Posted October 28th. 2008

This month marks twenty five years since the demise of the historic Grenadian revolution. My description of the revolution as "historic" is deliberate for it is seldom referred to in that way. In fact, it is hardly referenced in discourses on the Caribbean. Yet, like the Haitian and Cuban revolutions, the Grenadian revolution represents a defining intervention in Caribbean history. A revolution is the culmination of all that went before; it's a gathering of history. One cannot speak sensibly about the Caribbean post-colonial experience without locating the Grenadian revolution at the center. In other words, Caribbean post colonialism is really pre and post Grenada.

Much has been written and said about the Grenadian revolution--its successes and its mistakes. My greatest concern has always been the extent to which the revolution has been portrayed as a Marxist "adventure" by a group of hot headed upstarts. To some extent part of the execution and eventual outcome of the revolution seem to confirm this characterization. Marxism was part of the ideological mix of the NJM leadership But, only part. The NJM leadership and the Grenadian revolution in general were direct products of the struggle over the content, shape and direction of Caribbean independence in the first two decades after the fall of colonialism and part of the larger Black struggle for equality.

The new radicalism, of which the NJM leaders were part, emerged as an alternative vision to this reformist, pragmatic and authoritarian leadership and vision of the independence leadership. The Rodney "riots" of October 1968 became the catalyst for this new radical movement whose vision was grounded in a combination of Caribbean Nationalism, Black Nationalism, working class empowerment, anti-imperialism and revolutionary democracy. It is in this tradition that the Grenadian revolution must be properly located. It was first and foremost a democratic Caribbean revolution rooted in the region's long resistance to slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism. Insofar as it was Marxist, that Marxism was a Black Caribbean Marxism born of the Caribbean and African diasporan quest for equality and justice.

So twenty five years after the destruction of the revolution the urgent task is to reclaim it with all its triumphs and imperfections-it was a historic Caribbean creation. When on March 15, 1979 thousands of Grenadians invaded the public space and proclaimed the revolution as theirs, they knew they were making history. They had taken the baton from their brothers and sisters of the February Revolution in Trinidad in 1970 and the Rodney "riots" of October 1968. The Grenadian revolution was not an isolated event; it was the highest expression of Caribbean self-emancipation and self definition.

David Hinds lectures in Caribbean and African Diaspora Studies at Arizona State University in the USA. His writings on Politics in Guyana and the Caribbean can be found on his GuyanaCaribbeanPolitics.com website.