The Peasantry

A peasant is a member of a traditional class of farmers, either laborers or owners of small

farms.

Several conditions led ex- slaves to leave the estates and establish themselves as
independent cultivators/ peasant farmers. These were the desire for personal liberty and
land ownership, insecurity of tenure on the estates, high rents on estate houses, low wages,
familiarity with agriculture, and availability of land for cultivation.

The loss of plantation labourers to peasant farming was greatest numerically in the low-
density colonies of Guyana, Trinidad, and Jamaica, where unoccupied land was available for
the ex- enslaved to set up themselves as subsistence peasant farmers. In the high-density
colonies of Barbados, Antigua and St. Kitts, the drift from the estates was considerably less,
owing to large populations and less available lands. In the other small islands such as St.
Vincent, Tobago, Grenada, Montserrat, with similar conditions to high-density territories of
large populations and less available lands, but a mountainous terrain, the ex- enslaved
drifted to the hills/ mountains to occupy lands.

Holdings were acquired mainly by purchase or by squatting on Crown lands in the larger
territories, despite official warnings to desist. Lease holding (renting of lands) only occurred
in islands like Barbados, Antigua and St. Kitts where there were little available idle lands.

Factors encouraging the emergence of a West Indian Peasantry

1. Availability of land in larger colonies such as Trinidad, Jamaica and British Guiana.
 Ex- slaves pooled their money to purchase plots of land
 Missionaries (Jamaica) bought large tracks of land and divided it into smaller plots
and sold it to the ex –slaves at a lower price. This also acted as an incentive to ex-
slaves to convert to Christianity and to become members of the Christian churches.
 Many ex- slaves squatted on Crown land where available
 Some estates were abandoned, and the land sold at low cost to the ex- slaves.
 2. Experience as ‘small- scale farmers’ during enslavement
 Enslaved Africans were allowed to cultivate provision grounds and this experience
may have helped convince them to move away from the plantations.
 Some had sold their produce in the Sunday markets and were able to save small
sums of money which helped to buy land when they became free.

3. Work of missionaries
 Missionary groups assisted in the acquisition of land.
 They helped in the growth of the free village movement.
 In Jamaica, Baptist ministers assisted by bargaining with landowners to get land at a
lower cost.

Factors hindering the development of a West Indian peasantry

 There were problems with the acquisition of land due to high rents, lack of Crown land and
planters’ reluctance to sell lands.
 Planters charged high rents on land and the peasants could not afford these.
 Planters used legislation, such as the Squatters’ Act and the Tenancy Act, to make it difficult
for tenants to acquire land.

Metayage/ Metairie System

Many planters lacking money to pay wages adopted this system of sharecropping to prevent the
drift of labourers from the estates. Metayer was a system of land tenure whereby the cultivator
(métayer) uses land without owning it and pays rent in kind to the owner. The métayer’s family (ex-
enslaved) permanently occupies the land that it works. The landowner or proprietor usually
furnished/ provided the chief capital items -the land, mills, carts and draft animals- and the labourer
provided the labour. Of the produce, the proprietor took half of the sugar together with the
skimmings and molasses while the labourer obtained the other half of the sugar and some rum. The
system was unsuccessful because the labourers often did not receive a fair share of the crop. Hence,
it gave way to direct wages and many of the ex- enslaved continued to leave the plantations to seek
alternative jobs- St. Lucia (first implemented), Montserrat, Grenada, Tobago and Nevis.