SITUATING SUGAR STRIKES: CONTESTATIONS OF RACE AND POLITICS IN DECOLONIZING ST. LUCIA

Abstract

Decolonization in the British West Indies involved tensions over the intersection of nationhood, race, and politics as well as disagreements (across race and class) over the extent to which colonies should extract themselves from ties to the metropole. These issues were evident in an extended 1957 sugar workers' strike in St. Lucia. The event brought predominantly European plantation employers and Afro-St. Lucian middle-class trade unionists and political activists to the negotiating table. Four days of labor talks revealed a layered debate not merely about wages and work conditions on sugar estates. Although not overtly stated, the debate also concerned the process of achieving internal self-government on the island, and negotiating social and geographical boundaries of the emerging nation.

Key Words:

• nationhood
• decolonization
• race
• and labor

I am grateful to Deborah Thomas, Jeffrey Mantz, Kimberly Nettles, and Nigel Austin for useful comments on aspects of this article. I also thank three anonymous reviewers for their insightful suggestions and feedback.

Notes

1. For further reading on the formation and collapse of the Federation, see especially Lewis 1968 and Wallace 1977.

2. Gordon Lewis (1968) does not link nationalism with racial consciousness in the Windward Islands as he does in his discussion of decolonization and nation building in his discussion of the Jamaica and Trinidad. Yet he does not confirm its absence either. Bolland (2001), however, references contexts where pan-Africanists were active and where Windward Island, including St. Lucian, residents were present. More research needs to be done to assess whether and how racial consciousness fit into the political activism and nascent nation-building efforts of the Windward Islands.

3. To illustrate the powerful role of the governor, Lewis (1968) likens the role of this official to the American president. Thus, he presided over the colonies and held more power than the members of the legislative branch below him.

4. All references to currency are for Eastern Caribbean (or E.C.) dollars.

5. According to George Charles (1994), Frank J. Carasco's experience in politics began similarly to many other middle-class West Indian labor organizers on St. Lucia. Indeed, he worked alongside the Afro-West Indian middle class in labor organizing and island politics. In the 1940s, he held leadership positions in trade unions and was also a member of the Legislative Council.

6. It is likely that St. Kitts, Cuba, and Jamaica were brought heavily into the discussion for comparative purposes either because these islands were considered significant within sugar production, technologically advanced, or more economically “developed” territories. During the negotiations, some of the language that referenced Cuba as the “largest producer of sugarcane,” for example, hints at this. For discussion of different Caribbean territories' status in agriculture during this time or for general discussion of some of the positioning around sugar production in the region, see Richardson (1992).

7. Given the prominent question around pursuing St. Lucia's independence from colonial rule and who should and could be involved in that process, it is perhaps significant that the commission took a decidedly “pro-Sugar Manufacturers” tone in its report. For instance, the commission stated that trade unionists' involvement in local politics was “wholly incongruous with the efficient pursuit of the problems of industry” (Jackson, Pounder, and Leacock 1957: 17). Furthermore, the commission outlined the financial position of sugar factories, showing a financially strapped company that, it argued, countered trade unionists' claims that SML enjoyed excesses. This was also used to make the final determination that wages for workers could not increased.

8. Another point of difference, of course, could have been gender. The 1957 labor negotiations did not include any women representatives from trade unions (or among the employers). Similarly, the commissioned inquiry into the 1957 strikes does not note any women trade unionists who served as witnesses during the investigation. It is of interest, however, that a few women's names appear as trade union witnesses or signatories of trade union correspondence from the 1952 Brown strike. All women here were affiliated with Brown's Roseau Peasant and Workers' Union that was discontinued after the 1952 inquiry into that event. For more information on obscuring women's participation in Caribbean trade unions see A. Lynn Bolles' (1996) study.

9. In St. Lucia, “Patios” was the word used to describe the Creole language spoken at the time of the 1950s strikes. See Garrett (2000, this volume) for discussions of the shift to the term “Kwéyòl.”

10. This class-inflected chasm that socially separated workers from trade unionists and estate owners and managers has been noted for other contexts. See, for example, Sutton (2005).