Time to recognise October, 1935

In one month’s time, on October 21, St Vincent and the Grenadines will mark 90 years since one of the most significant occurrences- arguably the one with the greatest social and political impact since emancipation, in the history of our nation.

On that date in 1935, the long oppressed and exploited working people of St Vincent and the Grenadines staged what appears to have been a spontaneous rebellion, but which was in fact their response to long years of exploitation, oppression, racism and the denial of democracy to the vast majority of Vincentians by the colonial state, the United Kingdom.

In the context of the Caribbean, much of which was ruled by colonial Britain, the Vincentian events were no isolated case. The very same conditions which existed here were present in every other British colony, and the promised “democracy” had failed to be realized.

Throughout the region, the fundamental marker of British Parliamentary democracy, the right to vote, was denied to all but a tiny minority, and those only because they met social and property qualifications set by the colonial power. Despite the people in the colonies who supported Britain’s war efforts in World War 1, not only materially, but in the sacrifice of many of their sons, the 1930s met them as disenfranchised as ever.

In a world where the tide of anti-colonialism was rising steadily, this situation in the Caribbean was clearly not going to last and predictably, the oppressive conditions of the 30’s provided a catalyst for rebellion. Beginning in Belize and Trinidad and Tobago in 1934, and then spreading like wildfire in a tinderbox, the long-suffering people of the region erupted.

The working people of St Vincent and the Grenadines were among the early rebels. On October 21, 1935, when the Legislative Council here- the poor excuse for a parliament, given its limited representation- met in the presence of the Governor of the Windward Islands, the official representative of the British crown, working people of Kingstown spontaneously decided to march to the Council meeting to protest new taxes and their conditions of life.

While a spontaneous protest and lacking the leadership provided by dedicated trade unionists and other organized groups as in other countries, the spontaneous protest led to an equally spontaneous national revolt which quickly spread to the rural areas where brutal estate oppression was exercised, and lasted several days before being suppressed by trained British troops.

At the conclusion, not only was there death and destruction, but some of the identified “leaders” of the protest were charged with treason, and jailed, not just here but in Grenada, the headquarters of the British colonial administration in the Windward Islands. The British also looked for a political scapegoat and targeted the well-respected and loved anti-colonial fighter, George McIntosh, charging him with treason as well, a charge which could not hold out in court.

What is amazing is that after 90 years, after 46 years of

National Independence and all our anti-colonial advances and claims, October 21, 1935, is still unrecognized officially in our country. In almost every other rebelling country of the 1930s, the rebellion has been officially recognized and the leaders acknowledged for their role in the anti-colonial struggle and especially, to the eventual winning of the right to vote for all citizens of the legal age.

Why are we different? Why after 90 years the term “riot” is used to describe the events of 1935 whereas similar events in the rest of the Caribbean are rightfully lauded? Is it not time for us to re-examine the events of October 1935, to officially recognize their role in our eventual political, social and constitutional development, especially the achievement of national independence, and to “right the historical wrongs” done to those who fought and suffered so that we all might prosper?

With one month to go before independence celebrations, it is more than opportune to accord October 21, its rightful place.