The Grenadian Revolution, Part 4: A Jewel Shines Through (Transcript)

Content Warning: This episode discusses and recounts instances of police brutality.

The Influence of Walter Rodney

In 1968, a young academic, after spending almost a year teaching in Tanzania, return to the Caribbean. He was Dr. Walter Rodney, the fame Guyanese historian. At just 26 years old, Dr. Rodney would begin his stint as the first ever professor of African history in the Caribbean when he agreed to take up a faculty post at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. However, even before the first official class could happen, the Jamaica government banned Dr. Walter Rodney from entering the island as he was returning from a Writer’s Conference in Canada. A day after his banned, October 16, 1968, led by a then young St. Vincent & the Grenadines student, Ralph Gonsalves, a protest over Dr. Rodney status as persona non grata occur. It would bring the streets of Kingston to a standstill and the event now known as the Rodney Riots of 1968 is still today, the largest organised student protest in Caribbean history.

Just a side note, Dr. Walter Rodney’s banned is still in effect even up to this day in Jamaica but to learn more about why he was banned by the Jamaica government and the Rodney Riots’s please checkout our Season 2 episode titled: The Walter Rodney Riots. You can also take a listen to our Season 3 episode about the 1969 banning of Dr. Rodney’s compatriots, Dr. Clive Y. Thomas by the Jamaican government.

Now, what does the Walter Rodney has to do with the Grenada and its revolution? Well, unknowingly to the Jamaican government, when they banned Dr. Rodney, they create a slippery slope. So when UWI students took the streets of Kingston, they subsequently rock the very foundation of Caribbean politics and identity and thus the Rodney Riots serve as the trigger that set off the black power movement in Caribbean.

According to the David E. Lewis, the Black Power movement in the context of the Caribbean is seen as the break with imperialism. which is historically white racist; the assumption of power by the black masses in the island and the cultural reconstruction of society in the image of the blacks.

As such, soon after the Rodney Riots, the Abeng newspaper would be formed in Jamaica and the Youlou United Liberation Movement in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Then, a group of West Indian students would organised a sit in at Concordia University which resulted in the largest student occupation in Canadian history. This event would become known as the Sir George Williams Affair of 1969, and would eventually lead to the formation of the National Joint Action Committee in Trinidad and Tobago. This would spark the 1970 black power movement in the twin island country which would have a profound impact on nearby Grenada. In early 1970, a demonstration would to stand in solitary with Trinidad and Tobago’s uprising occurred and called for Premier Eric Gairy to provide jobs. Describing the demonstrators as “hot and sweaty” 10 days later, Gairy would enact laws strengthen the police powers and restricting the movement and assembly of people. He would then deliver a radio broadcast where he stated that Black Power has already been achieved in Grenada since 1951 and followed up on another message.

“… It is that when your neighbour's house is on fire, keep on wetting your own house. We are now doubling the strength of our Police Force, we are getting in almost unlimited supplies of new and modern equipment…Opposition referred to my recruiting criminals in a reserve force. To this I shall not say yea or nay. Does it not take steel to cut steel?… Indeed, hundreds have come and some of the toughest and roughest roughnecks have been recruited…”

This reserve force that Gairy mentioned was the Mongoose Gang that we spoke about in the last episode. Still, one of the organisers of the February 1970 demonstration was a young lawyer named Maurice Bishop. He and other young intellectuals returning to Grenada would seek inspiration from Trinidad and Tobago’s black power movement to let Eric Gairy know that business would not continue as usual.

The Youth Steps Forward

Born in 1944 on the island of Aruba to Grenadians Rupert and Alimenta Bishop, Maurice Bishop moved to Grenada at the age of six. An outstanding academic student, he received a government scholarship to attend secondary school. In a 1979 interview with Caribbean Life and Times, Bishop would state that it was while a school boy that he would meet Bernard Coard (we will speak of him later). Both men would help formed the Grenada Assembly of Youth After Truth which was intended to create a relationship between the four main secondary school on the island where, according to Bishop, there was “a lot of competition in a very foolish and sectarian way”.

He would leave Grenada in the early 1960’s to attend university in the UK. Influence by the writings of Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, the philosophy of Frantz Fanon and Vladimir Lenin, events in Algeria and the activities of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara during the Cuban Revolution, Bishop became involve with the West Indies Students Union and the Standing Conference of West Indian Organisations.  Bishop would go on to attended Gray's Inn and earned his law degree from the University of London.

In 1970 upon returning to Grenada, Bishop passed through Trinidad and witness the Black Power Movement live and soon after would joined with others to organise a Grenadian protest to stand in solidarity with the movement. In June of that same year, Bishop would help begin the newspaper “Forum”, which primarily protested the policies of Gairy and his government. The newspaper would go on to last for seven to eight months.

But as we mentioned on the previous episode, Bishop’s biggest test up to this point was the nurses demonstration of November 1970. Around 30 nurses took part in a peaceful demonstration where they brought to light the conditions at St. Georges Hospital. A larger protest erupted when the nurses were then joined by school children, youth group, member of GNP and trade unions. Previously, Gairy enacted the Emergency Powers Act in that same year and this gave the police a great amount of power. As such, Gairy allowed for the police to tear gas, beat and arrest the demonstrators. The 22 nurses would eventually be acquitted after been successful defended by a group of lawyers which included Maurice Bishop and Kenrick Radix.

Kenrick Radix, Dix as he was widely known, was educated at Dublin University in Ireland and later qualified as a lawyer at London University in 1970. The nurses demonstration would allow both Bishop and Dix to come in contact with other young progressive professionals in the region. This will inspire them to organised and thus by 1972, Bishop and Dix would formed the Movement for Assembly of the People, MAP. Soon after, they would come in contact with a young economist by the name of Unison Whiteman.

Unison Whiteman was educated at Howard University in Washington DC where he would earned a Bachelors degree in Government and then a Masters in Economics. Upon his return to Grenada, Unison alongside three other young professionals, Fitzroy O’Neale, Selwyn Strachan and Keith Mitchell would run on the GNP ticket to contest the upcoming 1972 elections against Gairy and GULP. They were not members of the party, they just ran on their ticket and even dub themselves, “the Committee of Concerned Citizens”. However, they all lost to GULP candidates as Gairy claimed the 1972 elections. Unison, however was not derailed and by March 1972, he and a young man named Sebastian Thomas would meet up in the parish of St. David’s to create JEWEL, Joint Endeavour for Welfare, Education and Liberation.

Late in 1972, an Englishman name Lord Brownlow barred public access to a popular beach by fencing the entry to the area through his La Sagesse estate. When the public complain to Gairy, it went unanswered, so they took their concern to JEWEL. JEWEL then organised a “People’s Trials’ where the concerned public convicted Lord Brownlow of violating their rights. They went on to tore down the erected fences and marched to the beach.

So by the time Bishop and Dix met Unison and Sebastian, it was MAP meeting JEWEL. Then by March 1973, both organisations born out of a desire to challenge Gairy’s premiership, would join forces to create the New Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation, The New Jewel Movement.

The New Jewel Movement would then release a Manifesto which addressed the people’s concerns of high prices, low wages, unemployment and lack of social service. They outline their plans to improve the aforementioned problems. So in 1973, the New Jewel Movement, unlike GNP or GULP, was the only political organisation with an actual economic and social plan to address Grenada’s growing issue.

The Bloody Days of Grenada

Bishop stated from the beginning that the New Jewel Movement, NJM, was a “unconventional type of organisation”. In his own words:  “It wasn't formed as an electoral political party but was formed as a political party that was more aimed at raising consciousness and with the declared intention of taking political power in or out of elections if the accepted processes did not allow for electoral change”.

According to Bishop, NJM wanted to change, to revolutionise Grenada’s economy, its politics and its society. Armed with the mentorship of Cacademo Grant, a long time associated of T.A Marryshow, the organisation would position themselves as a thorn in the side of Gairy. However, Eric Gairy had influence over the police, the army, and of course his secret police, the Mongoose Gang. In April of 1973, a young NJM supporter, Jeremiah Richardson, was shot in the head by Gairy’s police and his family would take their concerns to NJM for help. The group would organised a mass demonstration outside Grenville police station that forced it close and brought that same demonstration to Pearl’s airport that force it close for almost three days. To note the murder of Mr. Richardson, was just days after the April 5th two day strike of the technical and Allied Workers Union where workers called out Gairy’s lack of concern over the workers’ frustration.

Then when Gairy announced his intention to get Grenada’s independence, the NJM was skeptic. The group believe that Grenada’s independence under Gairy would turned the man into a powerful political tool where he would used the country’s new status for self glorification, to strengthen his tyranny and financial gain. As we found out from the previous episode, that was what came to pass. Still, on November 4 of 1973, the NJM organised a People’s Conference on Independence which saw almost 10,000, a quarter of the voting population, attendance. This was the second one of it kind held by the NJM has they held a previous conference in May. The purpose of this congress of some sort was to let Gairy know that the people did not support his method of independence - the public was not consulted. Those present would charge Gairy with 27 charges ranging from incompetence to corruption to brutality. They then passed a resolution called “The People’s Indictment”, which was sent to Gairy, all Ministers in Government and Senators calling upon them to resign with effect on November 18, 1973. Of course Gairy did not resign, instead he went on the radio and deliver a speech with this message:

“We will bring the NJM rebels to their senses and wake them up from their dreams in a very short time for fifty-four reasons including treason and sedition”

The short time would come soon.

The NJM had a planned strike for November 18, 1973. On that day, the NJM leaders were on their way to Grenville to have discussion with local businesses regarding said strike, when they were pounced upon by Gairy’s Special Reserver Police, the Mongoose Gang. The six men who led NJM - Maurice Bishop, Unison Whiteman, Selwyn Strachan, Hudson Austin, Kenrick Radix and Simon Daniel- were beaten all over their faces, heads and bodies. By the end of the attack, they had serious injuries and were bleeding all over. They were then arrested and thrown in a small cell. Six men, who are no means small in stature, in a six by four feet jail cell. To make it even more humiliating, the men had their heads shaved with pieces of glasses, contributing even more to injuries. They were then denied bail, refused medical attention and visits from their friends, families and legal representation. This event would marked one of the darkest days of Gairyism and would become known as “Bloody Sunday” .

Still, as bad as Bloody Sunday was, it portrayed exactly what NJM had been saying for the past few months - the extreme of state brutality. As such, persons would publicly be outraged over the treatment of the leaders of NJM. This would lead to the formation of the Committee of 22. As mentioned on the previous episode, the Committee of 22 was made up of the following organisations: the Civil Service Association, Technical and Allied Workers Union, Seamen and Waterfront Workers Union, Grenada Union of Teachers, Commercial and Industrial Workers Union, Progressive Labour and General Workers Union, Grenada Hotel Association, Chamber of Commerce, Masters and Mistresses Association, League of Concerned Citizens, Taxi Drivers and Owners Association, Law Society, Jaycees, a number of Churches, the Gas Dealers Association and the Lions Club, who was forced to withdraw after Gairy spoke with the regional President in Barbados. And with the NJM leadership in jail, the Committee of 22 decided that they would continue the planned strike. However, this strike which started on November 19, was intended to bring those responsible for Bloody Sunday to be charge and to dismantle what is now turning out to be, his police state. It would eventually forced Gairy to appoint a commission to investigate the events of that dark day in Grenadian history in a legal event now called the Duffus Commission.

The Duffus Commission is named after widely renowned Jamaican legal mind, Sir Herbert Duffus. In 1973, Sir Herbert Duffus has just finished his tenure as Chief Justice of Jamaica, a post he held from 1968 to 1973. He also served as Acting Governor General of Jamaica from February 1973 to June 1973. And now in December of 1973, Sir Duffus was hired by Eric Gairy, in accordance with Grenada’s Governor, Dame Dr. Hilda Bynoe, to head the investigation of the events surrounding Bloody Sundays. It would a legal event called, the Commission of Inquiry Into The Breakdown of Law and Order and Police Brutality in Grenada which is today dub the Duffus Commission.

After almost 6 months of investigation and published in a nearly 230 paged document, the Duffus Commission concluded:

1. The six members of the New Jewel Movement visited Grenville only for the purpose of attending a meeting with businessmen

2. The meeting was called for the purpose of discussing the participation of the business community at Grenville in the general strike proposed by the NJM in November of 1973.

3. There was no intention by the six members of the N.J.M. to seize control of the Grenville Police Station by armed attack or otherwise.

4.  There were no reasonable grounds for apprehending the possibility of such an attack.

5. There were no reasonable grounds for Assistant Superintendent Belmar to apprehend a dangerous attack on his person or on the Grenville police station by the six men

6. There is no credible evidence to support the allegation that a rifle and ammunition were found in the possession of the six men

7.  The action taken by the police was not justifiable

8. Thee action taken by the police was in all the circumstances a breach of the Constitutional rights of each of the six men

9. The action taken by the members of the Police Force was not genuinely designed as a countermeasure taken by the government to meet any reliable allegation of any threats to the security of the state by the N.J.M. or any of its members; but was instead a forcible action taken to suppress political opposition which was genuinely believed to be likely to retard the progress of Grenada towards political independence.

In his ‘Reform and Revolution in Grenada, 1950 to 1981’, “David E Lewis states that from the commission it is clearly seen that by November of 1973, “Justice, Law, Order, Integrity, Honesty, Humans Rights, Political Rights and all the meaning of Democracy had been cast by the Gairy regime”

The commission did outline a series of recommendations, one of which stood out: the police aides should be completely disbanded and never called into service. According to the commission, the Mongoose Gang were an unlawfully constituted body of men. Eric Gairy, however, did not follow through with the recommendations and the Mongoose Gang remained. However, Superintendent Belmar, resigned but would soon enter representative politics by becoming a minister in Gairy’s government.

Still, in the midst of the commission investigation, the NJM members finally got bail and were release from jail. Swiftly, they joined forces with the Committee of 22, and called a strike on the 1st of January. As we have mentioned on the previous episode, this strike would called cause the economy to standstill. All the unions on the island joined in: utility workers, commercial and industrial workers and dockworkers. Then, in a sea of chaos, on January 21, 1974, another event took place which would become known as Bloody Monday.

On that day, violence plague the streets of Grenada as persons protested the state of the country and police violence persist. The strike was in full effect. A man stood on the steps of a doorway, arms outstretch. Behind him, women and children cower in fear as the violence ranged on. The man was using his body to block the doorway of the building where women and children had taken refuge from the violence in the streets. Then, in a blink of an eye, the man fell forward. Police officers shot him as they march forward, towards the building. The man died on the spot. That man was Rupert Bishop, a local businessman on the island and the father of Maurice Bishop.

One individual stated, in a segment of Bev Sinclair’s Time To Face The Facts, that the death of his father in such a traumatic manner would leave a scar on Bishop’s heart.

Still both days, Bloody Sunday and Bloody Monday would cause great pain for the people of the Grenada and showed how even though the country was days away from been independence, the very soul of the nation was moving towards a breaking point.

The 1976 Elections

Grenada would go on to achieved independence on February 7, 1974 and as predicated by the NJM, Gairy would use it as powerful political tool where he used the country’s new status for self glorification, to strengthen his tyranny and financial gain. As we have mentioned on the previous episode, the years following independence, Grenadians and the rest of the world, would bear witness to the country’s economic deterioration and domestic repression. These were highlighted by the many cases of Gairy’s bribes and corruption, real estates scams, extortion deals, sex scandals, international partnership for his own self interest, and his now growing obsession with religion and flying saucers. But even most alarming, they would have to wake up everyday and come face to face with the reality that Gairy’s secret police, the Mongoose Gang, would come down on anyone and anything that stood in his way of power, especially the NJM and their supporters. Cacademo Grant would recall his experience with dealing with group:

“Gairy move in more and more army forces and then the guns started firing. I was back by three gunmen, four gunmen. But I pass through cause I can’t walk faster than a gun shot. There’s no use in running.”

Still, that did not deter the members of NJM. Between 1974 and 1976, NJM had expanded its programs of public discussions and connections with those at the grassroots levels. At this time, it is safe to say that the party had local support groups in almost every village and town on the island. The branched out to create special arms of the party for women and youth. By this time, Gairy oppose NJM messages of anti neocolonialism and anti capitalistic rhetoric. As such, Gairy moved the island’s only radio station under his personal control and passed a legislation requiring a permit for the use of loud speakers. So NJM, went on established The New Jewel, the party’s own newspaper. The editor of the newspaper was Selwyn Strachan, an union activist who founded the Grenada Agricultural and Factory Workers Union. Still, Gairy would not have it and thus in 1975, he passed a law requiring an E.C. $20,000 deposit for the privilege of publishing a newspaper. This was intended to close down the newspaper however it only drove the newspaper underground and aided in its popularity. By 1976, the newspaper had a circulation of over 10,000 and was the most widely read publication on the island. NJM would go on to established other newspapers. There was Fight, geared towards the youth and student population; Workers Voice, for urban workers; Cutlass geared towards the rural population and Fork which was for farmers. There was also another newspaper which covered entirely women issues in Grenada.

By 1976 NJM was rising in popularity among citizens where the majority of the youth and women of Grenada was the core of their support. Another group that throw their support behind NJM was the Rastafari community in Grenada. According to Arthur Newland in his paper, Rastafari in the Grenada Revolution, “… without their grassroots support, it would have been difficult for the NJM to achieve success”

With this support from the population, NJM decided to contest the 1976 elections. The elections scheduled for December 7, 1976 was the country’s first since independence. Wanting to cut Gairy’s win as far as possible, the GNP and NJM joined forces in a coalition called the People’s Alliance. But Gairy undermined the group’s campaign. They were not given the right to choose their own election symbol and the one proposed by the Government only become available three weeks before the election. Then, he would double down on the use of loudspeakers were the opposition elements were frequently denied permission to use loudspeakers in campaigning efforts - this was not applicable GULP candidates however. Then, it is key to remember that as mentioned before, the Gairy had controlled over the sole radio station on the island. They were also reports that he remove names of NJM  supporters from the voter registration lists while  permitting GULP supporters to cast multiple votes. Then due to neglect of the administration over the past three years to revised the voters list, the opportunity for persons to register for the first time was severely limited and their voting power reduced. To make things even worse, on the day of the election, they were reports of intimidation tactics by the Mongoose Gang towards voters.

So despite all their efforts, the People’s Coalition lost the election but Gairy was in for surprise for he and GULP only got 52% of the votes, 21,102, and thus won 9 of the 15 seats in Parliament. The People's Alliance received 48 % of the votes - a count of 19,630 - and won the remaining six seats, with the NJM. getting three, the G.N.P. two and the United People's Party one. The NJM thus became the official opposition in the legislature with Maurice Bishop, the leader of the opposition.

At this point, Bishop who had built up a reputation as the best defence attorney in Grenada, was vastly admired by the public. In his book, “We Move Tonight”, Joseph Ewart Layne narrates a scene he witness during his time as a member of the NJM. He states:

“Although all the speakers received warm applause from the crowd, Bishop was the main attraction. Indeed, he was always the main attraction at public or semi-public meetings. I remember him that night lighting up St. Patrick with his brilliant oratory. The sight of the masses rising to him as he denounced the corruption and abuse of power of the dictatorship is impossible to forget. With simple words, which the smallest child could understand, he gave a vivid depiction of the Grenada NJM wanted to build. A Grenada summed up by the main slogan of the party: “Let those who labour hold the reins.” And he called on the people to struggle to turn the dream of a Jewel into a reality. The masses just loved him for such performances! His relationship with the younger generation was that of a committed and much admired brother while the older folk, especially in the rural areas, related to him as a favourite son who had ‘raised their nose several inches’.

So as they enter parliament, the NJM, with Bishop as opposition leader, for the first time had a national arena where they could articulate their positions for Grenadians’ development. It also provided the first step in playing a hand in changing the constitution. Thus, just by their mere presence, the NJM would be a catalyst to show how the whole process of parliament on Grenada ‘was a caricature of the Westminster model’. Two examples of demonstrate this.

The first was on May 25, 1977. Unison Whiteman made his contribution to a motion that was before parliament. After Whiteman finished his contribution, PM Gairy demanded that he withdraw his statements made during the debate without stated what exactly he objected to. In the circumstances, Whiteman refused to consider the request until the specific statement was identified. This Gairy refused to do. The Speaker, who we should note is GULP member of Parliament paused the meeting in order to listen to the tape of the statement and to review Unison Whiteman statements. When the meeting resume, the Speaker stated that Unison should withdrew his statements, which Unison double down on knowing the exact reason why he should. This was backed by Bishop, who stated that Unison is entitled to know the objection of his statements. Then Gairy and the Speaker moved a motion to suspend Unison from parliament,. Soon after Unison was forcibly removed from the Parliamentary grounds.

The other instance took place in May of 1978 when the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting were schedule to take place in Trinidad and Jamaica. It is understand by all countries that the ruling party and the opposition are to send a delegation to these meetings. Gairy however, despite numerous pleading from the other countries, refuse to the opposition a chance to name a delegate.

Before we move forward however, we have to mentioned two persons who had leadership roles in NJM by 1978.

One of whom is Bernard Coard. At the beginning of the episode, we did mentioned that Bernard Coard was a schoolboy friend of Maurice  Bishop where they help cofounded an organisation to provide unity among the country’s most elite secondary institutions. Bernard would go on to earned Masters in Economics at the University of Sussex. He would would return to the region, as a visiting academic at UWI St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago. In 1974, he would become an Economics and International Relations professor at the UWI Mona in Jamaica. Over the next two years while in Jamaica, he would joined the Workers Liberation League which was the forerunner of Workers Party of Jamaica, founded by the academic, Dr. Trevor Munroe. Bernard would helped in the drafting of League’s manifesto which was grounded in communism. Upon returning to Grenada in 1976, he joined NJM, and would win a parliamentary seat in St. Georges in the 1976 elections.

Then, there is Jacqueline Creft, who still stands today as one of  region’s the most impressive policy enforcers and a celebrated feminist. Born in 1946 in Grenada, Jacqueline graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa with a degree in political science and retuned home in 1971 and became involved with grassroots organising. In January of 1973, she would take part in the La Sagesse protest we mentioned earlier. She was a one of the foremost members of the New Jewel Movement since its inception. In 1976 and 1977, Jacqueline lived in Trinidad and Tobago where she became the regional coordinator for youth affairs in Christian Action for Development in the Eastern Caribbean (CADEC). In 1977, her Trinidad and Tobago work visa was then revoked and she retuned to Grenada. However, according to the Free West Indian she stated upon her retuned home that, “Gairy refused to give me work and as I was a new mother, I had another life to think about”. Jacqueline had just given birth to her son Vladimir. Thus, she would seek employment elsewhere and would work in Barbados with the organisation, Women in Development. But by 1979 however, she was back in Grenada.

A Revolutionary Situation

And now we are back to the regular timeline of the episode. Its 1978, and the economy is in shambles with severe under development spread state-wide in Grenada. As mentioned on the previous episode, wages for workers in retailing and manufacturing were E.C. $50 a month while government ministers’ salary was E.C. $2000 and they paid no taxes. Unemployment reached 50%, food prices rose by $200, clothing by 164% and housing by 135%. Then when agricultural production dropped by 25%, Gairy raised taxes on imported goods like rice and flour while allowing import monopolies to his friends which allow them to charge scalpers prices. This mean, in the case of sugar, Gairy awarded sole importation licenses to only one person who made more than 100% profit on each 200 pound bag.

Then in the case of infrastructure, Gairy did little. The islands road systems feel into despair. Medical care was low in quality and extremely expensive as local doctors were scarce. The few  medical clinics on the island were unsanitary and ill equipped. Then in education, no new schools were built during Gairy’s tenure. Primary school buildings deteriorated, teachers went untrained, while secondary schooling became a privilege and not a right. Gairy then stopped paying Grenada’s dues to the University of the West Indies and such citizens could no longer receive subsided university training in the region.  And in the middle of all this, Grenadians had to deal with the news of Gairy’s numerous sex scandals that took place throughout the 1970’s as it is said that he sexually exploited women who seek work in the public sector.

Then in 1978, five persons who opposed Gairy’s policy disappeared. Protests over this erupted, not only in Grenada, but the diaspora as well for Grenadians in London would make their concerns heard.  When the financial institutions started to feel the pressure, an executive member of NJM, Vincent Noel, would lead the process of forming the Bank and General Workers Union (BGWU). Gairy opposed this of course claiming that it was part of the NJM's plan to nationalize all banks. Still, over 90% of employees voted to be represented by the B.G.W.U. Gairy then ordered a manager of Barclays Bank not to recognize the union. Still, it shows how the working class and even persons in the public sector were moving away from Gairy.

So 1979, it would be 1951 Grenada society all over again, however this time, Gairy was the villain for his years of leadership had resulted in a tense reality of Gairy vs the People and it could only be solved with a social change. However, according to David E. Lewis, the difference between 1951 and 1979 Grenadian society was that “in 1951 the British were willing to share power with Gairy on account of the threatening character of his movement to the status quo, but in 1979, Gairy was not willing to give up his hold over the state system without a struggle” Thus, Gairy unknowingly had created a revolutionary situation.

However, GNP was falling lower onto the national scene and was no longer be seen has a recognisable and reliable opposition. It was NJM, for their years of organising, their relentless advocacy for youth, women, the working class and the rural population, alongside their extensive public education programme, that was rising in popularity. During an segment of Bev Sinclair’s Time To Face The Facts, Gloria Payne Banfield, Permanent Secretary for the Planning in the Prime Minister’s Office during Gairy’s term as Prime Minister, would say this:

“In 1976 when the general elections were called and the Alliance won 6 seats, that was the beginning of the crumble. Because, before that the GULP had fourteen seats. The only seat they didn’t had was Caricoau. And they lost five and a great loss it was. So, if the young people had waited a little while and had some patience, they would have won ultimately. But I don’t think they wanted to wait.

However, according to historians Catherine Sunshine and Phillip Wheaton, if there’s anything the events after the 1976 election demonstrate is that “Parliament was a farce and that an electoral starter was useless for getting rid of Gairy. Disillusionment with the established model of change forced Grenadians to consider, for the first time a more radical alternative”

So on March 10, 1979, according to all persons who were personally involved in the documentation of the revolution, the NJM leadership got word through their informants at senior levels of the police force, that orders were left for the arrest and assassination of the eight leading members of the New Jewel Movement. These were Maurice Bishop, Bernard Coard, Unison Whiteman, Kendrick Radix, Vincent Noel, Hudson Austin, George Lousion and Selwyn Strachan. All members would go into hiding immediately except for Vincent Noel who did not receive the information in time and was arrested and detained. Then on March 12, 1979, when Gairy departed the island on government business to attend a UN function in New York, through a pattern of behaviour, they knew that if they wanted to live to see another day, they would have to act urgently - they had to move soon. And not just soon, they had to move tonight.