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

mon purpose namely, to make an end, once and for all, of the anachronism
of Crown Colony Rule, and to build upon sure and certain foundations
a new West Indian Nationhood. Their presence is evidence of
what I may term a new West India Solidarity.. It is evidence that the old
prejudices of insularity are dying, prejudice that have kept us West Indians
a people of common interest, of common stock, upbringing, tradition
and ideas apart to our mutual detriment. The cancer of insular
prejudice is disappearing before the awakening realisation of the common
benefits of combination.
Rawle then referred specifically to the delegates of the respective
colonies. You will have noticed that I have left one name for the
last, that of Capt. Cipriani. It is said on high authority that a prophet is
not without honour save in his own country. May I say to and of Capt.
Cipriani that if he regards his own country as not being merely Trinidad
but the West Indies, then there is no honour too great for him in his
own country. That is the view of every patriotic West Indian. My reason
for saying this and the reason for his popularity out of Trinidad - a
popularity of which he may be unconscious - is that we feel that he has
given his life to the cause of the West Indian Nationalism and to the
work of uplifting the lower classes in the West Indies.
He continued: To the delegates one and all we offer a sincere
welcome as to brothers. They are our kinsmen, they are our fellow West
Indians, and although they will speak tonight to a Dominican audience,
I am sure that they will realise that the audience looks on them not as
Trinidadian, Barbadians or Grenadians, etc. but merely as West Indians,
and we wish them to feel that in Dominica they are in a part of
their own homeland.
Crown Colony Challenged
Rawle then moved on to the main issue: Gentlemen, it may be
asked why has it been left to a small island like Dominica to take the
initiative in an issue of this magnitude? Dominica has suffered most
from the excessive and extravagance of Crown Colony rule. It is impossible
for some of the delegates to conceive what the Crown Colony system
is capable of in a small community where public opinion and public
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