wretched-of-the-earth-frantz-fanon

74 THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHGRANDEUR AND WEAKNESS OF SPONTANEITY75no other objective but to take over from the team in power, theopposition parties put their fate in the hands of the spontaneousand obscure mass of the peasantry.Conversely,. in some cases the opposition no longer seeks supportfrom the rural masses but from the progressive elements ofthe young nation's labor unions. In this case the government callsupon the masses to resist the workers' demands, calling themrash, anti traditionalist maneuvers. The observations we havenoted concerning the political parties can now be applied to thelabor unions, mutatis mutandis. The first labor unions in thecolonial territories are usually local branches of their metropolitancounterparts and their slogans echo those of the metropolis.Once the crucial phase ofthe liberation struggle begins to takeshape, a group of indigenous union leaders decides to create anational labor movement. The locals desert en masse the previousorganization imported from the metropolis. The formationof this union is another way for the urban population to exertpressure on the colonial authorities. We have already said thatthe proletariat in the colonies is embryonic and represents themost privileged fraction of the population. The national laborunions born out of the liberation struggle are urban organizationsand their program is above all political and nationalist. Butthis national union born during the decisive phase of the fightfor independence is in fact the legal enlistment of dynamic,politically conscious nationalist elements.The rural masses, despised by the political parties, continueto be kept on the sidelines. There is, of course, an agriculturalworkers' union but such a formation is content to satisfy the formalneed for "a united front against colonialism." The unionleaders who began their careers in the context of the metropolitanunions are at a loss when it comes to organizing the ruralmasses. They have lost touch with the peasantry and are mainlyconcerned with enlisting steelworkers, dockers and civil servantsin the utilities sector, etc ..~During the colonial phase the nationalist labor unions representa spectacular strike force. In the towns these unions can paralyzeor at least disrupt at any moment the colonialist economy.Since the European settlements are mostly confined to the towns,the psychological repercussions are considerable: no gas, no electricity,no garbage pickup, and produce lies rotting on the wharfs.These metropolitan enclaves, which the towns represent in thecolonial context, are profoundly affected by this labor unrest. Thestronghold of colonialism, the capital, has difficulty withstandingsuch a battering. But the rural masses of the interior remainunaffected by this confrontation.There is, therefore, a clear disproportion from the nationalpoint of view between the importance of the labor unions andthe rest of the nation. After independence the workers enlistedin the unions have the impression of running on empty. Oncethe limited objectives they set themselves have been achieved,they prove to be extremely precarious given the huge task ofnation building. Faced with a national bourgeoisie whose relationswith the government are often very close, the unionleaders discover they can no longer confine themselves to labordisputes. Congenitally isolated from the rural masses, incapableof extending their influence beyond the urban periphery, theunions adopt an increasingly political stance. In fact they becomepolitical candidates. They endeavor by every means possibleto drive the bourgeoisie into a corner: protests are madeagainst keeping foreign bases on national soil, commercial dealsare exposed, and criticism is voiced against the national government'sforeign policy. The workers, now "independent," aregetting nowhere. The unions realize in the aftermath of independencethat if their social demands were to be expressed theywould scandalize the rest of the nation. The workers are in factpampered by the regime. They represent the most well-to-dofraction of the people. Any unrest aimed at winning improvedliving standards for the laborers and dock workers would notonly be unpopular but might very well stir up the hostility of