Editing Grenada

{{Infobox country|name=Grenada|native_name=Gwenad|image_flag=Grenada flag.png|capital=St. George's|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|government_type=Parliamentary constitutional monarchy|leader_title1=Monarch|leader_name1=[[Elizabeth the Second]]|leader_title2=Governor-General|leader_name2=[[Dame Cécile La Grenade]]|leader_title3=Prime Minister|leader_name3=[[Keith Mitchell]]|area_km2=348.5|population_estimate=111,454|population_estimate_year=2018}}

'''Grenada''' is an island country in the [[Caribbean]]. It flourished under a [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] [[People's Revolutionary Government (Grenada)|People's Revolutionary Government]] from 1979 until [[United States of America|U.S.]] invasion in 1983.

== History ==

=== Eric Gairy government ===
After independence from the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|United Kingdom]], Grenada was led by Prime Minister [[Eric Gairy]], who was supported by [[Augusto Pinochet]] and the Statesian mafia.

In January 1974, a general strike began against Gairy. He responded by sending the [[Mongoose Gang]], led by the assistant Chief of Police, to attack the [[Anti-capitalism|anti-capitalist]] [[New Jewel Movement]] which was organizing against him.

In 1976, Gairy's [[Grenada United Labour Party]] won nine seats in the parliament and the New Jewel Movement's coalition won six.<ref>{{Citation|author=David Adams|year=1979|title=Workers and Peasants Topple Grenada Regime|publisher=The Burning Spear|mia=https://www.marxists.org/history/grenada/1979/regime-toppled.htm}}</ref>

[[File:First rally grenada revo.jpg|thumb|300px|First rally after the Grenadian "Revo", March 1979.]]
=== Grenadian revolution ===
On 13 March 1979, the New Jewel Movement (NJM), led by [[Maurice Bishop]], overthrew Gairy's government and took power. This was done while Gairy was visiting the United States and there was little violence. The overthrow was immensely well-received by Grenadians and others in the Caribbean, as even the Island's conservative Governor General, Sir Paul Scoon, admitted at the time. The mood was captured in the April edition of ''Caribbean Contact,'' the newspaper of the Caribbean Conference of Churches:   
:Grenada's triumph over its 'long night of terror' with the creation of the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) was last month the cause for jollification and people's solidarity rallies throughput this region and in West Indian communities in Britain and North America. Now there's a new feeling in the air, a sense of liberation.<ref>Richard Hart, in ''The Grenada Revolution: Setting the Record Straight,'' reports on Paul Scoon's reaction, and gives the ''Carribbean Contact'' quotation; see pp. 4-5.
</ref>
The NJM formed a Peoples' Revolutionary Government (PRG)  which included some non-NJM members. The new government implemented economic and social reform in areas including health care, education, housing, and women’s and children’s rights. International funding agencies observed a marked improvement in the economy.<ref>Amnesty International, 2003, p. 3.
</ref>
The PRG elicited public input into decision-making via [[Peoples' Council]]s which were held at the community level and were eagerly attended.<ref>Richard Hart, 2005. ''The Grenada Revolution: Setting the Record Straight.'' [http://www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Hart-grenada-3.pdf socialist history society]  (A response to statements by Governor General Paul Scoon);<br/>
Bernard Coard, 1989. ''Village and Workers, Women, Farmers and Youth Assemblies during the Grenada Revolution: Their Genesis, Evoluton and Significance.'' [http://grenada-revo-full-story.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Grenada-Coard-Assemblies.pdf Grenada Revo Full Story.net]
</ref>

By 1983, however, NJM cadre were suffering seriously from overwork and the Central Committee (C.C.) of the party began searching urgently for ways to improve the efficiency of its work and to relieve the work stress on its own members as well as party cadre, many of whom were becoming disillusioned by the level of organisational disfunction. A proposal for joint leadership of the party (party leader Maurice Bishop would share leadership with former deputy leader Bernard Coard) was made on September 16, 1983 at the September 14-16 plenary meeting of the Central Committe by Cde. Liam James, a member of the C.C. and of the Political Bureau. The rationale for this proposal was that, while Bishop was a dynamic and inspirational leader, with great popularity among the masses, he was not enthusiastic or greatly skilled at organisational work, whereas Coard was the opposite, relatively uncharasmatic but a hard, systematic worker and the party's foremost theoretician and strategist. This proposal was passed by a large majority, including Bishop, at that September 16 meeting. However, there followed a two-week period when Bishop and a small number of the C.C. were away in Europe, and it appears that during this time Bishop began to change his mind about sharing power with Coard.

When he returned to Grenada, Bishop began to rally mass support around himself and against Coard, and to resist sharing the leadership. As this was a clear and serious violation of [[democratic centralism]], the C.C. had Bishop placed under house arrest on October 13. On the 19th, however, a crowd rallied around Bishop and freed him, and Bishop and his supporters proceeded to occupy Fort Rupert, the headquarters of the Army and Ministry of Defence.<ref>Committee to Free the Grenada 17 (2002), p. 49.</ref> Forces loyal to the C.C. then went to recapture Bishop; there was a struggle which ended with the execution of Bishop and some of his supporters.

Although perhaps technically justified given Bishop's behaviour, the attack on the Fort and the execution were a disaster for the Revolution because the masses were essentially followers of Bishop, not of the C.C.: it was him that they admired and trusted. Thus the prestige of the NJM was shattered by this move. The C.C. had misjudged its position: because of his popularity Bishop was the real power holder, not they.

Six days after this crisis, with the party and the government in disarray and public support for them at a low ebb, the United States invaded the island, a move which it had been preparing for months. Grenada was quickly overrun by the imperialist army, and Coard and several other NJM members who became known as the "Grenada 17" were arrested and tortured by the U.S. forces, some including Coard not being released until 2009, having been imprisoned for 26 years.

==Other works==
* Amnesty International, 2003. [https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr32/001/2003/en/"The Grenada 17: Last of the cold war prisoners?"] Report on mistreatment by U.S. forces of Bernard and Phyllis Coard and other captured members of the People's Revolutionary Government. Includes a brief historical sketch of the revolution.
* Committee to Free the Grenada 17, 2002. [http://grenada-revo-full-story.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/WhoseStruggle.pdf ''The October 1983 Grenada Tragedy: Whose Struggle for Power?''] Debunks various U.S. propaganda points including the idea that there was a conspiracy of Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard and others to remove Prime Minister Maurice Bishop from power.

== References ==
[[Category:Countries]] 
[[Category:Grenada| ]]
Latest revision		Your text
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{Infobox country\|name=Grenada\|native_name=Gwenad\|image_flag=Grenada flag.png\|capital=St. George's\|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]\|government_type=Parliamentary constitutional monarchy\|leader_title1=Monarch\|leader_name1=[[~~Charles~~ the ~~Third~~]]\|leader_title2=Governor-General\|leader_name2=[[Dame Cécile La Grenade]]\|leader_title3=Prime Minister\|leader_name3=[[Keith Mitchell]]\|area_km2=348.5\|population_estimate=111,454\|population_estimate_year=2018}}		{{Infobox country\|name=Grenada\|native_name=Gwenad\|image_flag=Grenada flag.png\|capital=St. George's\|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]\|government_type=Parliamentary constitutional monarchy\|leader_title1=Monarch\|leader_name1=[[Elizabeth the Second]]\|leader_title2=Governor-General\|leader_name2=[[Dame Cécile La Grenade]]\|leader_title3=Prime Minister\|leader_name3=[[Keith Mitchell]]\|area_km2=348.5\|population_estimate=111,454\|population_estimate_year=2018}}

	'''Grenada''' is an island country in the [[Caribbean]]. It flourished under a [[Marxism-Leninism\|Marxist–Leninist]] [[People's Revolutionary Government (Grenada)\|People's Revolutionary Government]] from 1979 until [[United States of America\|U.S.]] invasion in 1983.		'''Grenada''' is an island country in the [[Caribbean]]. It flourished under a [[Marxism-Leninism\|Marxist–Leninist]] [[People's Revolutionary Government (Grenada)\|People's Revolutionary Government]] from 1979 until [[United States of America\|U.S.]] invasion in 1983.