Maurice Rupert Bishop changed Grenada forever. He was a Grenadian revolutionary and the leader of New Jewel Movement. The Black liberation movement came to power during the 1979 revolution that removed the then leader of Grenada, Eric Gairy, from office. And it was Bishop who headed the People’s Revolutionary Government of Grenada from 1979 to 1983.
Here are 10 things you should know about this Grenadian leader.
Bishop was born on May 29, 1944, in Aruba, then a colony of the Netherlands as part of the Netherlands Antilles. His parents, Rupert and Elment Bishop, were from the British island of Grenada. Looking for better work and pay, Elment moved his family to Aruba and it was where Bishop lived until he was six years old when his father took the family back to Grenada and opened a small retail shop in the capital, St. George’s.
While in college at the Roman Catholic Presentation Brothers’ College, Bishop was elected president of the Student Council, of the Discussion Club, and of the History Study Group, along with editing the school’s newspaper Student Voice. “Shortly before graduation, in early 1962, Bishop and youth leader from Grenada Boys’ Secondary School Bernard Coard, created the Grenada Assembly of Youth Fighting for Truth, designed to bring the island youth to political life in a debate over pressing issues,” Wikipedia reported.
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As a young man, Bishop was intrigued by freedom fighters and revolutions around the world, particularly the Cuban Revolution. He also started to learn about Caribbean nationalism. Bishop recalled: “In fact, for us it did not matter what we heard on the radio or read in the colonial press. For us, it comes down to the courage and legendary heroism of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara…Nothing could overshadow this aspect of the Cuban Revolution.”
In 1969, Bishop received a law degree and also became one of the founders of the legal aid office of the West Indies community in London. He worked as an auditor of additional taxes on the British civil service. He was also preparing for his return to Grenada.
Bishop did make it back to Grenada, but his revolutionary ideals got hmi in some trouble. Returning to Grenada, in December 1970 Bishop gave legal defence to striking nurses at a local hospital, who aimed to improve the conditions of their patients. Bishop was arrested along with 30 others while protesting with the nurses. He and the others were acquitted after a seven-month trial.
The situation for Bishop in Grenada grew violent. On November 18, 1973, while Bishop and other leaders of the New Jewel Movement were driving to meet with businessmen, security forces under Assistant Chief Constable Aynesent Belmar overtook Bishop’s motorcade. “Nine people were captured, arrested, and beaten by the government. In prison they shaved their beards, revealing Bishop’s broken jaw. These events became known in Grenada as ‘Bloody Sunday,’” Wikipedia reported.
Then on January 21, 1974, Bishop joined a mass demonstration against Gairy. Following the protest, Bishop and his group were pelted with stones and bottles by Gairy’s supporters as they were trying to return to their hotel. The event grew even deadlier as Rupert Bishop, Maurice’s father, who was leading women and children away from the danger, was himself shot and killed at the door of the hotel.
“This became known in Grenada as ‘Bloody Monday.’ Bishop said that after this ‘we realized that we were unable to lead the working class’ since the party had no influence in city workers unions or among the rural folk loyal to Gairy. With his colleagues he developed a new strategy, focusing not on propaganda and mobilization for anti-government demonstrations but on February 6, 1974, Bishop was arrested on charges of plotting an armed anti-government conspiracy but following Independence day, on February 8, 1974, Bishop was released on bail and traveled to the United States.
Bishop wanted change to come to Grenada and he took action. “Responding to the situation in Grenada in 1973, Bishop formed a political group called the Movement For Assemblies of the People (MAP), and in the same year, merged MAP with another political group established and led by his colleague, Unison Whiteman. Whiteman’s group had the name Joint Action For Education Welfare & Liberation (JEWEL), and the organization resulting from the merger was called the New Jewel Movement (NJM),” Grenada Government Biographies reported.
Even though Eric Gairy and his Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) won the General Elections in 1976, opposition leaders charged vote tampering as all election officials were members of GULP. Meanwhile, Bishop was elected to the House of Representatives that same year. As Leader of the Opposition, he held that post for until March 13, 1979, when Bishop and his followers seized control of the government of Grenada, while Prime Minister Gairy was attending the United Nations session in New York.
As soon as he took office, he made major changes.
“Proclaiming a People’s Revolutionary Government, Bishop suspended the constitution. Promising new, democratic elections, Bishop became Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and Interior, Information, Health, and Carriacou Affairs. Bernard Coard, a Brandeis University graduate in economics, became Deputy Prime Minister, as well as Minister of Trade, Industry, Finance, and Planning. Bishop began to build close diplomatic relations with Cuba and the Soviet Union after he took power. He initiated a number of projects, most significantly, the building of a new international airport on the island’s southern tip,” Grenada Government Biographies reported.
Power Struggle
Not all were happy with the changes Bishop was making.
“By late 1982 a deep rift had developed within the central committee of the People’s Revolutionary Government. A power struggle ensued, mainly over the issue of Coard’s desire to have coequal status. On October 13, 1983, Bishop was placed under house arrest. Six days later, on Wednesday, October 19, large public demonstrations demanding the restoration of Bishop occurred in various parts of the island. A crowd of Bishop’s supporters released him and marched to the military compound at Fort Rupert,” Grenada Government Biographies reported.
A dispute among the party’s leadership occurred In 1983. A military junta group within the party attempted to force Bishop either step down or agree to a power-sharing agreement with the Deputy Prime Minister, Bernard Coard. Bishop turned down these proposals. He was deposed and placed under house arrest in October 1983. Ultimately, a four-man Peoples Revolutionary Army firing squad using machine guns executed him with three members of his Cabinet plus four others. After Bishop was dead, “a gunman slit his throat and cut off his finger to steal his ring. The bodies were then transported to a military camp and partially burned in a pit. The location of the remains is still unknown,” the Wikipedia reported.
