ABSTRACT
In 1931 I published my Paysans Noirs. The book made its reputation by its title. It introduced into the colonial vocabulary a more accurate term than the locutions ‘native masses’ or ‘local labour force’ which had been thought adequate to describe human beings. In contrast to Man, with a capital M, which seemed a merely rhetorical term, to be applied from outside, and the anonymous wretches of the ‘collectivity’ or the ‘labour force’, who nevertheless represented the only inner reality, the term ‘black peasants’ had a humanistic flavour and was found acceptable. It gave an outlet to a certain sentimental feeling for former slaves, while it reassured the modern slavers who had at first been a little anxious. Peasants—no danger there; one can go on in the old way. And what an alibi! What could be more bucolic? Instead of dealing in cotton or niggers, one can go in for black peasants.
