Jewel, New Jewel, the Grenada revolution: Its crisis and collapse

This study is based on a critical analysis of the historical processes and contradictions which accompanied the Grenada revolution of March 13, 1979, and which eventually led to its crisis and collapse in October of 1983. Specifically, the study focuses on the historical, socio-economic, political and ideological origins of the New Jewel Movement (NJM), how it came to be transformed into a "Marxist-Leninist Vanguard party", which subsequently seized and then lost power under the name of the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG). The study was conducted on the basis of a study of the political economy of Grenada specifically focusing on the period of 1979-1983. From the standpoint of political economy, the study's focus is on the Grenada social formation i.e., the mode of production and the social relations of production, social classes, the structure and organizational function of the NJM, ideology, class struggle, authoritarianism and the state. The study pays close attention to the role of the working class in the revolutionary process and revolutionary democracy. In the latter context, the study attempted to establish the extent to which Grenada could be said to be a predominantly "peasant" society. The socio-economic policies of the PRG and its impact on Grenadian society were also given serious and careful consideration. Finally, the study sought to demonstrate that, contrary to both the conspiracy thesis and those who argue that U.S. imperialism were the causes for the revolution's failure, the key factor that explains the crisis and collapse of the Grenada revolution was the ideology of populism. We show that populism was the articulating principle of the NJM for communicating with Grenadian society, an ideology which concealed the class character and nature of both the NJM and Grenadian society by its appeal to "people's" and "masses" as opposed to social classes in conflict over the issue of power. As we attempted to show, it was this very ideology and its agents that destroyed the revolution. What this study does is show how and why all of this came about. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).