by Mary Turner
A Socialist History Society publication, jointly with Caribbean Labour Solidarity
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This impressive essay is a sweeping survey of slave resistance across the Americas. As Mary Turner points out, resistance by the enslaved took many forms. This included day-to-day resistance which was the most common form of attempting to undermine the slave system. The enslaved ran away, they stole goods from their owners, they were involved in strikes, and they continued to practise their own religions and their own cultures. But as Turner astutely points out, this type of resistance – however problematic for enslavers – nonetheless “left the bars of their cages intact”.
More worrying for the enslavers were slave rebellions. Rebellions challenged the power structure of slave societies; in the process, the enslaved claimed equal rights to political power. Interestingly, Turner includes the formation of Maroon societies in this category: she calls them “independencies” to avoid the linguistic differences used to describe these communities across the Americas. More importantly, her term points to the Maroons’ attempts to create alternative societies free from the control of enslavers.
In her analysis of slave rebellions and revolutions, Turner highlights the significant regional differences across the Americas. In British North America, for example, she notes the demographic significance of white settler communities who were well armed and able to suppress the relatively small number of outbreaks by the enslaved. Turner also points to the impact of different crops – specifically rice and tobacco – that helped to shape slave resistance.
However, for Turner, it was the Caribbean that was “the crucible” for Revolution. Again, demography was crucial: the enslaved made up 70-90 percent of the slave societies of the Caribbean. Moreover, Maroon communities in Jamaica and Suriname successfully established independent communities within their respective slave societies. They did so as a result of warfare and negotiation but, although they were independent, they became agents of the state in helping enslavers to maintain control of the enslaved. Turner also analyses the significant rebellions in Jamaica, St. John, and Demerara, some of which posed serious threats to the survival of these slave societies. But the rebellions failed. For Turner, they demonstrated the “controlling effects of an effective military presence” on the part of the enslavers.
Yet there was one slave revolt that succeeded: the revolution in Saint Domingue. The enslaved of Saint Domingue not only overturned slavery but also created the independent state of Haiti. Turner carefully analyses the complex social structure of Saint Domingue: it included a divided enslaver and free coloured class as well as an overwhelming predominance of the enslaved population. Turner also notes the effects of the French Revolution which created unique opportunities for the enslaved to push for freedom. In addition, she looks at the role of Toussaint Louverture and the other leaders of the Revolution as well as the counterrevolution led by Napoleon.
For Turner, although Haiti was the only successful revolt in the Americas, it was the culmination of the “enslaved workers’ consistent resistance to enslavement”. This essay convincingly shows us the multiple ways in which the enslaved resisted their enslavement across the Americas.

Gad Heuman University of Warwick