Triumph of the Haitian Revolution — January 1, 1804

Long Live the Haitian People’s Historic Struggle
for Rights and Liberty!

The Battle of Santo Domingo (J. Suchodolski, 1845)

On the occasion of the 221st anniversary of the Haitian Revolution, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) sends warmest greetings to the Haitian people at home and in the diaspora. Today the people of Haiti are engaged once again in a battle for their lives and right to be against the brutal attempts of the U.S. especially, and also France and Canada, to annex Haiti, — including by sending foreign police forces to quell the resistance, in the name of stopping the violence of armed gangs they themselves created.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines

Beginning in 1791, the enslaved peoples of the French colony Saint-Domingue rose up in organized resistance to overthrow both slavery and colonial rule. The revolutionaries, led by Toussaint L’Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, fought off successive European powers – the French, Spanish and British – to proudly establish their independent republic, Haiti, on January 1, 1804.

This mighty feat dealt a severe blow to the French colonial empire. By eliminating slavery, Haiti also struck fear into the hearts of U.S. slave owners while inspiring and making an important contribution to all oppressed and enslaved peoples and their national liberation struggles in Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond.

The Haitian Revolution was the first to define citizenship rights on a modern basis, namely that they belong to people by virtue of their being human as members of a body politic. This was a decisive break from the colonial powers’ conception of rights based on the ownership of property and a system of privileges. Haiti’s outstanding achievement continues to have great relevance to this day for the peoples of the world as they fight for new arrangements that recognize rights and take up nation-building on a modern basis.

The indomitable spirit of the Haitian revolutionaries lives on in their descendants and compatriots, many of whom live and work in Canada. By upholding the dignity of labour in this country, they make a contribution second to none.

On this occasion we greet the sons and daughters of Haiti living in Canada who make up a militant contingent of the working class, standing in the front ranks of the fight for the rights of all in Haiti and Canada as well.

The Haitian revolution’s profound affirmation of rights and sovereignty continues to characterize the people’s steadfast resistance to interference from foreign powers. From 1804 to the present, the colonial and imperial powers have worked non-stop to wreak vengeance on the Haitian people who continue to fight for peace, freedom and democracy without let-up.

In the recent period, the consequences of the 2004 military coup against the democratically elected President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, continue in the crises and corruption imposed on Haiti. Since the coup, ongoing foreign interference has not only blocked the people year after year from electing a government which defends their interests, but has deepened the crisis, year after year, resulting in a society wracked with anarchy and extreme violence for lack of institutions which defend the rights of all. As well, the servitude to foreign narrow private interests carried out by one reactionary puppet government after the other brought in by corrupt elections or other illegitimate means have also made the Haitian people extremely vulnerable to natural disasters, such as the 2010, 2016 and 2021 earthquakes as well as tropical storms.

CPC(M-L) condemns the role played by Canada, along with the United States and France, and all other countries that make up the Core Group on Haiti, to keep the people of Haiti in a state of misery and bondage. In the coming year, let us continue the work to see that Haiti achieves justice and, especially, that Canada makes reparations for its criminal role in the 2004 coup and over the years since then, and ceases its diplomatic, military and police interference in Haitian affairs.

All Out to Support the Haitian People to See that Justice Is Done!

Long Live the Haitian Revolution of 1804 and Everything It Stands For!