Labour Riot in Trinindad and Tobago

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Recommended: Social Conflict Theory by Karl Marx

Social Unrest has shaped the development of Trinidad and Tobago since the middle of the 19th century. There were numerous attempts by the British Colonial Government to limit the celebration of Carnival, which sparked the Canboulay Riot of 1881 and 1884. In the early 20th century, the water riot culminated in the destruction of the Red House. Karl Marx made this famous statement ‘In such great developments twenty years are but a day and there may come days which are the concentrated essence of twenty years’. This statement can be used in reference to the Labour Riot of 1937 in Trinidad and Tobago. I chose this topic to educate the readers of the historical event that took place on June 19 1937 in Trinidad and Tobago. The fight their forefather’s fought to make working life civilized for us today allowed for this day to become a public holiday in Trinidad and Tobago known today as ‘Labour Day’ The British West Indian Labour Unrest of 1934 to 1939 encompasses a series of disturbances, strikes and riots in the United Kingdom’s Caribbean colonies. These began as the Great Depression of 1929 wore on and ceased on the eve of World War II. In British Honduras February 1934 there was a labour agitation (which ended in a riot in September), which was the starting point for the cycle of the disturbances. In May to July 1934 sugar estate disturbances in Trinidad (involving 15,000 Indian estate labourers). In January 1935 Saint Kitts also had a sugar strike. In Jamaica labour protest broke out in May on the islands north coast, rioting among banana workers in the town of Oracabessa, and then succeeded by a strike of dockworkers in Falmouth, which ended in violence. In September and October there were riots on various sugar estates in Brit... ... middle of paper ... ...essfully for the General Election. In 1970, the nation honoured Butler with the country’s highest award the Trinity Cross and the former Princess Margaret Highway was renamed after him and a life size statue of him was erected in Fyzabad in his honour. However, the national labour movement was thrown into mourning on February 20, 1977 (Carnival Sunday of that year) when Uriah Butler the father of the movement towards Independence and the Trade Union movement passed away at his home at Brute Force Village. (Anthony) Works Cited Appendix Anthony, Michael. Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago. London: The Scarecrow Press, 1977. Anthony, Michael. Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago. London: The Scarecrow Press, 1977. Anthony, Michael. Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago. London: The Scarecrow Press, 1977.

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