JNF-The-Working-Class-Struggle-of-Half-a-Century

tional reform movement in this Presidency were consulted, and were
found to be in agreement with the Report in its main outlines.
Hour of Decision
The 1932 Commission’s Report had brought the Leeward Islands to the
crossroads. On the one hand there was pressure from the crusaders of
reform in the South Caribbean. On the other hand there was the temptation
to use the weapons of the boycott and to employ all other means
to shatter the clutches of colonialism. But the latter course had its dangers.
Rawle told the story of what went on behind, in his public statement
made on 11 th October 1934. He said, Prior to the publications of
the report I wrote that certain of the more prominent conferences
should be held preferably at Grenada, which had been selected as the
headquarters of the West Indian National League, the instrument
through which the Conference hoped to continue the work it had commenced,
for the purpose of arriving at a collective decision regarding
the Closer Union Report when issued. I also wrote the Hon. T. A. Marryshow
of Grenada to this effect although he was not a conference delegate,
because he had promised, when passing through Dominica on
his way from London to Grenada that he would do his utmost to organise
the League’s headquarters on a proper basis.
With two exceptions, I did not receive the courtesy of a reply.
The responsible Headquarters of the League remained peculiarly silent.
No actios was taken there or elsewhere on my proposal, and the Dominica
Branch of the League was left to its own resources, and was consequently
compelled to act on its own initiative.
The alternatives to acceptance of the report were fully and
frankly examined. Passive resistance to the Crown Colony Rule
throughout the West Indies including a mass refusal to pay taxes, and
an absolute boycott of Governmental institutions, appeared to be the
only weapon by which a larger measure of autonomy could be immediately
enforced. To invite the risk of such an explosion would in any
case be a grave responsibility. To do so without reasonable cause and
without hope of success would be criminal folly. Surveying the situa-
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