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

1 EARLY VISION
Where is this country heading? Different persons ask this question for
different reasons, but whatever the motive is, every citizen can find the
answer. He has only to examine the past, watch the happenings of the
present and study the trends as the future unfolds itself.
In the year 1918, the atmosphere was charged with uneasiness,
contrast, endeavour. The main issue was centered around the destiny of
the working class. Some working men were marched from the village
of St. Paul’s fifty years ago to serve sentences in the Basseterre prison
because they did not turn out for their jobs. A breach of the law was
then commonly known as the "bridge of contract". That piece of legislation
was a nightmare to workers on estates all over the island. The
sting of it was constantly felt. Fifty years later the sound of it still
aroused a feeling of horror and resentment in the older estate workers
who remember the specter that it was. The men of St. Paul's were making
history for their village. The penalty was harsh when they failed to
turn out to work or when they left one employer and took a job with
another. Such was the estate system in those days. The workers were
regarded part of the estate.
Those stout-hearted men were thinking differently. No doubt
they had seen visions of social reform and industrial changes that were
to come in the next generation. They felt that something was wrong
with the social system in which they were born. The control over their
working life was repressive and should no longer exist. They were facing
a dramatic situation. Together they showed resistance by refusing
to seek compromise. Bravely they set out on the long journey to serve
their prison sentence.
Extent of Domination
Have you any idea of the size of the task that confronted the ordinary
people of this country when they started to think of improving their
working life? Let us look at the picture as it was half a century ago. In
that period business was thriving. The volume of business done and
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