Grenada

Grenada Gwenad
Flag
Capital	St. George's
Dominant mode of production	Capitalism
Government	Parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch	Elizabeth the Second
• Governor-General	Dame Cécile La Grenade
• Prime Minister	Keith Mitchell
Area
• Total	348.5 km²
Population
• 2018 estimate	111,454

Grenada is an island country in the Caribbean. It flourished under a Marxist-Leninist Peoples' Revolutionary Government from 1979 until U.S. invasion in 1983.

History

Eric Gairy government

After independence from the 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-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.

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 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. The PRG elicited public input into decision-making via Peoples' Councils which were held at the community level and were eagerly attended.

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. 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. "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. 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.