Eric Williams
Encyclopedia
Eric Eustace Williams (25 September 1911 – 29 March 1981) served as the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
. He served from 1956 until his death in 1981. He was also a noted Caribbean
historian, and is widely regarded as "The Father of The Nation."
elite. Eric Williams was a descendant of the de Boissiere family which is known for its public service, charity, and focus on human rights. He was educated at Queen's Royal College
in Port of Spain
, where he excelled at academics and football. He won an island scholarship
in 1932 which allowed him to attend St Catherine's Society, Oxford (which subsequently became St Catherine's College, Oxford
). In 1935, he received first class honours for his B.A in history, and was ranked in first place among University of Oxford
students graduating in History in 1935. He also represented the university in soccer. In 1938 he went on to obtain his doctorate (see section below). In Inward Hunger, his autobiography, he described his experience of racism in Great Britain
, and the impact on him of his travels in Germany
after the Nazi seizure of power.
, completing the D.Phil in 1938 under the supervision of Vincent Harlow. His doctoral thesis, The Economic Aspects of the Abolition of the Slave Trade and West Indian Slavery, was both a direct attack on the idea that moral and humanitarian motives were the key facts in the victory of British
abolitionism, and a covert critique of the idea common in the 1930s, emanating in particular from the pen of Oxford Professor Reginald Coupland
, that British imperialism was essentially propelled by humanitarian and benevolent impulses. Williams's argument owed much to the influence of C. L. R. James
, whose The Black Jacobins
, also completed in 1938, also offered an economic and geostrategic explanation for the rise of British abolitionism
.
Despite his extraordinary academic success at Oxford, Williams was denied the opportunity to pursue a career in the United Kingdom
. In 1939 he moved to the United States
to Howard University
('Negro Oxford' as he called it in his autobiography), where he was rapidly promoted twice, attaining full professorial rank. In Washington he completed the manuscript of his masterwork – Capitalism and Slavery – which was published by the University of North Carolina
in 1944. This book assaulted many sacred cows of British imperial historiography, and it was not published in the United Kingdom
until 1964, meeting with a critical reception.
, which would take Trinidad and Tobago into independence in 1962, and dominate its postcolonial politics. Until this time his lectures had been carried out under the auspices of the Political Education Movement (PEM) a branch of the Teachers Education and Cultural Association, a group which had been founded in the 1940s as an alternative to the official teachers’ union. The PNM’s first document was its constitution
. Unlike the other political parties of the time, the PNM was a highly organized, hierarchical body. Its second document was The People’s Charter, in which the party strove to separate itself from the transitory political assemblages which had thus far been the norm in Trinidadian politics.
In elections held eight months later, on September 24, the PNM won 13 of the 24 elected seats in the Legislative Council
, defeating 6 of the 16 incumbents running for re-election. Although the PNM did not secure a majority in the 31-member Legislative Council, he was able to convince the Secretary of State for the Colonies to allow him to name the five appointed members of the council (despite the opposition of the Governor, Sir Edward Betham Beetham
). This gave him a clear majority in the Legislative Council. Williams was thus elected Chief Minister and was also able to get all seven of his ministers elected.
had preferred that colonies move towards political independence in the kind of federal systems which had appeared to succeed since the Confederation of Canada, which created the Dominion of Canada, in the nineteenth-century. In the British West Indies
this imperial goal coincided with the political aims of the nationalist movements which had emerged in all the colonies of the region during the 1930s. The Montego Bay conference of 1948 had declared the common aim to be the achievement by the West Indies of "Dominion Status" (which meant constitutional independence from Britain) as a Federation. In 1958, a West Indies Federation
emerged out of the British West Indies
, which with British Guiana
(now Guyana
) and British Honduras
(now Belize
) choosing to opt out of the Federation, left Jamaica
and Trinidad and Tobago
as the dominant players. Most political parties in the various territories aligned themselves into one of two Federal political parties – the West Indies Federal Labour Party
(led by Grantley Adams of Barbados and Norman Manley
of Jamaica) and the Democratic Labour Party
(led by Manley's cousin, Sir Alexander Bustamante
). The PNM affiliated with the former, while several opposition parties (the People's Democratic Party, the Trinidad Labour Party
and the Party of Political Progress Groups) aligned themselves with the DLP, and soon merged to form the Democratic Labour Party of Trinidad and Tobago
.
The DLP victory in the 1958 Federal Elections and subsequent poor showing by the PNM in the 1959 County Council Elections soured Williams on the Federation. Lord Hailes
(Governor-General
of the Federation) also over-ruled two PNM nominations to the Federal Senate in order to balance a disproportionately WIFLP-dominated Senate. When Bustamante withdrew Jamaica
from the Federation, this left Trinidad and Tobago in the untenable position of having to provide 75% of the Federal budget while having less than half the seats in the Federal government. In a famous speech, Williams declared one from ten leaves nought. Following the adoption of a resolution to that effect by the PNM General Council on January 15, 1962, Williams withdrew Trinidad and Tobago from the West Indies Federation. This action led the British government to dissolve the Federation.
In 1961 the PNM had introduced the Representation of the People Bill. This Bill was designed to modernise the electoral system by instituting permanent registration of voters, identification cards, voting machines and revised electoral boundaries. These changes were seen by the DLP as an attempt to disenfranchise illiterate rural voters through intimidation, to rig the elections through the use of voting machines, to allow Afro-Caribbean immigrants from other islands to vote, and to gerrymander the boundaries to ensure victory by the PNM. Opponents of the PNM saw "proof" of these allegations when A.N.R. Robinson
was declared winner of the Tobago
seat in 1961 with more votes than there were registered voters, and in the fact that the PNM was able to win every subsequent election until the 1980 Tobago House of Assembly Elections.
The 1961 elections gave the PNM 57% of the votes and 20 of the 30 seats. This two-thirds majority allowed them to draft the Independence Constitution
without input from the DLP. Although supported by the Colonial Office, independence was blocked by the DLP, until Williams was able to make a deal with DLP leader Rudranath Capildeo
which strengthened the rights of the minority party and expanded the number of Opposition Senators
. With Capildeo's assent, Trinidad and Tobago became independent on August 31, 1962.
movement gained strength in Trinidad and Tobago. The leadership of the movement developed within the Guild of Undergraduates at the St. Augustine
Campus of the University of the West Indies
. Led by Geddes Granger
, the National Joint Action Committee
joined up with trade unionists
led by George Weekes of the Oilfields Workers' Trade Union
and Basdeo Panday
, then a young trade union lawyer
and activist. The Black Power Revolution
got started during the 1970 Carnival
. In response to the challenge, Williams countered with a broadcast entitled I am for Black Power. He introduced a 5% levy to fund unemployment reduction and established the first locally-owned commercial bank. However, this intervention had little impact on the protests.
On April 6, 1970 a protester was killed by the police. This was followed on April 13 by the resignation of A.N.R. Robinson
, Member of Parliament
for Tobago
East. On April 18 sugar workers went on strike, and there was talk of a general strike. In response to this, Williams proclaimed a State of Emergency
on April 21 and arrested 15 Black Power leaders. In response to this, a portion of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, led by Raffique Shah
and Rex Lassalle
mutinied and took hostages at the army barracks at Teteron. Through the action of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard the mutiny was contained and the mutineers surrendered on April 25.
Williams made three additional speeches in which he sought to identify himself with the aims of the Black Power movement. He re-shuffled his Cabinet and removed three Ministers (including two White
members) and three senators. He also introduced the Public Order Act which reduced civil liberties in an effort to control protest marches. After public opposition, led by A.N.R. Robinson and his newly created Action Committee of Democratic Citizens (which later became the Democratic Action Congress
), the Bill was withdrawn. Attorney General
Karl Hudson-Phillips
offered to resign over the failure of the Bill, but Williams refused his resignation.
Before Williams the historiography of this issue had been dominated by (mainly) British writers who generally were prone to depict Britain's actions as unimpeachable. Indeed, Williams' impact on the field of study has proved of lasting significance. As Barbara Solow and Stanley Engerman
put it in the preface to a compilation of essays on Williams, which is based on a commemorative symposium held in Italy in 1984, Williams "defined the study of Caribbean history, and its writing affected the course of Caribbean history... Scholars may disagree on his ideas, but they remain the starting point of discussion... Any conference on British capitalism and Caribbean slavery is a conference on Eric Williams."
In addition to Capitalism and Slavery, Williams produced a number of other scholarly works focused on the Caribbean. Of particular significance are two published in the 1960s long after he had abandoned his academic career for public life: British Historians and the West Indies and From Columbus to Castro. The former, based on research done in the 1940s and initially presented at a symposium at Atlanta University, sought to debunk British historiography on the region and to condemn as racist the nineteenth and early twentieth century British perspective on the West Indies. Williams was particularly scathing in his description of the nineteenth century British intellectual Thomas Carlyle
. The latter work is a general history of the Caribbean from the 15th through the mid-20th centuries. Curiously, it appeared at the same time as a similarly titled book (De Cristóbal Colón a Fidel Castro) by another Caribbean scholar-statesman, Juan Bosch
of the Dominican Republic
.
Williams sent one of 73 Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages
to NASA
for the historic first lunar landing in 1969. The message still rests on the lunar surface today. Williams wrote, in part, "It is our earnest hope for mankind that while we gain the moon, we shall not lose the world."
(EWMC) at the University of the West Indies
in Trinidad and Tobago was inaugurated in 1998 by former US Secretary of State Colin Powell
. In 1999, it was named to UNESCO
’s prestigious Memory of the World Register. Secretary Powell heralded Dr. Williams as a tireless warrior in the battle against colonialism, and for his many other achievements as a scholar, politician and international statesman.
The Collection consists of the late Dr. Williams' Library and Archives. Available for consultation by researchers, the Collection amply reflects its owner’s eclectic interests, comprising some 7,000 volumes, as well as correspondence, speeches, manuscripts, historical writings, research notes, conference documents and a miscellany of reports. The Museum contains a wealth of emotive memorabilia of the period and copies of the seven translations of Williams’ major work, Capitalism and Slavery, (into Russian, Chinese and Japanese [1968, 2004] among them, and a Korean translation was released in 2006). Photographs depicting various aspects of his life and contribution to the development of Trinidad and Tobago complete this extraordinarily rich archive, as does a three-dimensional re-creation of Dr. Williams’ study.
Dr. Colin Palmer, Dodge Professor of History at Princeton University
, has said: “as a model for similar archival collections in the Caribbean...I remain very impressed by its breadth...[It] is a national treasure.” Palmer’s new biography of Williams up to 1970, Eric Williams and the Making of the Modern Caribbean, published by the University of North Carolina Press
, is dedicated to the Collection.
It is thus a matter of dispute whether the sugar colonies were in terminal decline after the American Revolution. Their apparent economic prosperity in 1807 can be interpreted, as suggested above, in two ways. It should be noted that Williams was heavily involved in the movements for independence of the Caribbean colonies and had a fairly obvious motive to impugn the colonial power. Indeed, Williams' reputation among black West Indian scholars was always high.
A third generation of scholars led by Seymour Drescher
and Roger Anstey have discounted many of Williams' arguments. They do however acknowledge that morality had to be combined with the forces of politics and economic theory to bring about the end of the slave trade.
On the other hand, Williams' central point that the rise of industrial capitalism in Britain was fueled by West Indian slavery, and that, in turn the new industrial bourgeoisie saw the maintenance of slavery as a drag on their profits, both still have some merit. In particular, we should note that significant decline in the British West Indies dates to after the abolition of the Corn Laws
by the British in 1846 (one of the imperial preferences abolished was that in sugar).
Richardson (1998) finds Williams's claims regarding the Industrial Revolution are greatly exaggerated, for profits from the slave trade amounted to less than 1% of total domestic investment in Britain.
Williams was frequently lampooned in the paintings of his countryman Isaiah James Boodhoo
.
It was under Williams' government that the state initiated the first make-work
programme, the Development and Environmental Works Division (DEWD).
The steelpan
men at the time were organized into gangs, with frequent violence between warring factions, such as the Marbunters and Casablanca. One of the functions of the DEWD was to lure the criminals of the time away from crime and into gainful employment. It also helped to sanitize pan and successfully break the association between panyards and criminality.
Similar to the Jamaican compromise
, the programme also brought community criminals in partnership with the government. The criminals were rewarded with work and salaries, while the government was rewarded with increased representation (and votes) within the communities and some level on control on crime. The DEWD was the forerunner to other such government programmes such as the LIDP, URP and CEPEP, each their associated gangs and politicization. Williams has left this legacy of make-work programmes and has contributed to the current culture of entitlement
.
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
. He served from 1956 until his death in 1981. He was also a noted Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
historian, and is widely regarded as "The Father of The Nation."
Early life
Williams' father was a minor civil servant, and his mother was a descendant of the French CreoleFrench-based creole languages
A French Creole, or French-based Creole language, is a creole language based on the French language, more specifically on a 17th century koiné French extant in Paris, the French Atlantic harbors, and the nascent French colonies...
elite. Eric Williams was a descendant of the de Boissiere family which is known for its public service, charity, and focus on human rights. He was educated at Queen's Royal College
Queen's Royal College
Still regarded as the bastion of secondary school education Queen's Royal College is the oldest secondary school in Trinidad and Tobago, referred to for short as "QRC", or "The College" by past alumni...
in Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
, where he excelled at academics and football. He won an island scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
in 1932 which allowed him to attend St Catherine's Society, Oxford (which subsequently became St Catherine's College, Oxford
St Catherine's College, Oxford
St Catherine's College, often called Catz, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its motto is Nova et Vetera...
). In 1935, he received first class honours for his B.A in history, and was ranked in first place among University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
students graduating in History in 1935. He also represented the university in soccer. In 1938 he went on to obtain his doctorate (see section below). In Inward Hunger, his autobiography, he described his experience of racism in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, and the impact on him of his travels in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
after the Nazi seizure of power.
Scholarly career
Williams went on to advanced research in history at OxfordUniversity of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, completing the D.Phil in 1938 under the supervision of Vincent Harlow. His doctoral thesis, The Economic Aspects of the Abolition of the Slave Trade and West Indian Slavery, was both a direct attack on the idea that moral and humanitarian motives were the key facts in the victory of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
abolitionism, and a covert critique of the idea common in the 1930s, emanating in particular from the pen of Oxford Professor Reginald Coupland
Reginald Coupland
Sir Reginald Coupland, KCMG, FBA was a prominent historian of the British Empire who between 1920 and 1948 held the Beit Professorship of Colonial History at the University of Oxford. He is most known for his scholarship on African history...
, that British imperialism was essentially propelled by humanitarian and benevolent impulses. Williams's argument owed much to the influence of C. L. R. James
C. L. R. James
Cyril Lionel Robert James , who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J.R. Johnson, was an Afro-Trinidadian historian, journalist, socialist theorist and essayist. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts...
, whose The Black Jacobins
The Black Jacobins
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution , by Afro-Trinidadian writer C. L. R. James , is a history of the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution...
, also completed in 1938, also offered an economic and geostrategic explanation for the rise of British abolitionism
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
.
Despite his extraordinary academic success at Oxford, Williams was denied the opportunity to pursue a career in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. In 1939 he moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
('Negro Oxford' as he called it in his autobiography), where he was rapidly promoted twice, attaining full professorial rank. In Washington he completed the manuscript of his masterwork – Capitalism and Slavery – which was published by the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
in 1944. This book assaulted many sacred cows of British imperial historiography, and it was not published in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
until 1964, meeting with a critical reception.
Shift to public life
In 1944 he was appointed to the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission. In 1948 Williams returned to Trinidad as the Commission's Deputy Chairman of the Caribbean Research Council. In Trinidad, Williams delivered a series of educational lectures for which he became famous. In 1955 after disagreements between Williams and the Commission, the Commission elected not to renew his contract. In a famous speech at Woodford Square in Port of Spain, he declared that he had decided to "put down his bucket" in the land of his birth. He rechristened that enclosed park, which stood in front of the Trinidad courts and legislature, "The University of Woodford Square", and proceeded to give a series of public lectures on world history, Greek democracy and philosophy, the history of slavery, and the history of the Caribbean to large audiences drawn from every social class.Entry into nationalist politics in Trinidad and Tobago
From that public platform, Williams on January 15, 1956 inaugurated his own political party, the People's National MovementPeople's National Movement
The People's National Movement is the present-day opposition political party in Trinidad and Tobago. Founded in 1955 by Eric Williams, it won the 1956 General Elections and went on to hold power for an unbroken 30 years. After the death of Williams in 1981 George Chambers led the party...
, which would take Trinidad and Tobago into independence in 1962, and dominate its postcolonial politics. Until this time his lectures had been carried out under the auspices of the Political Education Movement (PEM) a branch of the Teachers Education and Cultural Association, a group which had been founded in the 1940s as an alternative to the official teachers’ union. The PNM’s first document was its constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
. Unlike the other political parties of the time, the PNM was a highly organized, hierarchical body. Its second document was The People’s Charter, in which the party strove to separate itself from the transitory political assemblages which had thus far been the norm in Trinidadian politics.
In elections held eight months later, on September 24, the PNM won 13 of the 24 elected seats in the Legislative Council
Legislative Council
A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A Member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC.- Unicameral legislatures :...
, defeating 6 of the 16 incumbents running for re-election. Although the PNM did not secure a majority in the 31-member Legislative Council, he was able to convince the Secretary of State for the Colonies to allow him to name the five appointed members of the council (despite the opposition of the Governor, Sir Edward Betham Beetham
Edward Beetham
Sir Edward "Eddy" Betham Beetham served as Governor of Trinidad and Tobago between 1955 and 1960. He presided over the transition to elected internal self-government. Beetham was the last British colonial governor. The Beetham Highway in Port of Spain is named after him....
). This gave him a clear majority in the Legislative Council. Williams was thus elected Chief Minister and was also able to get all seven of his ministers elected.
Federation and independence
After the Second World War, the British Colonial OfficeColonial Office
Colonial Office is the government agency which serves to oversee and supervise their colony* Colonial Office - The British Government department* Office of Insular Affairs - the American government agency* Reichskolonialamt - the German Colonial Office...
had preferred that colonies move towards political independence in the kind of federal systems which had appeared to succeed since the Confederation of Canada, which created the Dominion of Canada, in the nineteenth-century. In the British West Indies
British West Indies
The British West Indies was a term used to describe the islands in and around the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire The term was sometimes used to include British Honduras and British Guiana, even though these territories are not geographically part of the Caribbean...
this imperial goal coincided with the political aims of the nationalist movements which had emerged in all the colonies of the region during the 1930s. The Montego Bay conference of 1948 had declared the common aim to be the achievement by the West Indies of "Dominion Status" (which meant constitutional independence from Britain) as a Federation. In 1958, a West Indies Federation
West Indies Federation
The West Indies Federation, also known as the Federation of the West Indies, was a short-lived Caribbean federation that existed from January 3, 1958, to May 31, 1962. It consisted of several Caribbean colonies of the United Kingdom...
emerged out of the British West Indies
British West Indies
The British West Indies was a term used to describe the islands in and around the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire The term was sometimes used to include British Honduras and British Guiana, even though these territories are not geographically part of the Caribbean...
, which with British Guiana
British Guiana
British Guiana was the name of the British colony on the northern coast of South America, now the independent nation of Guyana.The area was originally settled by the Dutch at the start of the 17th century as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice...
(now Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
) and British Honduras
British Honduras
British Honduras was a British colony that is now the independent nation of Belize.First colonised by Spaniards in the 17th century, the territory on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, became a British crown colony from 1862 until 1964, when it became self-governing. Belize became...
(now Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
) choosing to opt out of the Federation, left Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
as the dominant players. Most political parties in the various territories aligned themselves into one of two Federal political parties – the West Indies Federal Labour Party
West Indies Federal Labour Party
The West Indies Federal Labour Party was one of the two main Federal parties in the short-lived West Indies Federation. The party was the first national party of the planned West Indies Federation. It was organised by Norman Manley, Grantley Adams, V.C...
(led by Grantley Adams of Barbados and Norman Manley
Norman Manley
Norman Washington Manley MM QC National Hero of Jamaica , was a Jamaican statesman. A Rhodes Scholar, Manley became one of Jamaica's leading lawyers in the 1920s...
of Jamaica) and the Democratic Labour Party
Democratic Labour Party (West Indies Federation)
The Democratic Labour Party was one of the two Federal parties in the short-lived West Indies Federation. The party was organised by Sir Alexander Bustamante to counter the West Indies Federal Labour Party led by his cousin Norman Manley....
(led by Manley's cousin, Sir Alexander Bustamante
Alexander Bustamante
Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante GBE, National Hero of Jamaica was a Jamaican politician and labour leader....
). The PNM affiliated with the former, while several opposition parties (the People's Democratic Party, the Trinidad Labour Party
Trinidad Labour Party
The Trinidad Labour Party was a political party in Trinidad and Tobago. Formed in in 1924 when the Trinidad Workingmen's Association changed its name, it was the country's first party.-History:...
and the Party of Political Progress Groups) aligned themselves with the DLP, and soon merged to form the Democratic Labour Party of Trinidad and Tobago
Democratic Labour Party (Trinidad and Tobago)
The Democratic Labour Party was the main opposition party in Trinidad and Tobago between 1957 and 1971. The party was the party which opposed the People's National Movement at the time of Independence...
.
The DLP victory in the 1958 Federal Elections and subsequent poor showing by the PNM in the 1959 County Council Elections soured Williams on the Federation. Lord Hailes
Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, 1st Baron Hailes
Patrick George Thomas Buchan-Hepburn, 1st Baron Hailes, GBE, CH , was a British Conservative politician and the only Governor-General of the short-lived West Indies Federation, from 3 January 1958, to 31 May 1962, when the country was disbanded.-Background and education:Buchan-Hepburn was the...
(Governor-General
Governor-General
A Governor-General, is a vice-regal person of a monarch in an independent realm or a major colonial circonscription. Depending on the political arrangement of the territory, a Governor General can be a governor of high rank, or a principal governor ranking above "ordinary" governors.- Current uses...
of the Federation) also over-ruled two PNM nominations to the Federal Senate in order to balance a disproportionately WIFLP-dominated Senate. When Bustamante withdrew Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
from the Federation, this left Trinidad and Tobago in the untenable position of having to provide 75% of the Federal budget while having less than half the seats in the Federal government. In a famous speech, Williams declared one from ten leaves nought. Following the adoption of a resolution to that effect by the PNM General Council on January 15, 1962, Williams withdrew Trinidad and Tobago from the West Indies Federation. This action led the British government to dissolve the Federation.
In 1961 the PNM had introduced the Representation of the People Bill. This Bill was designed to modernise the electoral system by instituting permanent registration of voters, identification cards, voting machines and revised electoral boundaries. These changes were seen by the DLP as an attempt to disenfranchise illiterate rural voters through intimidation, to rig the elections through the use of voting machines, to allow Afro-Caribbean immigrants from other islands to vote, and to gerrymander the boundaries to ensure victory by the PNM. Opponents of the PNM saw "proof" of these allegations when A.N.R. Robinson
A. N. R. Robinson
Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson, OCC, TC was the third President of Trinidad and Tobago, serving from 19 March 1997 to 17 March 2003. He was also Trinidad and Tobago's third Prime Minister, serving in that capacity from 18 December 1986 to 17 December 1991...
was declared winner of the Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
seat in 1961 with more votes than there were registered voters, and in the fact that the PNM was able to win every subsequent election until the 1980 Tobago House of Assembly Elections.
The 1961 elections gave the PNM 57% of the votes and 20 of the 30 seats. This two-thirds majority allowed them to draft the Independence Constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
without input from the DLP. Although supported by the Colonial Office, independence was blocked by the DLP, until Williams was able to make a deal with DLP leader Rudranath Capildeo
Rudranath Capildeo
Dr. Rudranath Capildeo was a Trinidad and Tobago politician and mathematician. He was the Leader of the Democratic Labour Party from 1960–1969 and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament from 1961–1963, succeeding Ashford Sinanan. He was also a faculty member at the University of London, eventually...
which strengthened the rights of the minority party and expanded the number of Opposition Senators
Senate of Trinidad and Tobago
The Senate of Trinidad and Tobago is the appointed Upper House of the bicameral Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. The Senate sits in the Red House in Port of Spain...
. With Capildeo's assent, Trinidad and Tobago became independent on August 31, 1962.
Black Power
Between 1968 and 1970 the Black PowerBlack Power
Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...
movement gained strength in Trinidad and Tobago. The leadership of the movement developed within the Guild of Undergraduates at the St. Augustine
Saint Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
St. Augustine, a town on the East-West Corridor of Trinidad and Tobago, is the site of one of the four campuses of the University of the West Indies. It is located east of Curepe and west of Tunapuna....
Campus of the University of the West Indies
University of the West Indies
The University of the West Indies , is an autonomous regional institution supported by and serving 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica,...
. Led by Geddes Granger
Geddes Granger
His Excellency Makandal Daaga, born Geddes Granger, is a Trinidad and Tobago political activist and former revolutionary. He is also a son of Gaskynd Granger, and cousin of David A. Granger. He was the leader of the 1970 Black Power Revolution. During the unrest he was arrested and charged. The...
, the National Joint Action Committee
National Joint Action Committee
The National Joint Action Committee is a black nationalist political party in Trinidad and Tobago.-History:The party was established in February 1969 by Makandal Daaga , who was dissatisfied with the fact that most businesses in Trinidad at the time were owned by the white minority...
joined up with trade unionists
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
led by George Weekes of the Oilfields Workers' Trade Union
Oilfields Workers' Trade Union
The Oilfields Workers Trade Union or OWTU is one of the most powerful trade unions in Trinidad and Tobago. Currently led by Ancil Roget, the union was born out of the 1937 labour riots, the union was nominally led by the imprisoned TUB Butler but was actually organised by lawyer Adrian Cola Rienzi...
and Basdeo Panday
Basdeo Panday
Basdeo Panday was the 5th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001 and has served as Leader of the Opposition from 1976–1977, 1978–1986, 1989–1995 and 2001–2010. He was first elected to Parliament in 1976 as the Member for Couva North. He is the former...
, then a young trade union lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and activist. The Black Power Revolution
Black Power Revolution
The Black Power Revolution, also known as the "Black Power Movement", 1970 Revolution, Black Power Uprising and February Revolution, was an attempt by a number of social elements, people and interest groups in Trinidad and Tobago to force socio-political change.-History:Between 1968 and 1970 the...
got started during the 1970 Carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
. In response to the challenge, Williams countered with a broadcast entitled I am for Black Power. He introduced a 5% levy to fund unemployment reduction and established the first locally-owned commercial bank. However, this intervention had little impact on the protests.
On April 6, 1970 a protester was killed by the police. This was followed on April 13 by the resignation of A.N.R. Robinson
A. N. R. Robinson
Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson, OCC, TC was the third President of Trinidad and Tobago, serving from 19 March 1997 to 17 March 2003. He was also Trinidad and Tobago's third Prime Minister, serving in that capacity from 18 December 1986 to 17 December 1991...
, Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
East. On April 18 sugar workers went on strike, and there was talk of a general strike. In response to this, Williams proclaimed a State of Emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
on April 21 and arrested 15 Black Power leaders. In response to this, a portion of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, led by Raffique Shah
Raffique Shah
Raffique Shah is a Trinidad and Tobago trade union leader and political commentator. He is also a former Member of Parliament and mutineer, having led a mutiny of Trinidad and Tobago Regiment in 1970. He was born the son of a sugar cane worker and housewife in March 1946. His early education was...
and Rex Lassalle
Rex Lassalle
Reginald Andrew Lassalle, better known as Rex Lassalle was born in Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad in 1945. He attended Belmont Boys Intermediate School and St. Mary's College, Port of Spain...
mutinied and took hostages at the army barracks at Teteron. Through the action of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard the mutiny was contained and the mutineers surrendered on April 25.
Williams made three additional speeches in which he sought to identify himself with the aims of the Black Power movement. He re-shuffled his Cabinet and removed three Ministers (including two White
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
members) and three senators. He also introduced the Public Order Act which reduced civil liberties in an effort to control protest marches. After public opposition, led by A.N.R. Robinson and his newly created Action Committee of Democratic Citizens (which later became the Democratic Action Congress
Democratic Action Congress
The Democratic Action Congress was a Tobago-based political party in Trinidad and Tobago.-History:The party was established in 1971 by A. N. R. Robinson, and was originally a autonomist party. It first contested general elections in 1976, in which it won both Tobago seats, taken by Robinson and...
), the Bill was withdrawn. Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
Karl Hudson-Phillips
Karl Hudson-Phillips
Karl Terrence Hudson-Phillips, ORTT, QC is a former Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago and a former judge of the International Criminal Court...
offered to resign over the failure of the Bill, but Williams refused his resignation.
- See Black Power RevolutionBlack Power RevolutionThe Black Power Revolution, also known as the "Black Power Movement", 1970 Revolution, Black Power Uprising and February Revolution, was an attempt by a number of social elements, people and interest groups in Trinidad and Tobago to force socio-political change.-History:Between 1968 and 1970 the...
Academic contributions
Williams specialised in the study of the abolition of the slave trade. In 1944 his book Capitalism and Slavery argued that the British abolition of their Atlantic slave trade in 1807 was motivated primarily by economics—rather than by altruism or humanitarianism. By extension, so was the emancipation of the slaves and the fight against the trading in slaves by other nations. As industrial capitalism and wage labor began to expand, eliminating the competition from slavery became economically advantageous.Before Williams the historiography of this issue had been dominated by (mainly) British writers who generally were prone to depict Britain's actions as unimpeachable. Indeed, Williams' impact on the field of study has proved of lasting significance. As Barbara Solow and Stanley Engerman
Stanley Engerman
Stanley Lewis Engerman is an economist and economic historian at the University of Rochester. He received his Ph.D. in economics in 1962 from Johns Hopkins University. Engerman is known for his quantitative historical work along with Nobel prize winning economist Robert Fogel...
put it in the preface to a compilation of essays on Williams, which is based on a commemorative symposium held in Italy in 1984, Williams "defined the study of Caribbean history, and its writing affected the course of Caribbean history... Scholars may disagree on his ideas, but they remain the starting point of discussion... Any conference on British capitalism and Caribbean slavery is a conference on Eric Williams."
In addition to Capitalism and Slavery, Williams produced a number of other scholarly works focused on the Caribbean. Of particular significance are two published in the 1960s long after he had abandoned his academic career for public life: British Historians and the West Indies and From Columbus to Castro. The former, based on research done in the 1940s and initially presented at a symposium at Atlanta University, sought to debunk British historiography on the region and to condemn as racist the nineteenth and early twentieth century British perspective on the West Indies. Williams was particularly scathing in his description of the nineteenth century British intellectual Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...
. The latter work is a general history of the Caribbean from the 15th through the mid-20th centuries. Curiously, it appeared at the same time as a similarly titled book (De Cristóbal Colón a Fidel Castro) by another Caribbean scholar-statesman, Juan Bosch
Juan Bosch
Juan Emilio Bosch Gaviño was a politician, historian, short story writer, essayist, educator, and the first cleanly elected president of the Dominican Republic for a brief time in 1963. Previously, he had been the leader of the Dominican opposition in exile to the dictatorial regime of Rafael...
of the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
.
Williams sent one of 73 Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages
Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages
The Apollo 11 goodwill messages are statements from leaders of 73 countries around the world on a disc about the size of a 50-cent piece made of silicon that was left on the Moon by the Apollo 11 astronauts....
to NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
for the historic first lunar landing in 1969. The message still rests on the lunar surface today. Williams wrote, in part, "It is our earnest hope for mankind that while we gain the moon, we shall not lose the world."
The Eric Williams Memorial Collection
The Eric Williams Memorial CollectionEric Williams Memorial Collection
The Eric Williams Memorial Collection located at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago was inaugurated in 1998 by former US Secretary of State Colin Powell. In 1999, it was named to UNESCO’s prestigious Memory of the World Register...
(EWMC) at the University of the West Indies
University of the West Indies
The University of the West Indies , is an autonomous regional institution supported by and serving 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica,...
in Trinidad and Tobago was inaugurated in 1998 by former US Secretary of State Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
. In 1999, it was named to UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
’s prestigious Memory of the World Register. Secretary Powell heralded Dr. Williams as a tireless warrior in the battle against colonialism, and for his many other achievements as a scholar, politician and international statesman.
The Collection consists of the late Dr. Williams' Library and Archives. Available for consultation by researchers, the Collection amply reflects its owner’s eclectic interests, comprising some 7,000 volumes, as well as correspondence, speeches, manuscripts, historical writings, research notes, conference documents and a miscellany of reports. The Museum contains a wealth of emotive memorabilia of the period and copies of the seven translations of Williams’ major work, Capitalism and Slavery, (into Russian, Chinese and Japanese [1968, 2004] among them, and a Korean translation was released in 2006). Photographs depicting various aspects of his life and contribution to the development of Trinidad and Tobago complete this extraordinarily rich archive, as does a three-dimensional re-creation of Dr. Williams’ study.
Dr. Colin Palmer, Dodge Professor of History at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, has said: “as a model for similar archival collections in the Caribbean...I remain very impressed by its breadth...[It] is a national treasure.” Palmer’s new biography of Williams up to 1970, Eric Williams and the Making of the Modern Caribbean, published by the University of North Carolina Press
University of North Carolina Press
The University of North Carolina Press , founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina....
, is dedicated to the Collection.
Criticism
Some state that the economic decline in the West Indies was consequently more likely to have been a direct result of the suppression of the slave trade. Such a criticism can itself, however, be overturned by noting that the apparent prosperity of these British colonies was only a temporary artifact of the revolutionary turmoil in Haiti, which made the British West Indies for a brief while seem more profitable. Williams' evidence showing falling commodity prices as a rationale can largely be discounted; the falls in price led to an increase in demand, raising overall profits for the importers. Profits for the slave traders remained at around ten percent on investment and displayed no evidence of declining. Land prices in the West Indies, an important tool for analysing the economy of the area did not begin to decrease until after the slave trade was discontinued. Supporters of Williams would note, however, that this apparent rise of land prices was merely due to wartime inflation.It is thus a matter of dispute whether the sugar colonies were in terminal decline after the American Revolution. Their apparent economic prosperity in 1807 can be interpreted, as suggested above, in two ways. It should be noted that Williams was heavily involved in the movements for independence of the Caribbean colonies and had a fairly obvious motive to impugn the colonial power. Indeed, Williams' reputation among black West Indian scholars was always high.
A third generation of scholars led by Seymour Drescher
Seymour Drescher
Seymour Drescher is an American historian and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, known for his studies on Alexis de Tocqueville and Slavery....
and Roger Anstey have discounted many of Williams' arguments. They do however acknowledge that morality had to be combined with the forces of politics and economic theory to bring about the end of the slave trade.
On the other hand, Williams' central point that the rise of industrial capitalism in Britain was fueled by West Indian slavery, and that, in turn the new industrial bourgeoisie saw the maintenance of slavery as a drag on their profits, both still have some merit. In particular, we should note that significant decline in the British West Indies dates to after the abolition of the Corn Laws
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were trade barriers designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. The barriers were introduced by the Importation Act 1815 and repealed by the Importation Act 1846...
by the British in 1846 (one of the imperial preferences abolished was that in sugar).
Richardson (1998) finds Williams's claims regarding the Industrial Revolution are greatly exaggerated, for profits from the slave trade amounted to less than 1% of total domestic investment in Britain.
Williams was frequently lampooned in the paintings of his countryman Isaiah James Boodhoo
Isaiah James Boodhoo
Isaiah James Boodhoo was a Trinidadian painter.Born in the northeastern town of Sangre Grande, Boodhoo received a governmental scholarship in 1958 which allowed him to study art at England's Brighton College of Art; there, he studied disciplined, formal techniques. By his return home in 1964 his...
.
It was under Williams' government that the state initiated the first make-work
Make-work job
A make-work job is a job that has less final benefit than the job costs to support. Make-work jobs are similar to workfare but are publicly offered on the job market and have otherwise normal employment requirements .A classic...
programme, the Development and Environmental Works Division (DEWD).
The steelpan
Steelpan
Steelpans is a musical instrument originating from The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago...
men at the time were organized into gangs, with frequent violence between warring factions, such as the Marbunters and Casablanca. One of the functions of the DEWD was to lure the criminals of the time away from crime and into gainful employment. It also helped to sanitize pan and successfully break the association between panyards and criminality.
Similar to the Jamaican compromise
Jamaican Posse
Jamaican posses, often referred to simply as posses, are a loose coalition of gangs, based predominantly in Kingston, London, the New York City area and Toronto, Canada, first being involved in drugs and gun-running in the early 1980s...
, the programme also brought community criminals in partnership with the government. The criminals were rewarded with work and salaries, while the government was rewarded with increased representation (and votes) within the communities and some level on control on crime. The DEWD was the forerunner to other such government programmes such as the LIDP, URP and CEPEP, each their associated gangs and politicization. Williams has left this legacy of make-work programmes and has contributed to the current culture of entitlement
Culture of entitlement
Culture of entitlement is a concept meant to encapsulate the social or economic beliefs that a government, usually through entitlement programs, should provide access to goods or services such as employment opportunities or health care at no additional cost to its tax payers...
.
External links
- Eric Williams Memorial Collection Homepage
- Eric Eustace Williams in the Digital Library of the CaribbeanDigital Library of the CaribbeanThe Digital Library of the Caribbean is an international digital library operated collaboratively by the contributing partners.-Partners:...
- Williams, Eric. Capitalism and Slavery Richmond, Virginia. University of North Carolina Press, 1944.