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

The Campaign
Nomination of candidates for the 1937 election took place at the end of
May and the date of polling was three weeks later. The President and
Vice President of the Workers League, Mr. T. Manchester and Mr. E
Challenger, were nominated as candidates for St. Kitts. The organisation
gave its unqualified backing to Mr. Clement Malone, a Barrister-at-
Law and labour supporter, who ran as a independent candidate for St.
Kitts.
The League made the opening of its electioneering campaign at
the Apollo on the night of 21 st April. The theater was packed. The
presentation of the “blueprint of a new order” was received with a tremendous
ovation. The Leaders of Labour left no stone unturned in
bringing home to the people the necessity of breaking with the past and
building for the future. In his speech at the theater. Manchester said,
We are now on the verge of the beginning of a new era, the birth of a
new day. The passing of Crown Colony rule will mean the closing of a
chapter in the history of the Presidency; and the coming into being of
the Elective Principle will be the opening paragraph of the new chapter,
the ushering in of the era .. which we hope and believe will mean
greater opportunity and greater prosperity for us all. All the speakers
of the evening played their part in giving a clear-cut picture on the
broad aims of the Labour Movement, the background of the upward
surge, the goals that must be reached and the obstacles to be surmounted.
The manifesto touched on social and educational, industrial and
economic, civic and political matters and covered every aspect of national
life. A prominent declaration within it was, To work for periodical
revisions of the qualification of voters, with the ultimate introduction
of manhood suffrage. Another one read, To labour in the direction
of establishing a system under which the resources of the Presidency
will be so developed and distributed as to secure therefrom the maximum
well being of all section of the inhabitants of the St. Kitts, Nevis
and Anguilla.
In stressing this point, the League’s President referred to the
operation of the sugar industry. He said, I have prayed and hoped for
the day that I would be able to put forward my views on this all-
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