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

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oil underneath his feet. Englishmen came across the sea and knocked him down. Their Henry Ford and others inherited the wealth. Watch your steps. If there is natural wealth around, somebody is coming after it. Mussolini was searching for oil and coal and copper, and when he found it in Abyssinia, Haile Selassie had to run. Your country can be no greater than yourselves. It is not God that makes the cities and towns. God gives you the land, but you build the cities. Your St. Kitts will be no greater than your minds. If I come back here in ten years and you have made no progress, it will be because of your minds. When Rome ruled the world she was not the greatest or biggest city, but the greatest thinkers were in Rome. A scientific mind can bring the world to its feet. My friends, I do not claim to be a genius, but today men are looking at me; men will know that I have registered here in St. Kitts. It is a jelly fish that comes into the world and passes off without anybody knowing it was here. Why come here like jack fish or sprat that nobody remembers after it is fried? Some of you cannot even remember who your grandfather was. Why? Because he never did anything. Alexander Hamilton’s grand, grand, grand, grand children will know him because the man did something. What are you going to do? I am going to advise you in closing. First of all, find out who you are. Then ask yourself, “what can I do?” Most of you never investigate yourself. You know all about your neighbour, but you do not know a thing about yourself.... It is your neighbour who has to tell you. And how does your neighbour know? By your behaviour. And your behaviour reflects your mind. You cannot do anything until you first think it out… The world was waiting on Edison and he came, on Marconi and he came, on Napoleon and he came, on Henry Ford and he came, on Mussolini and he came, on Hitler and he came. The world is waiting on you, when will you come? My friends, answer that for yourselves and let us hear about you. Men who are born in St. Kitts, God has endowed you. I cannot talk to you more emphatically. It is for you to understand what I am driving at. It is for me to know that I have stuck the keynote... This is my job, to set men right. I have dedicated myself to this work - helping people who look like me. 161
Three hundred years ago we were brought from Africa to these parts; We have suffered because we knew no better. We must make it right. I refuse to swallow any theory that does not agree with the system of social life in which I find myself. We must do something to get out of it. That system was inclined to sew me up in a bag, but I ripped the bag and got out, and no man shall sew me up again. It is a question of mind over matter. Men can do things to my body, but never to my mind. I shall leave the influence of my mind after I am dead. You can read the mind like any book - like Shakespeare’s Othello or the Gospel of John...” A Challenge to the Race Garvey delivered a charge to the Negroes of the world. Not only did he stress the principles of self-reliance and self- respect, but he cut deeply into the consciousness of the people of his race. Concluding his speech, he said, You must postulate a philosophy of your own... God blesses those who help themselves. Once on the field of battle Napoleon was asked by a soldier on which side was God, and he replied: ‘God is on the side of the strongest battalion.’ What Napoleon meant was that God was on the side of intelligence. When Mussolini went to Ethiopia with aer-planes and mustard gas and guns, the Emperor was in a Coptic Church with a prayer book in his hand. On whose side was God in the Abyssinian War? The answer is Mussolini. There are four hundred million men and women of my race in the world today. I want to charge them so that they can hold their own. But you cannot do it foolishly. Don’t think you are something when you are as blind as a bat. Never keep the company of a fool. Try to find out all you can about life. The average West Indian spends all of his days of learning in the elementary school. After that, he is finished, expect in bad words. He coins his own language and that completes his education. But they do not use that language in the University. In the world today, if you have no knowledge, then you are a misfit. Why should a man confine himself to his backyard where his bad words are law? The energy that most of you put behind your bad words if used in the proper channel would make you Alexander Hamilton. But if you don’t read, how can you know? In an island like this with some 20,000 person, all you have 162
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J. N. FRANCE ______________________
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© 2015 Published by The National A
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Preface The Working Class struggle
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1 EARLY VISION Where is this countr
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With the passing of time, social an
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This early attempt at workers' orga
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post as a school teacher to succeed
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For several years the pressure was
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and school houses are being used fo
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housing condition arising from the
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3 PREPARING THE GROUND The thought
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That impressive English story told
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they had accumulated £28 with whic
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Commons that since the colony of th
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1922, some of the members of Legisl
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On 30 th August 1932 the Dominica T
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country and I regard British Guiana
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Mr. Marryshow then raised his tone
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Delegates to the West India Confere
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The conference opened its proceedin
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protests can be ignored with impuni
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Closer Union Commission widened to
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He said it was a privilege to him t
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possible, an education that must be
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and suffering, and in such a condit
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The land forming the Hospital compo
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ing able to grant the request of th
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prison sentences for what was commo
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sinned against the Factory. Theirs
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9 FROM PAUPER RELIEF TO PROVIDENT B
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1954 declared the first Monday in M
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it has proposed to interfere will b
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Change When the League came on the
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Children of the working class. 61
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had just dumped out a load of cane
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There was no reply from London. Twe
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president. When the delegation gave
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Under the law of 1937 only a limite
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Workers who would have benefited fr
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Grenada, and will seek to work in a
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Ferguson, Chairman of the Commissio
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Now let me say in the first place t
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We should like to refer to West Ind
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in West Indies there is a considera
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The 1932 Commissioners commented on
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not regard it as essential that the
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official news of its adoption by th
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gravity of the situation to the att
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On 13 th December, 1934 an unusuall
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employed by those who demand the ad
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concerning the right for the workin
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come relief to a grateful people an
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vance towards the goal of the Feder
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members of the Council. Mr. Marrysh
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see no reason why we should be give
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Unofficial Majority on the Legislat
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tional reform movement in this Pres
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combine to give the Closer Union Sc
Page 120 and 121: prominent part in marking the close
Page 122 and 123: when the slaves were set free, and
Page 124 and 125: The people in those days took it fo
Page 126 and 127: Sugar Factory workers were “chast
Page 128 and 129: At West Farm the marchers were prev
Page 130 and 131: Some of the men, it was alleged, we
Page 132 and 133: gear was damaged and the employees
Page 134 and 135: Inspector of Police and Magistrate
Page 136 and 137: H.M.S. Leander arrived in the port
Page 138 and 139: satisfied that the action taken by
Page 140 and 141: 16 THE FIRST ELECTION The clash of
Page 142 and 143: opposed to it. The 1936 Constitutio
Page 144 and 145: important matter, I promise the Ele
Page 146 and 147: could have no better representative
Page 148 and 149: whether it was a fact that the St.
Page 150 and 151: existing, it is not considered that
Page 152 and 153: 17 THE 1938 ROYAL COMMISSION The 19
Page 154 and 155: A: Any law-abiding citizen over 16
Page 156 and 157: appeared and presented the case of
Page 158 and 159: 18 A STAKE IN THE COUNTRY Land owne
Page 160 and 161: culture and Commercial Society. The
Page 162 and 163: After this, the land would vest abs
Page 164 and 165: age. In the following month, Januar
Page 166 and 167: 19 MARCUS GARVEY IN ST. KITTS St. K
Page 168 and 169: When he made man he said, ‘By the
Page 172 and 173: is a little four-page newspaper. Yo
Page 174 and 175: provided the major portion of the e
Page 176 and 177: which should be paid for the variou
Page 178 and 179: In April 1969 the Minister of Labou
Page 180 and 181: 21 POWER OF THE PRESS During first
Page 182 and 183: Commission headed by Sir Charles Fe
Page 184 and 185: President wrote, The issues are too
Page 186 and 187: the sea. The effects were terrible
Page 188 and 189: mendous crowd packed the Mutual Imp
Page 190 and 191: territory, the success of the past
Page 192 and 193: the notice, was that employees were
Page 194 and 195: 185
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