1930s: (Noiristes Marxists and LFAS Women Roving Through Political Possibilities — In Postoccupation Haiti Political Organizing Increasingly Articulated Thro…

1930s: (Noiristes Marxists and LFAS Women Roving Through Political Possibilities — In Postoccupation Haiti Political Organizing Increasingly Articulated Through Class and Color Divisions, Marxists Like Roumain Seeing Color Ideology as a Veil Masking Unbalanced Wealth Distribution, the Griots Including Diaquoi Denis and Duvalier Believing Color Prejudice Was the Central Problem — by the 1940s Expanding Indigénisme into Noirisme Arguing Darker-Skinned People Had “Ancestral Heredity” Making Them More Authentic Nationals, Like Noiristes and Marxists the LFAS Women Similarly Roving Through the Possibilities of Their Own Political Articulation — the Majority of Membership Black with Color and Class Diversity but Leaders’ Social Prestige Making Them Appear Milat, the Women Repeatedly Articulating the LFAS Was for “Haitian Women of All Social Classes”): Like noiristes and Marxists in the 1930s, LFAS women were similarly roving through the possibilities of their own political articulation. In postoccupation Haiti, political organizing was increasingly articulated through class and color rhetorical divisions. The growing contingent of leftist activists argued that the fundamental problems of the nation were based on class rather than color. While Marxist leaders like Roumain acknowledged color prejudice, they saw political ideology based on color divisions as a veil masking the real issue of unbalanced wealth distribution. This standpoint differed from that of a group of young intellectuals known as the Griots — Louis Diaquoi, Lorimer Denis, and François Duvalier — who studied the work of Arthur Holly and Price-Mars and believed color prejudice was the central problem. By the 1940s, these men expanded the ideological concepts of indigénisme into an explicitly antiliberal and Black nationalist rhetoric known as noirisme, arguing that darker-skinned people had an ancestral heredity from the African-descended founding fathers and were the more authentic nationals and rightful leaders. As the LFAS worked through its inaugural year, the divisions articulated by these groups had significant impact on the women’s political approach. The majority of the membership was Black with color and class diversity, but the leaders’ social prestige made them appear milat — a reminder of exclusionary social practices that could deter many women from participation. The women positioned the organization as a research unit that would collect information about women useful for national service projects and intellectual research.