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

which was contradicted completely by the events of 1935, At no time
has the labourer been more satisfied with the treatment accorded to him
than last year, and there is every confidence that he will receive the
same terms or even better, this year without coersion.
So once again the reading public had the opportunity to see the press at
work. People became aware of the meaning of the adage to read, mark,
learn and inwardly digest.
Reporting on the Commission
When the Royal Commission came out in 1938 to investigate social and
economic conditions in the West Indies, the event triggered off another
confrontation between the two sections of the local press. The reading
public saw much more than a quarrel between two sections of the local
press. As the Commission’s task was largely concerned with the deplorable
state to which the working masses had long been reduced by
capitalist exploitation, the mouth piece of the vested interests went into
action with zeal, loyalty and devotion to the ruling class.
The ground covered in the Caribbean during the entire tour of
the Commission can be seen from the following extract from the report
which was submitted on the 21 st December 1939. Formal evidence was
heard in 26 centres from 370 witnesses or groups of witnesses including
many large delegations, most of whose members took a part in the proceedings.
We had further to consider 789 memoranda of evidence, several
of which rival this report in bulk; and in addition we received some
300 communications relating to individual grievances or other matters
which we could not treat as falling within our terms of reference.
The Commission reached this territory in December 1938. The
delegation of the Workers League gave evidence on the 22 nd . At this
juncture, the newspaper that spoke for the landed interests and ruling
class came out with reports of the proceedings of the investigations of
the Royal Commission. The reports of the evidence provided by the
Workers League was so distorted by that section of the press that the
leaders hastened to summon the aid of the other section of the press to
correct the false impression by publishing a full transcript of the evidence
given by the League. In requesting this publication, the League’s
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