Printed below is an excerpt from Maurice Bishop Speaks: The Grenada Revolution, 1979–83, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for October. The book contains speeches and interviews by Maurice Bishop, the central leader of the revolution. This excerpt is taken from a June 5, 1983, speech given to an overflow audience of 2,500 at Hunter College in New York City.

In March 1979, a revolutionary movement led by the New Jewel Movement overthrew U.S.-backed dictator Eric Gairy, and a workers and farmers government came to power. The new revolutionary government began to take began to take steps to deepen the involvement of working people in governing the country in the interests of the majority.

In October 1983 the workers and farmers government was overthrown by a Stalinist-inspired coup; Bishop and other revolutionary leaders were murdered. This betrayal opened the door to a U.S. military invasion, which installed a pro-U.S. regime.

Copyright © 1983 by Pathfinder Press, reprinted by permission.
 

They give all kinds of reasons and excuses--some of them credible, some utter rubbish. We saw an interesting one recently in a secret report to the State Department. I want to tell you about that one, so you can reflect on it. That secret report made this point: that the Grenada revolution is in one sense even worse--I’m using their language--than the Cuban and Nicaraguan revolutions because the people of Grenada and the leadership of Grenada speak English, and therefore can communicate directly with the people of the United States. [Applause]

I can see from your applause, sisters and brothers, that you agree with the report. But I want to tell you what that same report said that also made us very dangerous. That is that the people of Grenada and the leadership of Grenada are predominantly Black. [Applause] They said that 95 percent of our population is Black--and they had the correct statistic--and if we have 95 percent of predominantly African origin in our country, then we can have a dangerous appeal to 30 million Black people in the United States. [Applause] Now that aspect of the report, clearly, is one of the most sensible.  
 
Imperialists drive against revolution
But, sisters and brothers, how do we evaluate other sides of the report? Like when they say that Grenada violates human rights. When they say to us, how come you have detainees, what about the press, what about elections? When they say to us: Where are your elections?, they don’t turn around at the same time and say to their friends in South Africa: Where are your elections? [Applause]

When they say to us that elections must be held, and if you don’t have elections you can’t expect support, and unless you have elections we can’t give you the normal treatment, we say: Salvador Allende of Chile. [Applause] Salvador Allende of Chile was elected in September 1970 by the people of Chile. Allende did not take power through a revolution. Within twenty-four hours of his election, Richard Nixon, [Henry] Kissinger, and [Richard] Helms sat down and devised their plan, "Operation Make the Economy Scream." And even in the first three months after Allende was elected, before he was inaugurated as president, they already tried to kill Allende once. They couldn’t even wait for him to be formally inaugurated.

Allende did not form a militia. Allende did not grab any land or property. Allende had no political detainees. Allende did not crush the press. He did not close down the parliament. He did not suspend the constitution. He played by every rule they wrote. But they killed him still.

These people understand very well that a revolution means a new situation. A revolution implies a fracture. It implies a break with the past. It implies disruption of a temporary character. Revolution means that the abuses and excesses of the violent, reactionary, and disruptive minority have to be crushed so that the majority’s interests can prevail. [Applause]

No revolution that does not have a dislocation can be called revolution. That is an impossibility. When the British had their revolution in the 1650s, it took them 200 years to call their first election. When the Americans had their revolution in 1776, it took them thirteen years to call their election.

In the first week of the American revolution, 100,000 fled to Canada. Thousands were locked up without charge or trial. Hundreds were shot. And the counterrevolutionaries after the American revolution had no right to vote. They had no right to teach. They had no right to preach. They had no right to a job. Their land was confiscated without payment.

So when the falsifiers of history try to pretend that the American revolution was a Boston tea party--it was a very bloody tea party.

The fact of the matter is, sisters and brothers--if we are to be honest about this question--whenever revolution comes, the same questions face the leaders of the revolution. One question always is: what do you do with the bloody-minded murderers, the criminals, the ones who propped up the dictatorship. The ones who led to disappearances of our people. The ones who were beating the people, who were killing the people....

And you know it is highly significant that of the 400 to 500 people picked up by our masses on revolution day, on the thirteenth of March, not one of these Mongoose Gang elements arrived in the jail with even a scratch on them...

Our people also understand that the first law of the revolution is that a revolution must survive, must consolidate so more benefits can come to them.

And because of this fact, the revolution has laid down as a law, that nobody, regardless of who you are, will be allowed to be involved in any activity surrounding the overthrow of the government by the use of armed violence. And anyone who moves in that direction will be ruthlessly crushed. [Applause.]  
 
 
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