The significance of class in the formation of the Puerto Rican state: Recovering the subaltern voices in the constitutional convention

Social scientists in general and sociologists in particular, have talked about the state as a mediator between social classes, representative of the dominant social class or an autonomous entity in the social arena. Postcolonial thinkers have “copied” and applied it to understand the colonial formations, emphasizing the colonial power\u27s imposition of political institutions upon colonies. The case of Puerto Rico has not been the exception to that pattern. Since the US invasion of Puerto Rico in 1898 the formation of state entities in Puerto Rico have been evaluated as the imposition of the imperialist US will on the island. A counter argument to those theories is developed here. That is, the state in postcolonial settings is the condensation of class struggles within the colony. Subaltern subjects constantly struggle against forms of economic domination, and out of that, the state is formed. Diverse forms of economic domination encounter diverse forms of resistance from subaltern classes, creating conflicts across institutional sectors that are condensed in the form of the state. Using discourse analysis to explore the debates within the Constitutional Convention in Puerto Rico, this project looks to recuperate the voice of dispossessed classes and subaltern groups and their influence on the formation of state in Puerto Rico. In the debates of the constitutional assembly, delegates see the economic process on the island as a diverse one. Colonialism creates a situation in which the capitalist and pre-capitalist economic systems coexist and become interchangeable. The ideological process is more diverse than the economic one. Concepts like the “people”, justice and equality become part of the discussion reflecting the historical social conflicts in different, sometimes contradictory, ways. Similar processes happen with the concepts related to the government. Delegates use them as representation of the subaltern classes as well as hegemonic classes, exemplifying the dialectical nature of the state. Finally, some delegates see the influence of the United States on Puerto Rico as inappropriate, others welcome it and others see it as irrelevant. The main element is the historical conjuncture in which the delegates base their argument