71^8621 MURRAY, Winston Churchill, 19 34- LABOR, POLITICS AMD SOCIAL LEGISLATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES 1834-1970. The American University, Ph.D., 1970 History, modern University Microfilms,A XEROX Company , Ann Arbor, Michigan 0 1971 WINSTON CHURCHILL MURRAY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED LABOR, POLITICS AND SOCIAL LEGISLATION TI1E BRITISH WEST INDIES 1034-1970 A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School The American University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Winston C. Hurray June 1970 a h s t h a c t Statement of the Problem. It is the purpose o£ this study (1) to ascertain how social legislation has affected the evolution of political trade unionism in the West Indies; (2) to determine how social legisla­ tion In the 1930's and after independence In 19G2 by native politicians contributed to the political style and culture orientation of labor vis-a-vis the employer. The author has made two assumptions: (1) the assumption on wages; and (2) the assumption on taxation. This study assumes that wage policy and wage movements in colonial society were influenced by the level of economic activity in an agricultural society and that wages of the worker were not far removed from the subsistence level. Therefore, such wages wore employed as a form of social control by the dominant planting aris­ tocracy over a weak but numerically stronger laboring class. It is asaumcd that taxes (direct and indirect) were not instituted to foster economic growth and national development. This historical research leads to four basic conclusionsi (1) that prior to 1937, social legislation imposed on the weaker segment of the society denied the laboring blacks the fundamental rights of suffrage and collective bargaining, (2) that the denial of the right to participate in the society coupled with the social plight of the worker contributed to the politicization of West Indian labor after 1937; (3) that West Indian laboringmen are the. most abused and despised element in the society, and (4) that the black intelligentsia and the creole middle elans politicians II in the West Indies are working assiduously to thwart the demands of the workers as they strive to democratize and create new institutions indi­ genous to the West Indies. ill LABOR, POLITICS AND SOCIAL LEGISLATION IH THE BRITISH WEST INDIES 1834-1970 by Winston C. Hurray Submitted to the Faculty of the School of International Service of The American University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree.— „ of Doctor of Philosophy in Latin American Area Studies Signatures of CoramJitteE! Chai ^ - f r s ^ u j J ? 0 --- .Dean of the School of International Service Date:_ THE AMERICAN UWIVERSITY 1970 The American University SEP 1 6 B70 Washington, D.C, iv t / Z O S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author of thia dissertation Is grateful to several persona who have rendered him invaluable help during Che period thia research wa3 undertaken in the United States and the Caribbean. He is more than pleased with the help and pertinent criticism of his dissertation mentors, Drs. Harold E, David, 0. Peterson, and Professor Benjamin Martin. He is further grateful to the following librarians: Natalie Morton and Sarah Eliot of the U. S, Department of Labor, Jean Webber and E. Hebb at the AFL-CIG library in Washington, D. C, , Joan Roberts, Indus­ trial Court, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Mr, Romano, Public Library, Port of Spain, Trinidad, and members of the Industrial Court, and Joy Benjamin, secretary to B, Brenthol Blackman of the Caribbean Congress of Labor in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Mr. George Wcekes and his Secretary General Heckles of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union were very cooperative In assisting this researcher by granting him personal interviews and access to their library. Similar helpful suggestions and cooperation wore extended to him by Mr. Lewis King of said union, Mr. Joe Young, president of the Transport Workers Industrial Union, Trinidad, Mr. W. Winchester, Director of the Cipriana Labor College (Trinidad) and Minister Winslow Carrington, Guyana, who also gave unstint- ingly of their time to explain and make suggestions for this dissertation. Also Judge C. Edun of Guyana was very helpful in securing copies of the Guyana Trade Disputes Bill for him. The author is also thankful for the interview granted him by Messrs. S. Haddad of the American Institute for Free Labor Development and Andrew C. McClellan of AFL-CIO, who helped to clarify the United States interest In Caribbean labor movement, lie is further grateful to his brother* Winfield b. Murray, of the Industrial Court who has collected and sent him papers, and Mr. and Mrs. Plfillip Robinson of Guyana who have introduced him to the Minister of Labor in that country. Finally* the writer la deeply considerate of the role his wife, Alice N. Murray, has performed, especially in criticizing and typing the original draft. Indeed, tills dissertation would not have been possible without the devoted and considerate kindness of so many people to whom this author is indebted for so much. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables CHAPTER I. THE PROBLEM , 1 Statement of the Problem 1 Importance of the Study. ............... 1 II. ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF THE POLITICAL ROLF, OF WEST INDIAN LABOR 1834-1937. .... ................. 4 Taxation . 13 Social laws in the West Indies, 1834-1917............. 28 Colonial Government 1934-1919. ............ 46 Representative Government 1834-1937. ......... 52 The Morant Bay Revolution and its Consequences 1865. 57 111. SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AND POLITICS 1892-1938.... 71 The West Indian Royal Commission Report, ....... 74 The Economics of Population. ............. 83 The Evolution of Early Trade Unionism 1892-1919. 91 The Politics of 1919-1938.............................. 99 IV, POLITICS AND LABOR 1935-1950 .......................... 112 Labor's Role 11G Trade Unions and Politics 1935-1950 122 V, THE NEW POLITICS AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT 1950-1970 WEST INDIAN SOCIALISM: AN INTERPRETATION............... 132 The Cold War and the Labor Movement, 139 VI. LABOR LEGISLATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS 1867-1970 , 154 Labor Legislation 1867-1962* ...... ......... 154 Government Control and the Labor Movement 1962-1970. , 166 Post Independence Issues 1962-1970 .......... 175 VII. CONCLUSIONS..................................... '. , . 185 GLOSSARY . .......................................................... 189 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................ 193 vli LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE I. Educational Pattern anions Laboring Blacks in Jamaica,... 33 II, Total Expenditures for Education for Period of Five Years. ...... 34 III. Wages in the West Indies 1B45-1B57. ................. 37 IV. Humber of Contract Laborers in Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad 1884.................. 45 V. Population and Race in British Guiana,....,.,.........,,, 51 VI. Number of Registered Voters in the British West Indies,.. 56 VII. Political and Social Disturbances in the West Indies 1044-1905................................................. 67 VIII. Comparative Wages for Agricultural Workers in Trinidad and T o b a g o . 72 IX. The Price Increases of Basic Commodities in Guyana for 1919...................................... 75 X. Foreign Trade of British G u i a n a . 77 XI. Estimated Revenue, Expenditures, Imports and Exports,,.,. 79 XII. Population and Health Rate 1936 - Trinidad........ 85 XIII, Growth of Working Force,................................. 98 XIV. Revolutions in the West Indies 1935-1938................. 108 XV. Summary of Basic Labor Legislation: Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad 1691-1969. ...... 162 XVI. Major Unions in Jamaica, Trinidad and G u y a n a . 184 viii CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Statement of the Problem It was the purpoae of this study (l) to ascertain how social legislation has affected the evolution of political trade unionism In the We3t Indies; (2) to determine how social legislation in the 1930’s and after independence in 19^2 by native politicians contributed to the political style and culture orientation of labor vis-a-vio the employer. Importance of the study. The history of social and labor legislation in the BritiGh West Indies a3 a whole has not received the attention of serious scholarship. Scholars have written the history of the labor movement in Guyana and the Caribbean* Four authors have written the history of the labor movement in the British West Indies. These authors, Ashton Chase, Rawle Farley, and Francis X. Mark, are West Indians. W. Knowles, the other author, is an American. Also, the International Labor Office has published in 1952, a book entitled The Labour Policies in the West Indies. This book has treated the social and economic condition of the West Indian worker prior to the Second World War and ending with the early p03t war years. Ashton Chase’s A History of Trade Unionism in Guyana 1900-196^ 1 b a chronicle or record of trade union development in Guyana. Hiis book la useful because the author is a former minister of Labor in the 1953 PPP government. No other author has attempted to write about the labor movement in Guyana except Francis X. Mark who has written bis doctoral dissertation on The Rise and Development of Labor Movements in the British 1 2 Caribbean. Thin unpublished doctoral dissertation I d a description of the historical growth of the labor movement in the British West Indies- Rawle Farley's Trade Union Development and Trade Union Education in the British Caribbean in an analysis of the labor movement. This author has pointed out the need for qualified leadership in the labor movement stressing that labor must continue to participate in national reconstruction. W, Knowles' Trade Union Development In the West Indies has not made any special contribution to the already existing small body of literature relating to the labor movement. This work is a general history of the labor movement with much emphasis on the attitude of the labor-politic ions towards the laboring men. The period highlighted by the authors is 1900-1962 with the yearn 1935“3*938 as the watershed of West Indian labor.