Revisiting Caribbean Labour

This retrospective on past Caribbean labour struggles provides the beginnings of a region-wide comparative perspective. Extending initial insights from the Anglophone to the Hispanic Caribbean, and from the momentous upheavals of the 1930s to the present, the essays examine the pivotal role which labour has played, and continues to play, in shaping not only the political culture of the region and its history, but also its domestic and social organization. Moreover, the essays tease out many of the activities and much of the activism which has been obscured not only by biases in the historical record, but by those of the labour leadership. Thus, the role of women in labour and revolutionary activities, and the role of memory on historical consciousness and contemporary activism are crucially brought to the surface. Revisiting Caribbean Labour is written o provide today’s Caribean labour movements with an understanding of their history that can help them more effectively face the challenges of today. It is an expansion and tribute to the work of O. Nigel Bolland on the British Caribbean.