On Mar. 13, 1979, Maurice Bishop led his New Jewel Movement (NJM) in the overthrow of the Sir Eric Gairy government in Grenada.
BishopBut the first ever coup in the English-speaking Caribbean came to an end in 1983, when the United States led a military invasion of the island, following a palace coup that resulted in the death of Bishop and several of his ministers.
Time has marched on, but the memory of actions led by Bishop remains fresh to some.
“I am reminded that the Grenada revolution was, by and large, a uniquely ‘youthful’ revolution, having been largely masterminded by a relatively young, idealistic, courageous and ideologically grounded leadership,” said former St. Lucia Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony during a recent lecture marking the 40th anniversary of the Grenada Revolution.
Anthony described the revolution as “a truly remarkable event in the political life of the people of Grenada and indeed, the wider Caribbean and the world.” However, he said the burden of dealing with the “inconvenient truths” of the revolution is not just that of the Grenadian people, but the entire region.
“For my part, the revolution did not die on that fateful day in 1983,” said Anthony. “It may have suffered the loss of its own soul, but ‘The Revo’ did not die – certainly, not in the hearts and minds of those who lived through it and those who struggled to keep it alive.
“Either way, whether as witnesses or participants both knew that a unique experiment was underway in Grenada to construct a new society, economy and polity.
“It is an unfinished business left now to the new generations that will soon replace us.”
IMPRESSION
Anthony said the coup in a small three-island nation left an immediate and indelible impression on the hemisphere and the world and that the revolution and its demise have attracted a voluminous number of books, articles and commentary. Anthony argued if it is accurate to say that the transfer of power was to a “Marxist-Leninist Movement” it is, in itself, a healthy subject for debate. But he acknowledged that all accounts are important and all versions have a place in Grenada’s still continuing story and in the politics of the wider Caribbean.
‘MYSTERY’
“Nevertheless,” said Anthony, “too many issues continue to be shrouded in mystery” and there are other aspects of the revolution yet to be explored.
A banner depicting the revolution.
One example is the matter of the “remarkable ability” of the leadership of the Grenada Revolution to have safely steered through the turbulent political waters in the region at the Caribbean community (CARICOM) and Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) levels.
“The political dexterity of Maurice and Bernard (Coard) to navigate those waters was truly remarkable,” Anthony explained. “…Arguably, the legal arrangements which underpinned the revolution, pragmatic as they may have been, may well have helped to suffocate it.”
MOMENTOUS
Anthony believes 1979 was a momentous year in world history. Yet the stage for the events of that year had been set decades earlier. The liberation struggles in southern Africa had gained new momentum. The struggle to dismantle apartheid had become unstoppable. The Middle East was in ferment.
Grenada joined Iran as the second nation in early 1979 to present the world with another classic example of revolutionary change. Its revolution sent shock waves through the U.S. State Department, unleashing paranoia, fear and concern among policymakers in Washington and, to some extent, London.
“Then, while the Americans were preoccupied with the implications of the Iranian Revolution for U.S. policy and hegemony in the Middle East and of the Grenada Revolution in its own hemisphere, there came the third major political upheaval, again even closer to the U.S. mainland than Grenada: The Nicaragua Revolution led by the Sandinistas,” said Anthony.
Anthony said those three revolutions would fundamentally change the course of political events in the respective regions. Before Mar. 13, 1979, he said, the stage for the Grenada Revolution had been set. The region was just emerging from what some have described as its “Black Nationalist” phase, influenced by the Black Power Movement in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom and the events in Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
Anthony said this period helped to excite and “radicalize our generation. What, until then, had been a complacent and dormant political culture, suddenly came alive,” he added.
“… We discovered our ‘blackness’ and what it meant.
“To crown it, the music of the times echoed our rebellion and resistance gave us new rhythms and lyrics and played to our consciousness.”
EFFECT
Anthony said nearly every Caribbean island was affected.
“No other period has shaped Caribbean consciousness as the decade of the seventies,” Anthony explained.
Anthony said Grenada provided a natural opportunity for the region’s progressive parties and movements to gather annually to express political support and solidarity and share experiences. However, the “regional left was also sharply divided over what these parties of a new type should look like.”
The issue was, by then, reduced to two choices. Some argued for “vanguard parties” in the Leninist mode purely based on the stereotypes from Eastern European experiences 60 years earlier. Others wanted mass-based parties with broader-minded home-grown Caribbean leaders committed to a politics of a new type, adopting, where appropriate, a version of Jamaica’s Alternative Path.
“Grenada also provided a canvas for the regional progressive movements in the region to review their strategies and tactics,” said Anthony.
SPLINTERED
However, with the demise of the Grenada Revolution, the Caribbean was left disintegrated and splintered into different directions.
“What is often not realized is that the events in Grenada were as deeply troubling, hurtful and traumatic experience for us as it was for the people of Grenada,” said Anthony.
“How we felt about the Grenadian events have never been understood, explored or measured. True, there have been personal statements, but I doubt the full story has been told.”
He said in nearly every Caribbean territory, the radical left renounced its left-wing credentials and aspirations and joined the mainstream political parties, albeit in different directions. Many also quickly embraced the trappings of Westminster democracy.
Anthony said the truths from Grenada over the past 40 years are both comfortable and uncomfortable, but there should be no doubt about its heroes.
“What I do know is that the time has come to elevate Maurice Bishop to the pantheon of revered revolutionaries,” he said.
