Grenada's revolution was a brief and brilliant moment that was undone by errors and U.S. intervention. Its legacy must be remembered as the U.S. continues to violate the sovereignty of nations in the region.
I am writing from a small country that once dared to imagine a different world. Grenada’s 1979 Revolution (the Revo’) offered a vision of dignity, solidarity and people’s power that still resonates today.
Described by a 2019 Tribune Magazine article as “…a socialist revolution in the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada threatened to upturn the world economic order…”, the Revolution sought to bring about real change for its people and the world.
When we said “Forward Ever, Backward Never”, it was not a slogan but a declaration of faith in our own humanity. That spirit continues through Grenada - Forward Ever, an organisation dedicated to preserving the lessons of that transformative period and connecting them to the urgent struggles of our time.
The mission of Grenada - Forward Ever is rooted in education, reflection and action. We seek to honour the revolutionary legacy not as nostalgia but as a living foundation for social justice and peace. Our work focuses on rebuilding awareness of the people-centred principles that guided the 1979–1983 process — participatory democracy, self-reliance, gender equality and solidarity with the oppressed everywhere. Through writing, research and dialogue, we link generations and communities, recognising that the same forces which sought to crush Grenada’s experiment in self-determination remain active today in new forms of economic domination and political interference.
How did the people of Grenada arrive at this point? The story of Grenada, the very history of Grenada, is one of resolute defiance against the place assigned to us by others. This coincidence of time, molecules, nations and DNA created this force in 1979 and its location was Grenada.
I believe that the United States was frightened, and remains frightened, of the example set by the Revo’, and I say this for the following reasons.
Grenada is the last but one of the Caribbean islands semicircling the Caribbean Sea. It is mountainous by virtue of its volcanic origin and its soil is blessed by the same magma that created it.
The late development of European civilisation created an economic system designed to accumulate and consolidate wealth by means of theft. To this end, the kidnapping of Africans, their trafficking across the Atlantic and their being worked to death was the model used by all European nations to achieve these objectives. Although records of the ports of embarkation of the kidnapped Africans were collected and retained, their analysis is incomplete. So, it is only by guesswork that we know of the human tributaries that fed into the river that became the people of Grenada.
In the early 1800s, following numerous uprisings of the kidnapped Africans across the Caribbean and the Americas, and coinciding with the development of industrial capital in Europe, the kidnapping of Africans and their descendants was stopped. This led to what I will describe as “slavery-lite”, a form of economic activity in which the kidnappers continued to accumulate capital and the Africans were forced to provide low-cost labour.
With the granting of independence to these British-controlled territories in the 1960s and 70s, including Grenada, slavery-lite entered a new phase. While some of the captive peoples remained under imperial bondage, others strove for genuine independence.
In 1952, a leader returned to Grenada. Eric Matthew Gairy, born in 1922, like many ambitious Grenadians, travelled to Aruba, where he became a trade union leader. He was deported from there, returning to Grenada. Once in the country, he formed a trade union and led several actions which saw Britain realising that the game was up. Responding to these changes, the British introduced internal self-government. On several occasions during this period, Gairy was elected premier of Grenada.
However, by the 1970s, the forces sweeping through the African population in the Caribbean and North America reached Grenada, where the people realised that the path followed by leaders such as Gairy was not in their interest. This led to the creation of a number of political groups. Among these was JEWEL (Joint Endeavour for Welfare, Education and Liberation). Uniting with other organisations, the New Jewel Movement (NJM) was created in 1973.
The NJM set about winning political power from Gairy. To achieve this, it set up branches across the country, published newspapers, held meetings and in 1972 set out its objectives in its Manifesto.
Gairy was brutal in his suppression of the NJM, their supporters and any other body that was in opposition to his rule. He created a paramilitary group of thugs known by Grenadians as the “Green Beasts”, training his army in Pinochet’s Chile and establishing a secret police department comprising his henchmen.
The NJM, having participated in a number of elections that were clearly rigged by Gairy, and with his rule becoming even more murderous, took the decision to take power by force. On the morning of 13 March 1979, the NJM led the people of Grenada in an uprising against Gairy and seized power.
Led by the NJM, the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG) was formed and immediately began to implement a programme of social and economic activities previously outlined in their Manifesto.
From my work, experience and discussions with others, I have learned that the Revo’ was not simply about seizing power; it was about transforming power. In four and a half years, this small, poor nation of 110,000 people achieved the following:
- Immediately halved school fees; within six months provided free education for all children and within eighteen months granted free school uniforms and books.
- Established a social security system for all.
- Made healthcare free.
- Successfully implemented a national literacy programme.
- Reduced unemployment from 44% of the workforce to 14%, still a high figure but a remarkable reduction nevertheless.
- Established over thirty para-statal enterprises designed to use the country’s natural resources that previously went to waste, provided employment and created added value. These were not subsidised by the PRG but contributed XCD$6 million per annum in net profits to the people of Grenada.
- Built an international airport, creating better links to the outside world, and
- Created grassroots participation on a scale that inspired the world.
These are but a small sample of the gains that the people of Grenada created for themselves. These are not propaganda and can be studied in a number of publications such as World Bank and IMF reports.
Mistakes were made during the Revo’. Although there were sound justifications for our actions, we detained individuals without trial, closed down publications we deemed hostile to the Revo’, and denounced individuals we considered opponents as “counters” (counter-revolutionaries), amongst other things. Internal contradictions contributed to its downfall, but its achievements remain undeniable. Above all, it demonstrated that the poor and dispossessed could become active makers of history.
At Grenada - Forward Ever, we continue to draw lessons from that experience. One lesson is the importance of humility and self-criticism, qualities that were sometimes lacking in the heat of revolutionary struggle. Another is the need to place women at the centre of social transformation. Many of us have come to realise, sometimes painfully, that liberation must be inclusive or it is not liberation at all. The Revolution taught us that education, culture and gender justice are not side issues but the foundation of peace itself.
Central to our purpose is the defence of the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, along with the Black Alliance for Peace and other organizations. In 2014, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) adopted a historic declaration affirming this principle, pledging that the region must be free from foreign military presence and that disputes should be settled peacefully. This declaration was not new; it was the logical continuation of decades of regional resistance to colonialism and imperialism. Demands for such a Zone had been previously made by Caribbean and Latin American leaders, including Maurice Bishop. So, for Grenada, the idea of a Zone of Peace carries a deep moral resonance. During the Revolution, our people declared that the island would never host a foreign military base or allow its territory to be used against another nation. We aligned ourselves with the Non-Aligned Movement and sought friendship with all peoples regardless of political system or ideology.
Today, that commitment to peace faces renewed challenges. Even as I am writing this piece, rumours of a US attack on the people of Venezuela are sweeping the country. Further, global rivalries are again turning the Caribbean into a stage for military and political competition. The presence of foreign warships, intelligence operations and economic coercion undermines the sovereignty of small island nations. At the same time, structural inequality, climate vulnerability and debt dependency create domestic instability that will be exploited. To speak of peace, therefore, is not to speak of silence or passivity. Peace must rest on justice — on fair trade, environmental balance and the empowerment of our people. Without that, the concept of a Zone of Peace risks becoming symbolic rather than real.
The Caribbean today faces immense challenges that make the vision of peace and justice more urgent than ever. Climate change threatens our survival. Rising seas, hurricanes and droughts endanger lives and livelihoods. Economically, we remain tied to tourism and debt while young people migrate for opportunity. Politically, we see efforts to divide our region and weaken institutions like CARICOM and CELAC, which are essential for collective strength. Yet I remain hopeful because across the region, new movements are emerging — farmers reclaiming land for sustainable agriculture, women organising cooperatives and youth using digital media to tell our stories and challenge corruption. These are modern expressions of the same spirit that drove us in 1979.
Grenada - Forward Ever contributes to this renewal through several initiatives. We maintain an online archive of revolutionary history and oral testimony, ensuring that future generations can learn directly from those who built and defended the Revolution. We host public discussions linking Caribbean, African and other liberation struggles, exploring shared histories of resistance and the ongoing fight against neocolonial control. We also advocate for regional cooperation on disarmament, climate justice and cultural education — seeing these as inseparable elements of a genuine peace agenda.
Our work is entirely people-driven. We receive no state funding and answer to no party or government. That independence allows us to engage openly and critically, to celebrate our achievements without ignoring our errors. The goal is not to relive the past but to use its lessons to guide present and future struggles. In the words of Maurice Bishop, “…The people must be the ones to decide...” For us, that remains the guiding principle of peace.
To defend the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace is therefore both a political and a moral duty. It means opposing militarisation, resisting economic exploitation and rejecting the idea that small nations must serve as pawns in global games. It also means building within ourselves the capacity for unity, empathy and mutual respect. Peace cannot be imposed from above; it must grow from below, through the daily acts of solidarity between ourselves that bind us together — giving cooling water to a stranger seeking relief, carrying a neighbour to the hospital or decorating the local school. Acts such as these will bind us together.
As I reflect on the journey from the Revolution to today, I see not defeat but continuity. It is crystal clear that among the young — by which I mean those born after the Revo’s collapse — support for its achievements grows with each passing year. The faces may have changed, the tools are different, but the purpose endures — to create societies where every person has dignity and every nation can stand tall. The call of Forward Ever is not an echo from history; it is a living challenge to each of us to make peace real.
For Grenada, for the Caribbean and for all those who still believe in justice, the message remains clear: Forward Ever, Backward Never.
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"I was born in Grenada but have lived in the UK since 1960, with the intention of never returning to the country. Following a visit in the ‘70s I had a Damascene conversion on my return to Britain, with the appreciation of the poverty I had just witnessed.
I have supported the people of Grenada since then by, amongst other things, propagating information about the achievements of the Revolution."
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