Do More For Wynter Crawford

APPROXIMATELY one year ago this PEP column expressed the following view:

"Wynter Algernon Crawford was arguably the greatest Barbadian of the 20th century. Yet, if you ask the average Barbadian student who Wynter Crawford was, you would almost invariably elicit a blank response.

"Crawford's monumental record of social and political activism impacted more significantly on Barbados than the work of any other social or political activist. And yet, there is no public institution named after Wynter Crawford; not even a roundabout!"

When therefore, we learnt that the present Government was proposing to establish some type of memorial to Wynter Crawford at the Six Roads roundabout, two executive officers of the PEP made their way to Six Roads to scrutinise what sort of physical work was being done on the roundabout. We were certain the Government had to be erecting either a statue or a bust of Crawford on the roundabout. Imagine our shock when we discovered that there was to be no statue or bust - merely the naming of the roundabout after Crawford.

Clearly, an historical figure of Crawford's stature deserves much more than the mere naming of a roundabout after him. As far as the PEP is concerned, Wynter Crawford should be declared a "national hero" and a statue should be erected in his honour.

Wynter Crawford's contribution to the public life of Barbados began in 1934. At a time when Grantley Adams was still a supporter of the 'conservatives' and a fierce opponent of Dr Charles Duncan O'Neal, Crawford launched his radical and progressive Barbados Observer newspaper.

The Observer played a crucial role in the fledgling 'worker's movement', by raising critical issues and giving a voice to the advocates of social and political reform. Of great significance was the role played by Crawford in recording the workers' rebellion of 1937, and ensuring that the plight of the 'martyrs' remained in the public consciousness.

Wynter Crawford was also virtually the founder of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in 1938. It was he who met with the visiting lawyer, Hope Stevens, and proposed the formation of a political organisation to unite the progressive forces of Barbados. Indeed, it was Crawford who set up the meeting in Bay Street at which the BLP was formed.

However, Crawford subsequently broke with Grantley Adams, and in 1944 established an even more radical and progressive political party - the West Indian National Congress Party. Indeed, throughout the second half of the 1940s, Crawford's Congress Party was responsible for developing the core agenda of the progressive movement - compulsory education, universal adult suffrage, free books and hot lunches for school children, a national health and unemployment scheme, disestablishment of the Anglican Church, the development of manufacturing industries, and labour migration schemes.

Although the Congress Party went into decline in the 1950s, Wynter Crawford occupied such a respected position on the political landscape that the young Errol Barrow and his infant Democratic Labour Party (DLP) naturally gravitated to Crawford for his advice and input.

Crawford ultimately assumed the position of Deputy Premier in the first DLP Government and undertook responsibility for establishing the National Insurance Scheme, and for putting in place the institutional infrastructure for the industrial development of Barbados and for developing the Farm Labour Programmes.

* The PEP Column represents the views of the People's Empowerment Party.

Published: August 28, 2009