Movement for the Organization of the Country Mouvement pour l'Organisation du Pays
Abbreviation	MOP
Leader	Greger Jean-Louis
Founder	Daniel Fignolé
Founded	13 May 1946
Ideology	Populism Syndicalism Historical: Fignolism[1] Noirism
Political position	Left-wing
Colours	Green   Red
Politics of Haiti Political parties Elections

The Movement for the Organization of the Country (French: Mouvement pour l'Organisation du Pays, MOP) is a political party in Haiti, founded by Daniel Fignolé in 1946 as the Peasant Worker Movement (French: Mouvement Ouvrier Paysan).

Fignolé's MOP became the most organized labor movement in Haitian history, as well as the largest political organization in the pre-Duvalier period.^[2] Alexander states that MOP membership reached its peak during the 1946-1950 period, with approximately 5,000 members.^[3] The party's ideology is defined as a mixture of socialist and négritude principles, with a populist and anti-elitist approach.^[4] Fignolé's MOP could mobilize a crowd of supporters known as a rouleau compresseur, sometimes used to spread terror against its opponents.^[3]

The oficial organ of the MOP was Chantiers,^[5] a newspaper that promoted the party's program.^[6] The MOP also had other publications, including La Famille, a party paper focused on issues such as parental guidance, gender questions, and child rearing.^[7]

The MOP openly supported women's rights in Haiti, establishing in 1948 a section called Bureau d'Action Féminine, the women's wing of the party led by Carmen Jean-François Fignolé.^[8]

The flag of the MOP features a green background with a red sphere centered.^[7][9] Green represents the Haitian people's hope for justice, while red symbolizes the blood of all historical leaders who sacrificed their lives for the people's struggle.^[7]

The MOP was officially formed as a political party on 13 May 1946,^[5] and its founders were Daniel Fignolé, a teacher; François Duvalier, a physician; and Clovis Désinor, an economist.^[6] According to Smith, the MOP initials originated from an English word, implying 'sweeping out of the old order in Haitian politics', later becoming an acronym for Mouvement Ouvrier Paysan.^[5] The Mouvement Ouvrier Paysan aimed to unite urban and rural workers, as well as small peasants, into a single party.^[10] The MOP's initial core group consisted of Fignolé's supporters, including his former students, along with political figures like Lorimer Denis.^[2]

The MOP party was part of the Haiti's new political forces that emerged in the wake of the Revolution of 1946.^[11] Its leader, Daniel Fignolé, was unable to run in the 1946 presidential election because he was too young for the position of president.^[11] Eventually, the MOP party joined forces with a progressive coalition and supported the candidacy of Démosthènes Pétrus Calixte,^[12] a former Garde commander implicated in a plot to overthrow Vincent's government.^[13] A joint statement by Fignolé, Duvalier and Désinor confirmed Calixte as the 'only candidate acceptable' to the MOP.^[13] The presidential race was led by Dumarsais Estimé with 25 votes, while Edgar Numa (PSP) secured 7 votes and Démosthènes Calixte (MOP) garnered 6 votes.^[14] Estimé won easily with a plurality of votes in the second round.^[12][14]

A coalition cabinet was initially established by the Estimé administration to appease Haiti's political factions.^[15] The MOP integrated Estimé's cabinet, with Fignolé as Education Minister. The PSP also joined, with Georges Rigaud, a mulatto politician, appointed Commerce Minister. During his brief stint in Estimé's cabinet, Fignolé used his position to establish the MOP as a 'well-tuned and formidable force'^[16] - later resigning in October 1946 after disagreements with Rigaud.^[17]

Since late 1946, the MOP became the main opposition force to Estimé's regime.^[16] The MOP underwent a significant split in 1947, sparked by Fignolé's approach toward the Estimé government,^[3] leading to Duvalier and Denis's exit from the party.^[18] After leaving the MOP, Duvalier held government positions in the Estimé administration, including Under Secretary of Labor (1948) and Minister of Public Health and Labor (1949).^[11] A new MOP bureau was formed in 1948 following the split, with Fignolé remaining as party president and featuring Michel Roumain and Arnold Hérard.^[3]

In 1949, the MOP joined forces with other democratic groups to oppose Estimé's attempt to revise the constitution to allow his re-election.^[3] A constitutional crisis arose from the proposed amendments, resulting in Estimé's removal by a military coup in May 1950.^[19] The MOP supported Paul Magloire as presidential candidate in the October elections, securing a 99% victory over Estimist candidate Fénélon Alphonse.^[20] Daniel Fignolé also won a seat in the Haitian parliament that year.^[1] The MOP-Magloire alliance had a brief existence. On December 30, 1950, the Magloire government banned the MOP, citing its alleged communist affiliations and dangerous maneuvers as justification.^[21][22]

According to Smith, Magloire as president sought to "eliminate all forms of radicalism".^[23] In the face of increasing anti-radicalism, Fignolé reconsidered some of his earlier political positions, beginning to present himself as a "National-Democrat" in 1952.^[24] Based on the MOP, Fignolé formed a new party called the Great National Democratic Party (French: Grand Parti National Démocrate).^[25][3] Its ideology was anti-communist, pro-labor and opposed to dictatorial policies.^[24][25] Despite Fignolé's attempt to create a new party, the MOP's successor continued to face problems at the hands of the Magloire regime.^[3] In the 1955 parliamentary elections, rigged by Magloire, Fignolé lost his seat in the Chamber of Deputies after running for re-election as a deputy.^[26][27]

After Magloire's overthrow in the 1956 Haitian protest movement,^[27] the MOP experienced a brief revival during the 1957 crisis.^[3] Fignolé reformed the party and, in 1956, renamed it to Mouvement Organisation du Pays, representing a less militant direction.^[28] As the 1957 presidential candidate, Fignolé accepted the provisional presidency following May's political unrest.^[29] Fignolé's presidency lasted only nineteen days, ending abruptly when Antonio Kébreau's military coup forced him into exile in June.^[9]

The Kébreau junta, besides imposing other authoritarian measures like a ban on strikes, outlawed the MOP party.^[30] The Haitian army held a contentious election months later, disqualifying Fignolé as a candidate and securing Duvalier's victory amid allegations of fraud.^[31] Under the Duvalier regime, the remaining MOP supporters were subjected to persecution and elimination.^[1] Following his overthrow, Fignolé, in exile, became an active actor in the opposition to the Duvalier regime.^[3] After 29 years in exile, Fignolé returned to Haiti in 1986, but died shortly afterward.^[32]

The MOP was revitalized under Gérard Philippe Auguste's leadership,^[32] registering on October 22, 1986, and gaining official recognition as a political party in April 1987.^[33] Its leader, Philippe Auguste, came third in the 1988 presidential election, but later joined Manigat's government as minister.^[32] These events led to a split within the party.^[34] The MOP's split resulted in two internal factions: one linked to the opposition to Jean-Bertrand Aristide, led by Philippe Auguste and Franck Adelson, and another associated with the Lavalas movement, led by Gesner Comeau and Jean Molière.^[35] At the October 1989 Party Congress, Greger Jean-Louis was elected the new leader of the MOP by the Bel Air branch.^[34]

In August 1989, the MOP joined forces with MDN and PAIN to form an electoral alliance for the forthcoming elections.^[36] The MOP-MDN-PAIN coalition was one of the political forces that protested against the case known as the "Prisoners of All Saints' Day". In a press statement, the coalition demanded the prisoners' release by the government of Prosper Avril.^[37] During the 1990 Haitian protest movement, the MOP joined an 11-party coalition to negotiate Avril's resignation and establish a provisional government, led by a Supreme Court member and advised by a Council of State.^[36] During Aristide's first term (1991), the MOP, through Ernst Pedro Casséus, held the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies in the 45th Legislature.^[38] In the 1995 general elections, the MOP joined the Lavalas Political Platform, a coalition with the OPL and PLB.^[39] The MOP, despite its pro-Lavalas minority faction, acted as an opposition party during Aristide's second term (2001-2004), as evidenced by Secretary-General Franck Adelson's 2002 call for President Aristide's resignation.^[35]

Election	Party candidate	Votes	%	Result
1946	Démosthènes Pétrus Calixte	6[14]	Unknown	Lost N
1950	Paul Magloire	527,625	99%	Elected Y
1988	Gérard Philippe Auguste	151,391[33]	14,30%	Lost N

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