Unit V: Bishop & the New Jewel Movement in Grenada (5/6)

Corresponding text found on p359-362 of Brief History of the Caribbean.

1974 - Grenada granted independence
Eric Gairy 1st Prime Minister; maintains power through election fraud, corruption, repression
Gairy built massive personal wealth through corruption
Govt spent almost nothing on education or health care; economy terrible; almost 50% unemployment

Actions of Gairy govt lead formation of opposition groups
Organized by urban middle-class with university education; ideas of marxism and black power
Maurice Bishop - London-educated lawyer
Unison Whiteman - Howard University educated economist; creates Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation (JEWEL)
1973 - Bishop & Whiteman join organizations to form New Jewel Movement; Bishop becomes leader
Mar 12, 1979 - Gairy flies to New York to address UN on existence of UFOs
Mar 13, 1979 - 46 NJM members; pre-dawn attack; capture army barracks and state radio station

Suspended 1973 Constitution; establish People's Revolutionary Government under NJM control
Held all executive and legislative powers, controlled judiciary; existing laws replaced by "People's Laws"
Bishop in charge of foreign affairs; Bernard Coard in charge of economy; internal struggle for control
Puppet Cabinet with Bishop as Prime Minister
Real power was in Central Committee, chaired by Bishop, with about 20 members
Bishop also chaired Politburo

Maurice Bishop

True marxist-leninists, NJM never sought to include poor rural population in NJM
Strict screening for membership in NJM; 1982 - only 80 members
Created grass roots organizations throughout Grenada to spread communist thought
People's Revolutionary Army had authority to imprison people for any reason; opposition repressed

PRG propaganda billboard

Established close ties with Soviet Union and Cuba; supply large amounts of aid
Nationalized electric, telephone, banks; expropriated large estates for state farms
Bishop established close friendship with Castro

Daniel Ortega, Maurice Bishop, and Fidel Castro

1979 - Cuban aid (funds, engineers, workers) to begin construction of new airport at Point Salines; new runway could support largest aircraft (civilian and military)
United States became very suspicious

Below are links to a RPG Documentary produced in 1983 about Grenada's Revolution.

Grenada - Revo Documentary (In Part) - Part I - "Feeding Ourselves" by Asierramoore

Grenada - Revo Documentary (In Part) - Part 2 "Propaganda" by Asierramoore

Grenada - Revo Documentary (In Part) - Part 3 - "Militant Youth" by Asierramoore

Grenada - Revo Documentary (In Part) - Part 4 - "Long Live! Forward Ever, Backward Never!" by Asierramoore