The Biggest Leadership Lesson of the Grenada Revolution

Forty-four years after the Grenada Revolution, the biggest lesson for Eastern Caribbean political leaders is the following: a revolutionary government is not feasible. The only viable path to political power in the Eastern Caribbean is the ballot—not the bullet. This lesson is the cause for the most massive shift in Eastern Caribbean political leadership today. A lesson written in blood.

The ‘Grenada Revolution’ refers to the radical People’s Revolutionary Government led by the late Prime Minister (PM) Maurice Bishop of the New Jewel Movement. On March 13, 1979, Bishop came to power by a coup. Then, in October 1983 a revolutionary colleague murdered Bishop, paving the way for US Marines to invade Grenada.

From the 1950s, inspired by Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba, several Eastern Caribbean so-called ‘movements’ pursued radical political change. They questioned the legitimacy of traditional politics, economics, parties, elections, policy, and development.

That trend ended following the collapse of the Grenada Revolution in 1983. That’s when some of the best politicians in the Eastern Caribbean, including Dr. Ralph Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Roosevelt Douglas of Dominica who both led radical ‘Movements,’ not political ‘Parties’ shifted their approach and recognized the legitimacy of the traditional way of doing politics. In fact, Dr. Gonsalves and Douglas would go on to be elected Prime Minister through traditional political parties.

Those in politics in the Eastern Caribbean who have not yet learned this lesson are still withering in the political wilderness.