of the traditional plantation. The Caribbean was a locus of production but the wealth actually went back to Europe. George L. Beckford opined that every society is a product of the particular historical forces that give it shape and form. The modern Caribbean displays structural forms that are a direct legacy of the slave plantation system, which was the chief instrument of colonization. The structural characteristics have persisted.

Webster's dictionary defines a plantation as "The place planted; land brought under cultivation… a large estate appropriated to production… cultivation is by laborers who live on the estate…" In a modern context the component of mass production within a large estate is in reference to any commodity marketable that can be manufactured and supplied to entire populations. Slave plantations of the past were governed by legislative laws that today would be considered illegal and even inhumane. A challenge here arises whereby Capitalists now have to maintain the same regulations of exploitation disguised through some type of internationally acceptable means.

Apart from a few cases of child labour and payment below the minimum wage most 'oppression of the poor' goes largely unnoticed. In L. D. Scisco's; "The Plantation Type of Colony;"American Historical Review 8 dated as far back as January 1903: on p.264 he points out some of the most basic characteristics of a plantation economy as; agriculture as the industrial basis, union of proprietorship with jurisdiction, government for economic ends chiefly, and discretionary administration."

Over one hundred years later many of these features remain intact. L.D. Scisco continues; "The company held both political and economic control over the colony and exercised both without separation… government was chiefly for economic ends.” Economics was the major influencing factor back then as it is now, it is just the products that have changed. An economy is defined as "The management of domestic affairs; the regulation and government of household matters; especially as they concern expense or disbursement. These conditions of modern day slavery manifesting in economic exploitation are being carefully managed, maintained and regulated. Walter Rodney pointed out that the destination of most slave captives during the 18^th and 19^th centuries was the European-owned Plantation economies, over 100 years later the Europeans are still benefiting from the initiation of such a relationship being established even though it has changed its form.

Even Karl Marx pointed out that what was good for Europeans was obtained at the expense of untold suffering by Africans and American Indians. The cruel brutality of the inhumane slave trade of that era has been transformed into an ultra-modern version of state persecution of third world nations that is executed through political policies numbed by diplomacy. Marx noted; "the discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the turning of Africa into a commercial warren for hunting black skins signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production." Mark Figuerra asked 'Why have the plantation economies been left behind... after 400 years? 'It is now 300 years since the islands were first settled by Europeans, and a century since emancipation. The two concepts of ‘Plantation’ and ‘Underdeveloped’ in a third world context are very closely related. Walter Rodney wrote; "Underdevelopment is not the absence of development, because every people have developed in one way or another and to a greater or lesser extent. Underdevelopment makes sense only as a means of comparing levels of development… The moment that one group appears to be wealthier than others, some inquiry is bound to take place as to the reason for the difference."

Our inquiry is surrounding the characteristics of a "Plantation" that lead to underdevelopment. Underdevelopment expresses a particular relationship of exploitation: namely the exploitation of one country by another. This form of extreme economic exploitation has been embodied in the Plantation model.  John Rapley wrote in "Understanding Development; Theory & Practice In The Third World;" the imperial countries had actually impoverished the Third world in order to enrich the first. The first world's entry into the industrial age was made possible by its appropriation of third world resources. The ability to produce finished goods would signify the complete rupture of the ties that have bound third world economies." Plantations" are well known for producing raw materials, but most do not have the technology to manufacture finished products. Immanuel Wallerstein’s World System Theory said the entire world operated in a Capitalist framework with a core (first world nations), a semi-periphery (nations such as Argentina, Brazil and the “South Asian Tigers”) and a periphery (the third world). The common scenario is for raw materials to be shipped out of the plantation society to the industrialised first world or "metropole" where manufacturing takes place, and then ship

these finished goods back into the plantation society to be consumed. For example cocoa from Ghana would be shipped to Europe, made into Cadbury’s Chocolate, and shipped back to Ghana to be sold. Tea leaves from China would be shipped to Europe, repackaged into “Lipton’s Tea” and then be shipped back out to Asia for sale. Precious silks and other fabrics would be shipped into Europe from India; a European label of marketing identification would be taged onto them and then wealthy visitors from the far east would visit London and repurchase them from retailers such as Harod’s, Selfridges, and Mark’s & Spencer’s at an astronomical cost. Millions of dollars here are constantly circulating in the European economies while the African, Indian or Chinese labourer from the developing part of the globe is being paid way below miniumum wage. Even in the Caribbean many foreign companies are contracted to come in and untilise our natural resources. So the questions may arise; Does Trinidad have oil or does BP have oil? Does Trinidad & Tobago have natural gas or does Atlantic LNG have natural gas?

Paul Baran argued that the spread of capitalism to the countries of the Third World resulted in the destruction of their developing industries as a consequence of the development of capitalism at the centre. The plantation society here; the third world, regardless of how modernised they become, will always be at least "two worlds behind" once they remain locked in such a trade relationship. The bottom line is; the reason we have under-developed countries is because we have developed countries. Plantation Theorists have considered the impact of historical, institutional and structural factors on the production and distribution of wealth. They postulated that underdevelopment in the Caribbean was a dynamic process that followed from the historical and contemporary domination of the region by the metropolitan centres of the world. Plantation theorists also believe that domination of the region resulted in the absence of a local mind-set capable of harnessing local resources in the interest of local economic development. This is clearly illustrated in the attitude of the local average third world consumer who feels that purchasing foreign products is some form of an elevated status symbol. This suggests the presence of a form of cultural imperialism that has penetrated third world economies.

There was an old saying during the 1960s black power movement in America that Afro-Americans think that “the whiteman’s ice is colder, and the whiteman’s sugar is sweeter.” Here we can see that the plantation economy system contributes towards underdevelopment through a super-imposed, hegemonic ideology, that can even be supported by the educational system of the plantation society. It is in this context that scholars such as Dr. Maulana Karenga felt the term “Political Economy” should be applied in reference to persons employed under modern plantation conditions. So even though Blacks in America where no longer actual slaves on a traditional plantation, they intertwined into white society as part of what Karenga reffered to as a “Ghetto Economy” which is like a “periphery” to the capitalist “core” of mainstream society. Kwame Ture (Stokley Carmichael) and Charles V. Hamilton referred to this concept as “Domestic Colonialism” where we see high unemployment, low wages, and business underdevelopment. The plantation economies are also robbed of the wealth generated within their borders, and there is also stiffled initiative among the local business sector.

Plantation type systems of economics cause unbalanced resource allocation through chronic unemployment, low levels of national income, unequal income distribution, under utilization of land, and extreme underconsumption, as outlined by George Beckford in "Persistent Poverty." ‘Dynamic underdevelopment’ results in the form of inhibition of domestic agriculture and declining terms of trade for imports. Poverty now becomes persistent. Its social effect is just as consequential, social class is highly correlated with race and social mobility is limited. Politically the plantation administrative system is highly centralized and authoritarian. Historically, these relationships created a mind set that conduced to underdevelopment because of its inability to appreciate the opportunities and potentialities that resided in local circumstances.

According to Girvan further Modified Plantation Economies, contribute to economic dependence. One of the most undesirable features of Plantation societies is that few benefit economically from the pool of their own resources. The U.S. National Security Study Memorandum #200, dated April 27^th, 1974, drafted by Dr. Henry Kissinger, pointed out that the United States of America has 6% of the world's population, yet they consume 34% of the world's mineral resources, and these resources are not available in the first world, but in the third world. Here, the economic stranglehold that Plantation societies are financially choked by must be maintained in order to guarantee the prosperity of North Atlantic nations. This entire process was well outlined in "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Walter Rodney. Plantations further contribute towards the underdevelopment of a country in that in a plantation because of the heavy dependency on a system of stratification, poverty is seen as functional, and therefore certain levels of poverty would be systematically be maintained.

World Bank, and International Monetary Fund approaches have been insufficient because true third world independence is still being hindered. Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers prepared by the  World Bank and the IMF, September 20, 2004 identify 42 countries that have been exposed to principles of a "Comprehensive Development Framework." But the damage that has been done historically by establishing such Plantation systems shall be very challenging to reverse. The World Development Report 2004: "Making Services Work for Poor People" says that too often, key services fail poor people - in access, in quantity, in quality. This imperils a set of development targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which call for a halving of the global incidence of poverty, and broad improvements in human development by 2015. And even while such distant dates are anxiously anticipated for some kind of relief, the current economic machinery continues to grind. Currently the Caribbean does have a system suitable to its own development, but more beneficial to that of the first world, and this is exactly why it was set up in the first place. Eric St. Cyr said “The central thrust of the plantation economy model is that Caribbean society and economy have taken on characteristic features in structure and functioning conditioned by the dominant institution in place during the formative period of its history.” Plantations continue to contribute towards underdevelopment while merely transforming that state of underdevelopment, maintaining the stranglehold that the first world holds over the third.

Bibliography:

*Beckford, G. Plantation Society. (Caribbean Sociology), Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston. p.139

*Figuerra, M. Peasants, Plantations and People…(Caribbean Sociology), Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston. p.929

*Karenga, M. Introduction To Black Studies. University of Sankore Press, Los Angeles 2002, p.420

*Kissinger, H. National Security Study Memorandum #200, April 27^th, 1974

*Rapley, J. Understanding Development; Theory & Practice In The Third World. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1996. p10

*Rodney, W. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Bogle L’ Ouverture Publications Ltd, London 1988, p. 82, 83, 97

*Scisco, L. D. The Plantation Type of Colony. American Historical Review 8, January 1903: on p.264

*St. Cyr, E. The Plantation Economy. Marronage, Vol.1 no.1, Sept 1998, p.127.

Third World Development

The view of modernisation theorists that the sustained failure of third world countries to become industrialised was due to the intrinsic backwardness of these societies is clearly a skewed one based on a neglect of some very important facts. We must consider to start with that the level of genuine concern for third world development on the part of the first world has always been questionable. As Gilbert Rist pointed out in chapter 4 of "The History of Development" even President Truman's 1949 speech announcing in his point number four that the US was going to lead in helping the third world to attain higher standards of living may have not been sincere. In the 1960s in Latin America theorists such as Cardoso and Faletto and even the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) were trying to analyse why Latin American conditions of underdevelopment had hardly changed after 200 years of political, economic and social interchange with the U.S. The general consensus that was arrived at was that the so-called process of "development" by the first world had only succeeded in further impoverishing third world countries, they claimed that the global capitalist system was inherently unequal, and that it produced the polarisation of wealth and power.

Andre Gunder Frank referred to the capitalist first world as the "core" and the third world as the "periphery." The core continued to exercise control over Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa through economic exploitation. He argued that the captalist system had produced underdevelopment in the past and present. The core takes wealth from the periphery and uses it for its own benefit. Gunder Frank claims that as long as the periphery cannot access its own surplus they cannot invest or develop. multinational corporations now do the job of the former colonial rulers. They set up business' in the third world and export their surplus profits back to the first world so no development or investment can take place in the poorer countries. It was the long term intentions of Adolf Hitler of Germany and the Japanese authorities regarding a New Order that provoked a major interest on the part of the major Western powers, in the economic development of the Third World.

American Eugene Staley's report, "World Economy" focused on the disparity between living standards in the rich and poor nations and he called for an international institution that would undertake the financing of world public utilities. Aurther Lewis was of the view that the first world was restricted to exclusively being exporters of primary produce and importers of British manufactured produce. This economic arrangement was associated with oppressive living conditions for the majority of the populace.

"Sustained failure" of third world countries could have only been allowed to continue with sustained exploitation of the economies of these third world countries by the first world. Walter Rodney in "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" details a consistent and continuous process of economic exploitation of an entire continent over a period of centuries. To perceive the state of the third world as one being submerged in intrinsic backwardness is really to consider only one dimension of a multifaceted reality. The economic progress (or the lack thereof) of third world nations, has always been subjected to the law of cause and effect.

In a study conducted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) entitled "Modernisation in Vocational Education and Training in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region" they list fifteen points showing habitual patterns of these nations to be constantly involved in developmental practices, dispelling any myths of the third

world being plagued by "cultural intrinsic backwardness." Many other examples also indicate that it is clear that sufficient efforts are being made to put the appropriate infrastructure in place. It is even said by many educators that the standard of education in the Caribbean on the primary and secondary level at least, is higher than that in Europe. In a report by the United Nations, Economic Commission for Latin America & The Caribbean dated April 13th, 1999 it states in a section entitled "The Global Economy" on page 9 "globalisation of trade means the interdependence among factors of production in different countries..." The key word is "interdependence," this suggests that the factor of dependency is a reality on both sides; on the part of both the developed and developing nations. But somehow only the third world nations are viewed in the light of being dependent. The U.N. report goes on to say that "Interdependence is nothing new. On the contrary, it is part of a long historical process of exploiting comparative advantages."But if technology is purposely being withheld from these countries then it would not be reasonable to hold them accountable for their state of underdevelopment.