The transition from slave labor to wage labor and the exploitation of Haitian migrant workers in Eastern Cuban sugar production

The development of technology in Cuban sugar production brought about a transformation from slave labor to wage labor. The system of wage labor enabled capitalist planters to invest their capital, not in the ownership of human beings, but in more land and technology. It was not only the national working class that was forced into wage labor, but also workers from surrounding countries who were impoverished by U.S. occupation. These workers were imported and exported to meet the labor demands of the sugar producers. This was facilitated by U.S. policy, backed up with the military, and supported by the governments of both the importing and exporting countries. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the transformation from slave labor to wage labor and the influence of that transformation on the Haitian migrant sugar workers in Eastern Cuba in the early to mid twentieth century. The experiences of the Haitian workers interviewed in Santiago de Cuba revealed how that transformation was effected in concrete terms. A new form of 115 exploitation developed that systematically extracted surplus value based on seasonal employment and wages that were so low that the workers were forced to lengthen their working day and continually raise productivity in order to barely sustain themselves. Haitian sugar workers were brought into Eastern Cuba via company and private contractors to provide cheap migrant labor. This new form of exploitation introduced the wages system of labor mainly in the form of piece wages. These Haitian migrants had few rights in Cuba with regard to labor organization. They were compelled to work the fields by hunger, just as slaves were compelled to work the fields under the threat of violence. The sugar monopolies had no need for the overseer or any other cost of maintaining the worker. The constant threat of hunger by the bare minimum of pay by the piece kept the migrants working both day and night. Slavery did not end because of moralistic values or good wishes of the capitalist and liberals but from the more economical method of employing migrant labor.