October 21, Reparations and all that

I was happy to hear that at long last, there is to be some sort of official recognition of October 21, a seminal day in our history of resistance to colonial domination and rule by the plantocracy. Prime Minister Hon. Ralph Gonsalves has made calls for nation-wide community activities to mark the occasion over the weekend of October 21/22 this year.

October 21 is a very special date in our historical calendar which had been ignored, understandably, by the local ruling elite before Independence. Strangely, even though it is a pivotal date in our historical development, those in charge of our country since then, have chosen to be conveniently “deaf, dumb and not aware” of its significance since then and despite the fact that the political and bureaucratic elite being among the main beneficiaries of social and economic development occasioned by the events of October 21, 1935.

Those events were not unique to St Vincent but arose from the atrocious conditions facing the working people of the entire Caribbean, one year after slavery was officially abolished. A combination of the colonial authorities and the planter/commercial class “ran things” in every country, keeping the bulk of the population in abject poverty and misery. By the 1930s, people could bear it no longer and the whole region erupted. Starting with Belize in 1934, there were strikes, rebellions and uprisings in every single country.

St Vincent and the Grenadines was among the earliest countries where this social eruption took place. October 21, 1935, was when our version started and it took the invasion of a British armed force to restore the old order and put down the rebellion. The leaders of the apparently spontaneous uprising were either shot, jailed or as in the case of the acknowledged local “leaders” led by Samuel “Sheriff” Lewis, sent to jail in Grenada. Yet such was the impact of the nation-wide rebellion that the colonial authorities were forced to make serious political and economic changes beginning with Adult Suffrage, the right to vote, in 1951. Constitutional development followed over the next three decades leading up to Independence in 1979.

In other words, October 21, 1935, and the events in the days following were fundamental contributors to our political, social and economic development, including the ending of colonialism. However, because the uprising was led by poor and working people, it continued to be described in our history as “riots” not anti-colonial resistance. Even historians of more enlightened generations continued with this “riot” designation for years afterwards.

The political classes which benefitted from decolonization, from self-government right up to Independence, however continued to be afraid of embracing the 1935 rebellion as being our own response to oppression. In almost every other country, there is official commemoration of their version of the 1935 rebellion. But our SVG, first under the Milton Cato administration, ignored that date and chose an insignificant date one week later as the date of our Independence. Not a word was mentioned during the 1979 Independence celebrations of the role of 1935 and the “Sheriff” generation in helping to bring about decolonization. None of these men and women who suffered for our advancement have been acknowledged. Could it be that one of them, Donald “Poorfellow” Romeo was right when he spoke of this discrimination by saying “our class too poor”?

There are some of us in the progressive movement, and here I must single out the late trade unionist Caspar London, who over the years have struggled to keep the memory of October 1935 alive by organizing different activities. Our current Prime Minister was a prominent advocate of October 1935, so it is long overdue for his administration to at least partially raise the 1935 flag, but we need to go much further.

Early in his first term of office he spoke of “righting historical wrongs”. We have long passed the time for October 21, 1935. We can begin by telling our youngsters and population as a whole OUR STORY of October 1935 and not His story. The descendants of those beaten, jailed and shot during the uprising do not even know of the heroism of their forebears and the heroic role that such working people, in the country as well as in Kingstown played in the constitutional, political, social and economic development of our country.

We rightly advance the just call for reparations but must set our own examples. I fully support the idea of the October 21 weekend mobilizations. But all I hear is for cultural and sporting activities. Full support there too! But what of the political content? It would be appropriate for our Parliament to meet for the occasion and pass some sort of Resolution on October 1935, including acknowledging the role of those who suffered so that people like those currently in Parliament could have that right and privilege. The Opposition must be called to give full support.

This ducking from October 21 as though it is a day of shame must be ended. We must proudly endorse it as a major contributor to our advancement. Let us right the historical wrong unfairly put on October 21, 1935 and make the appropriate reparations.

• Renwick Rose is a community activist and social commentator.