Jerome Teelucksingh
IF WE are asked to give illustrations of Caribbean unity or co-operation, some of us might say Carnival or cricket. There are other examples that are often overlooked.
Evidence of West Indian integration include professional organisations and institutions. One of the earliest professional organisations was the Associated Chambers of Commerce of the West Indies (1917), which promoted trade among the colonies and sought to develop inter-island transport.
There were others, such as the West Indies and British Guiana Teachers' Union, which was formed in 1935. Its first president was TE Beckles of the Trinidad Teachers' Union.
Similarly, the first West Indian press conference was held in January 1929 in Barbados. Among the representatives in attendance was TA Marryshow of the West Indian in Grenada, ARF Webber of the New Daily Chronicle in British Guiana, and one delegate from the Voice of St Lucia.
Few know of the Civil Service Federation, formed in 1944, which fought against the colour bar in the colonial service and encouraged the unification of the civil service in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Other institutions that serviced the Caribbean included the West Indies Agricultural College (established in 1921), later renamed the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, and then UWI. Also promoting regional co-operation were the Caribbean Bar Association and the West Indian Meteorological Service.
Trade unions and working-class organisations also advanced the integration process with their initiatives to create a West Indian working class entity. The quest for a "confederation of labour" received expression through regional co-operation among working-class organisations aided by mutual visits of labour officials to the various colonies.
Labour groups in Trinidad and Grenada had established links. This was primarily through the valiant efforts of Capt Arthur Cipriani and the Trinidad Workingmen's Association (TWA), later renamed the Trinidad Labour Party. Marryshow acknowledged that the Grenada Workingmen's Association (GWA) was founded as a result of Cipriani's initiative.
Fraternal relations among working-class leaders laid the foundations for an informal network of labour in the Caribbean.
In 1932, Marryshow and Cipriani, motivated by the urgency to mobilise labour in the Caribbean, visited St Kitts, where they encouraged workers to form organisations similar to the TWA and GWA. Subsequently, the St Kitts Workers' League was formed as a working-class organisation, but also to function for the promotion of political and social reform.
On August 3, 1936, Marryshow visited St Vincent at the invitation of George McIntosh, president of the St Vincent Workingmen's Association (SVWCA). In his address at a labour rally of 3,000-4,000 people, Marryshow encouraged the working class there to promote programmes for the advancement of labour, but also to actively support the efforts of labour leaders in the quest for self-government.
The need for a confederation of labour
