| Robert Bradshaw was
not the first leader of the workers' struggle on St.
Kitts-Nevis. Before Bradshaw there were working-class
champions such as Frederick Solomon, Joseph Nathan,
Thomas Manchester, Edgar Challenger, and Charles Halbert.
These men had travelled beyond St. Kitts-Nevis and encountered
consciousness-raising experiences such as Garvey's Back
to Africa Movement, African Nationalism, labor unionism,
and radical intellectualism.
On their return to
St. Kitts-Nevis with their newfound education and
new ways of seeing the world, it was these men who
laid the foundation for radical social transformation
in St. Kitts-Nevis. The exploitation which took place
on the sugar plantations, particularly on St. Kitts,
provided the opportunity for such men to challenge
the system dominated from Britain, and insensitive
to the poverty which bred a culture of self-recrimination
and powerlessness among the increasingly discontented
workers.
In 1916 - 1917, planters
on St. Kitts sided with the British Government and
refused to allow the formation of labor unions. Nathan
and Solomon were among the leading men who formed
a friendly society, the Universal Benevolent Society,
then used the organization to disguise union-like
activities for the working-class. At the same time,
Nathan, Solomon and George Wilkes kept criticizing
the British Government and the misery it allowed on
the islands. The three men also predicted the decline
and fall of planter-class domination in the Caribbean.
Bradshaw's ascendency
to leadership and political power on St. Kitts-Nevis
in 1952 was an acceptance of the baton for working-class
struggle, passed on from a solid foundation of radical
criticism directed at an unyielding plantocracy. The
plantocracy dictated and dominated every aspect of
life on the islands. In 1937 there was a move to allow
limited voting rights to certain members of the working-class,
however, the planter-class reacted to the idea with
horror. They continued to believe that leadership
was a position that could be trusted only to white
planters.
In time, as a result
of a series of labor revolts throughout the Caribbean
(1934-1939), with that on St. Kitts in 1935 being
among the earliest, the British Government sent the
Moyne Commission to report on what was causing such
devastating social unrest in the colonies. Accordingly,
Lord Moyne and Sir Walter Citrine, two very radical
thinkers in Britain at the time, saw to it that the
report on their findings was honest. They described
the squalor and suffering, seen in the colonies, and
the dire need for change. Two results were the formation
of the St. Kitts-Nevis Trades and Labor Union in 1940
and the emergence of legitimate Afro-Caribbean political
leadership in 1952, epitomized by Robert Bradshaw.
The politics that came with Bradshaw inherited from,
and replaced the politics of the planter-class.
Accordingly, the new
politics instituted and brought far-reaching social
and economic changes to the islands. It also empowered
the poor and powerless masses giving them more control
over their lives. However, Bradshaw also borrowed
from the planter-class society and its politics. He
remained conscious of his power; developed an authoritarian
style; and demonstrated a sense of political ownership.
Bradshaw was a proud, arrogant Afro-Caribbean man
whom few dared to challenge in his role as leader.
Like the planter-class before him, he too failed to
accept the reality of inevitable change and died in
office May, 1978, without having given attention to
his succession.
Bradshaw's thinking
was of a forever leadership - not that change is an
inevitability of time. These legacies from Bradshaw
seem to have instructed and shaped the politics of
St. Kitts-Nevis even today. Of the four leaders who
succeeded Bradshaw, only Southwell who died suddenly
in1979, did not demonstrate a willingness to hold
on to leadership forever. The next leader, Lee Moore,
refused to seat Kennedy Simmonds, leader of the opposition
People's Action Movement (PAM), who had won a seat
in the Assembly. Moore called a new election 1980,
instead of acceding to the wishes of voters. He lost
three Labor Party seats in that election. After about
one year in office, Moore inadvertently set the stage
for a PAM-NRP coalition government led by Dr. Kennedy
Simmonds.
As leader of the PAM-NRP
coalition Simmonds led St. Kitts-Nevis 1980 to 1993.
He continued for two more years leading a minority
PAM Government until it collapsed under pressure from
a hostile society. Like the plantocracy, like Bradshaw,
and like Moore, Dr. Simmonds was thinking of a forever
leadership. Interestingly, the person who brought
every form of criticism he could to have Prime Minister
Simmonds leave office, was Dr. Denzil Douglas.
After 15 years, Prime
Minister Simmonds ran out of options. His party was
beaten in the 1995 election. Prime Minister Douglas
took office in July, 1995, just under 15 years ago.
Now, like the plantocracy, like Bradshaw, like Moore,
and like Simmonds, Douglas continues to dominate the
leadership and to dream of forever - not succession.
Consequently, one critical question each Kittitian
and Nevisian can ponder in 2010 is: How much have
politics and democracy advanced on St. Kitts-Nevis
during the 58 years of Afro-Caribbean leadership?
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