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

1922, some of the members of Legislative Council retired. On the unofficial
side those retiring were one professional man and two planters. A
new Council was constituted five days later but nobody to represent
labourers was appointed on it. The suggestion of the Universal Benevolent
Association went by the board.
In January 1932 the start of reaping the sugar cane crop was
held up for a day or two in some districts on account of dissatisfaction
on the part of the workers. It was stated that the estates were offering
8d. per ton for cutting. The workers were not inclined to accept it but
after the short hold-up they ultimately had to be content with that rate.
Commenting on the incident, The Union Messenger of 9 th February
1932 said: In the first place, the labourers did not really know whether
the price offered them, 8d. per ton, is a good rate in keeping with the
price paid for the canes. The paper further pointed, No scattered group
of labourers without the aid of organisation leaders, can take up and
discuss advantageously with employers the delicate and intricate question
of wages.
The proposed combination of the Caribbean Colonies would
necessarily be of major concern to the working population but there was
no established forum from which they could speak for themselves. On
30 th April, 1931, the Leeward Islands Federal Legislative Council
passed a resolution supporting the suggested union of Trinidad and Tobago
with the Windwards and Leeward Islands As a first step towards
the economic and political federation of the British West Indies and
British Guiana, but the resolution emphasised that The unofficial members
are opposed to any union which will result in any of the Islands of
the Leeward Island Colony becoming dependencies of the colony of
Trinidad and Tobago or any other colony.
The great need of the day might therefore be summed up as a
need for some effective, earnest and lasting agency for the promotion of
the interest of the country as a whole and the working class in particular.
No sooner was the St. Kitts Workers League formed, than it
threw itself into the battle for political liberation. It was the only thing
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