The Censorship Years of Comrade Ralph (Transcript)

Since scholarship on the topic discussed is limited, a large portion of the details heard on this episode was taken from “The Making of ‘The Comrade’: The Political Journey of Ralph Gonsalves” by Ralph Gonsalves

The Early Years 

Ralph Gonsalves was born on August 08, 1946, to Alban Gonsalves and Theresa Francis. According to Gonsalves, his ancestral roots are traced to Portuguese indentured servants, Madeirans specifically, who came to St. Vincent from 1845 -1851. Although neither of his parents attended secondary school, they both worked a number of jobs to support him and his nine other siblings.

At a young age Ralph lost his uncle’s Peter. Peter Gonsalves, interestingly enough, was an activist in Byera during the 1935 St. Vincent uprising. Despite  this loss, Ralph had a fairly uneventful childhood . In 1950, he attended Colonaire Roman Catholic Primary School where he was considered a very good student. By 1958, he was the only boy from the school who was selected to sit the Grammar School Examinations. Ralph was successful in these exams - one of only thirty students to be so - and in January 1959, started the prestigious Grammar School. Throughout his secondary school journey, Ralph would challenge the conservative, colonial atmosphere. In 1965, during his time in Upper Sixth-Form, he proposed a discussion for the fifth and sixth formers on the life of Malcolm X. That was quickly dismissed by the school headmaster. Then when he proposed to start a steel-band at the school, that was also rejected.

After successfully sitting his Cambridge School Certificate and GCE A’ Levels Examinations, he spent a year in Guyana teaching at Bishop’s College. It was while as a teacher that Gonsalves was first introduced to Marxist philosophy. He also started writing a column in the newspaper, The St. Vincentian. Written under the pseudonym, Socrates, his  articles “offered glimpses of a progressive developmental program.” At the end of his one year tenure, Gonsalves was off to further his education. This time, his ambition took him to Jamaica in September 1966, where he enrolled as an undergraduate student at the University of the West Indies.

The Making of an Advocate

During his first year at UWI, Ralph submerged himself on campus as Economics major. He was a member of the Taylor Hall cricket team and played steel band alongside Patrick Manning, future prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago. He was also a champion debater where by year-end he received the top debater accolades, “The Full Colour” Award. By his second year in 1968, he represented UWI in a two-member debate competition at the American Debating Championships. Ralph and his teammates emerged the winner in the final round against the University of Pittsburgh.

1968 was also the year UWI started an African History Course - the first time ever any African History course was taught in the region. So to teach it, UWI recruited  the 25 year- old Guyanese academic, Dr. Walter Rodney. Seeing as the semester had already started by the time he arrived in Jamaica, Rodney served tutor duties and was Ralph’s tutor in Caribbean history. 

By October 1968 when the government of Jamaica banned Dr. Rodney from re-entering Jamaica, it was Ralph in his capacity as the newly-minted Guild President who led the protest over the government decision. To learn more details around this event, check out our Lest We Forget Episode, “The Walter Rodney Protest of 1968”. Still it was this event that became one of the first attempts to censor  Ralph. In the aftermath of the Rodney protest, there were numerous calls in the Jamaica media from supporters of the ruling party, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), for Ralph to be deported. By November 1968, the Vice Chancellor, Sir Phillip Sherlock, informed Ralph that the Ministry of Home Affairs had advised that he be deported. Still, Sir Sherlock would make the necessary arrangements, including  financial, for Ralph to be transferred to the St. Augustine UWI campus in Trinidad and Tobago. However, that was not to pass as one of his friends would come to his aid. This friend was Bruce Golding, who ended up becoming the future prime minister of Jamaica. In his book, “The Making of The Comrade: The Political Journey of Ralph Gonsalves:” he recalled what happened: 

“I left the Vice-Chancellor’s office with apprehensions of my academic future, and went to my classes at the Faculty of Social Sciences. There I met my friend, Bruce Golding… and informed him of my predicament. Bruce’s father was a member of the ruling political elite, an elected member of Parliament, and Speaker of the House of Representatives. Bruce, too, was one of the “Young Turks” in the JLP who Edward Seaga, then Minister of Finance and the second most powerful person in the government, was grooming for active politics. Bruce immediately contacted Seaga. A dinner was organised at Seaga’s Vale Royal residence the next evening with Bruce, another Jamaica student close to the JLP, Seaga, and myself. During the dinner Seaga called Prime Minister Hugh Shearer who spoke warmly to me on the phone. The result of all this was that I remained in Jamaica; Shearer had revoked my deportation order”.

And so Ralph was able to continue his final year at UWI Mona. And despite JLP-affiliated students on campus calling for his removal as Guild’s President, he still kept his position. A month later, he became the first  Vincentian to be named “Student of the Year”. Ralph graduated with a  Bachelors in Economics with a focus in Government and  was awarded a scholarship for postgraduate study. In September 1969, he took up the offer and continued his tertiary education as a masters student at UWI Mona. Soon after, he would complete his Masters in Government with a titled thesis, “The Role of Labour in the Political Process of St. Vincent, 1935 to 1970”, co-supervised by the newly employed lecturer, Dr. Trevor Monroe. Said thesis was then examined by Professor Denis Austin of the University of Manchester who influenced Ralph so much that, after finishing UWI in 1971, he journeyed to the University of Manchester to complete his doctorate. 

Now a doctoral student in the UK, Ralph’s initial research was on the labour movement in Ghana, “particularly during the years of Kwame Nkrumah, from his rise to his fall from the Presidency”. However, he soon learnt that there were some difficulties in getting to the University of Accra so the school suggested he conduct   similar research in Uganda. It is for this reason that  he journeyed to Makerere University, where from May 1972 to February 1973, he lived in Uganda to work on the  field research for his dissertation. Still, this was the early years of Idi Amin’s dictatorship in Uganda, and it was while there that Ralph had another run-in with authorities in a foreign country. Of all of these incidents that happened in Uganda (there were four) one stood out. As he stated in his autobiography,

“A third time was in the middle of the day in down-town Kampala. Three armed soldiers confronted me and wanted to know why I was wearing a beard and my hair grown so long that it covered my ears, partially. They inquired whether or not I had heard the President’s pronouncement the day earlier from his home base in the West Nile - Madi region in which he had spoken of his intention to ban beards and long hair, except for religious reasons and short skirts worn by women. I answered in the negative. Fortuitously, a friendly senior policeman appeared and asked for my identification. I had two identification cards: one issued to me by the Embassy of Guyana (St. Vincent and the Grenadines was not independent and I had hitherto refused British protection in Uganda.) and another by the President’s Office which was a treasured document. I was an approved researcher. The senior policeman chased the young soldiers away. Before leaving they asked where I was from . I said: ‘The West Indies’.  One of them queried: ‘The West of India?; I was worried because East Indians were being targeted by soldiers. I said. ‘No Jamaica’. They uttered approvingly, ‘Oh Michael Manley, Bob Marley’. I was saved!” 

Despite these encounters, Ralph was able to complete his field work and return to the UK to begin writing his graduate paper and even began legal training. But another incident found him in the cross-hairs of British authorities. As he detailed, 

“A police car, with two police officers, was patrolling. They stopped and questioned me. I told them the simple facts of my being and whereabouts. They listened. One held me and ordered me into the car. Presumably, my foreign accent and appearance aroused in their minds some prejudiced suspicion. I did not resist. At the Police Station, to which I was taken, I was searched; my bag was searched. They saw my student identification card. They were satisfied that I was telling the truth. They then became apologetic; they offered coffee. It was cold, so I accepted their offer. I, however, rejected their kind gesture to take me home. I was apprehensive; I was not going to take any chances with these policemen. I came out on the streets, caught a cab, and went home. Henceforth, I was wary of the British police”. 

By June 1974, Ralph successfully completed his 650-page dissertation, “The Political Economy of Trade Unionism and Industrial Relations, in Uganda, 1950-1970”. He returned home to St. Vincent in August of that year but by late September was in Jamaica where he took up a post as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Government at UWI, Mona. Over the next two years, Dr. Gonsalves taught three courses: “Introduction to Politics”, “Government and Politics of the West Indies” and “Comparative Politics”. He was also in charge of the weekly faculty-graduate seminars and was the editor of the journal, The Social Scientist. He did several studies at this time, including one in collaboration with famed West Indian political scientist, Carl Stone, on the Bernard Lodge situation in Jamaica. He also found time to write a number of academic articles, one of which includes an academic review of then Jamaica’s prime minister, Michael Manley’s book - A Voice at the Workplace. He was also involved with the Workers’ Liberation League (WLL), the University and Allied Worker’s Union (UAWU), the West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT) and fractions of the People’s National Party (PNP). 

But then in 1976, the university administration  approached Dr. Gonsalves to join the UWI Cave Hill staff. While there he would be expected to teach the newly created course, “Modern Political Analysis”. And with a desire to be closer to home, Dr. Gonsalves took up the offer, thus becoming the first-ever appointed lecturer to teach the course at any UWI campus. By September, Barbados held elections and with the Barbados Labour Party being voted in, the conservative Tom Adams became the nation’s Prime Minister. And it’s in this political atmosphere that we found Dr. Gonsalves as a Lecturer at UWI Cave Hill; and subsequently, where our story begins.

An Activist Intellect

Alongside Modern Political Analysis, Dr. Gonsalves also taught an introductory course in Politics and a business programme, Personnel Management and Industrial Relations. He also assisted in the course, “The Sociology of Development”. 

As time went by, Gonsalves did a series of public political education in Barbados and across the Eastern Caribbean, free of charge. He did regular forums at the Labour College of the Barbados Workers’ Union, secondary schools and numerous youth organisations. He also tutored a non-curriculum course at UWI on “Socialism and Social Democracy”. And in the wake of the formation of the Marxist group - Movement for National Liberation (MONALI) - Ralph participated in the organisation’s study programmes. His role as a political and social commentator required him to be a guest on multiple radio programmes and he even had a weekly column in the Bajan newspaper, “The Nation”. 

By the end of 1976, he published the monograph, “The Spectre of Imperialism: The Case of the Caribbean” which became quite popular in society and in  December 1976, the Cuban embassy in Barbados invited Gonsalves to visit Cuba. It’s  these activities that quickly got the attention of conservative governments across the Eastern Caribbean. Soon after, the censorship began.

Years of Censorship 

From 1976 to 1979, Gonsalves was an unwelcome guest across the Eastern Caribbean. As he detailed in “The Making of The Comrade: The Political Journey of Ralph Gonsalves”, 

“Over the years 1976 to 1979, I had encountered immigration difficulties in several Caribbean countries. In 1977, I was denied entry to Grenada by the Gairy regime; in 1978, the John Compton government sent me a letter advising that I would not be permitted to enter St. Lucia to deliver a lecture on “The Struggle against Fascism and its implication for the Caribbean” sponsored by the Workers’ Revolutionary Movement (WRM) of St. Lucia; and in 1979, shortly after the Grenada Revolution, the Vere Cornwall Bird Administration denied me entry to Antigua where I was scheduled to deliver a lecture on “Imperialism in the Caribbean” under the auspices of the University of the West Indies and the Antigua-Caribbean Liberation Movement (ACLM) of Leonard “Tim” Hector, now deceased. In Antigua, I was detained in an enclosed holding area, allowed neither food nor water and not permitted to use the bathroom. I was detained for several hours until a BWIA flight came in from London to take me back to Barbados”. 

And specific to Barbados, the Adams’ administration took it a step further. According to Gonsalves, 

“The imperialist, their friends and defenders were not pleased with the focus of my work. The new government of Barbados led by Tom Adams was quick to put me in its sights. I was pilloried at first by right-wing journalists and letter-writers to the Press. Then Adams himself attacked me on the floor of the House of Assembly and at its party’s gathering. I knew, too, that I was set upon by amateur spooks from the government’s intelligence services. Within a year of my arrival in Barbados, the American Embassy in Bridgetown placed me on a “Political Watch List”. I was only able to obtain a single entry to the USA, specific to each visit. And permission for the issuance of such a single entry visa had to be granted by a special agency in the US government. Hitherto, I was granted an indefinite visitors’ visa. The paranoia of the imperialists was ridiculous and laughable!” 

Still, in the aftermath of the Grenada Revolution of 1979, Tom Adams emerged as one of the new government’s staunchest opponents. In fact, the historians Catherine Sunshine and Phillip Wheaton in their book, “Grenada: The Peaceful Revolution” stated that Adams tried to stop Britain, France and Canada from recognising PRG. They also stated that he attempted to block Grenada's application for membership in the Socialist International. On the flip side, Dr. Gonsalves was a loud supporter of the Revolution. He himself said that he “swiftly drummed up support for the Revolution through speeches, writings in newspapers, and appearances on radio”. And it's these contrasting political views and Gonsalves’ previous activities that led the Barbados government to deem him “dangerous” and that led to Adams delivering the final blow - making Gonsalves persona non grata in Barbados in December 1979. As Dr. Gonsalves recalled, 

“… the Adams’ government revoked my work permit as university lecturer in Barbados on the ridiculous ground that I was “a security risk” and “an agent of Cuban communism” - a patent falsehood. The simple truth was that Adams felt it politically and personally convenient, in all the circumstances, to prevent my return to Barbados. I had become a disciplined critic of his government. No doubt the backward elements in the American Embassy in Bridgetown were applauding on the sidelines. I had a wife and son to care for but I was denied, on specious political grounds, an opportunity to earn a living in my chosen profession at our premier tertiary education institution. Adams had difficulty with his Cabinet on the matter. He had evidently acted unilaterally but his Cabinet was embarrassed to rubber stamp this folly. As The Nation newspaper of Barbados reported, it took four Cabinet meetings to secure agreement on a statement on the issue. The Nation protested Adams’ action. So, too, did the students and faculty across the UWI. Unwittingly, Adams had made me a regional celebrity and a veritable poster boy for anti-imperialism and socialism.”

Later Years 

The ban on Gonsalves changed the trajectory of his life. In February 1980, he took up a six-month visiting professorship at Queen’s College, City University of New York where he taught three courses: “The Political Economy of the Caribbean”, “The Political Economy of Sub-Saharan Africa” and “Black/African Civilisation in the Diaspora”. Then in September, he journeyed to London to complete his legal studies at Gray’s Inn. After passing the UK Bar in July 1981, he returned home to St.Vincent in September 1981, where he was called to the Bar and began a twenty year career as an attorney. The height of this new career would come in 1996 when he was one of the attorneys who represented James and Penny Fletcher in the globally covered case where charges were brought against them in the murder of a water-taxi driver.

Still, during this time as an attorney, Gonsalves would follow the tradition of such other West Indian leaders as Dr. Eric Williams who made the shift from academia to formal politics. Beginning in 1981, he held leadership roles in the United People's Movement (UPM) and then the Movement for National Unity (MNU). In 1994, MNU and the St. Vincent Labour Party would run as an alliance in the general election. But a few months later, on October 16, ironically the anniversary of the Rodney Protest, the two political parties merged to form the Unity Labour Party (ULP). In the next general election in 1998 ULP lost, after which, Dr. Gonsalves was elected as the party’s leader although he allowed Vincent Beache to be the country’s Leader of Opposition. This Gonsalves said was so that he could  “concentrate on my work as Political Leader”. However, in 2000, the Roadblock Revolution took place in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This we will explore in another episode but in summary, the event saw public servants create “human chains” and block the streets to protest a proposed bill which would increase the salary and benefits for parliamentarians. Out of this event, the ruling NDP, New Democratic Party, became very unpopular and when an early election was called in March 2001, it paved the way for ULP’s first victory in a general election. Thus, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves was sworn in as the new prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. At the time of this recording, he is still in this position and has led the ULP to victory in five consecutive elections.

Over the years, it seems the ban on Dr. Gonsalves has been overturned. He has traveled to Barbados numerous times for diplomatic matters and for his health. Still, he has stated that despite the initial ban, it has always been love on his end. In his November 22, 2021 open letter to Prime Minister Mia Mottley, congratulating her on leading Barbados to full republican status, Gonsalves writes:

“… in 1979, the then Prime Minister of Barbados, Tom Adams, revoked my work permit and banned me from returning to work in Barbados on the entirely false ground that I was a security risk, and an agent of Cuban and Soviet communism. You now lead the same Barbados Labour Party (BLP). After one time is another! I do not feel, and have never felt any rancour whatsoever towards Tom; and, as you know, I hold the BLP in the highest regard, especially under the outstanding leadership of Owen Arthur and you”

However, it’s not just Barbados but the rest of the Eastern Caribbean bloc and the wider region that would be on the receiving end of Uncle Ralph’s praise in recent years. And no incident will demonstrate this more, than when in April 2021, St.Vincent and the Grenadines experienced the La Soufrière volcanic eruption which saw the regional community swiftly offering help. In the middle of the ordeal, Comrade Ralph, in a heartfelt, teary-eyed press conference said the following:

“You know I must tell you. The way in which people in St Vincent and the Grenadines and in ordinary people, and in Grenada and in Dominica, St Lucia, and Antigua, have responded to put people in their homes. Strangers. Bring tears to my eyes. I love this Caribbean”.