What a great view of a colony. A friendly industrious native woman, an idyllic landscape, and even a Mini automobile happening by. Another great day in the empire that never sets. Set it did though and craziness followed. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Stamp makers of the time did not like the portrait of Queen Elizabeth as used on the stamps and soon replaced it with a profile that doesn’t age and fits more easily in the corner of the stamp. I like the full face picture as it seems the subject of the stamp is being presented as a report to her. One wonders if the reports she did receive were as idealized as this stamp.
Todays stamp is issue A37, a 5 British West Indies Cent stamp issued by the Crown Colony of Grenada in 1966. It was part of a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. There were many overprints of this issue celebrating the 1967 change in status to an independent state freely affiliating with Great Britain and also with surcharges for the World Cup, the World Health Organization, And the EXPO 67 in Montreal, Canada. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 90 cents used.
The first inhabitants of the island were Caribe Indians. They wiped out the first British settlement in the 17th century. Later the French established themselves, bringing in large number of African slaves to work nutmeg plantations. The islands passed to the British but the island soon rebelled with a goal of creating a new Haiti. Gosh, when have anyone looked to Haiti for inspiration? The revolt was put down and there was slow development with the capital given electricity and an airport built. By the 1950s, Britain was looking for the door and a few locals were given free English educations. For some reason in colonial stories from this period the education seems to take the form of left wing, anti colonial dogma rather than administration. Britain hoped to turn over Grenada and other nearby islands to a West Indies Federation where Canada would take charge of colonial duties. No one was really opposed to the Federation but local politicians were unwilling to cede power and Canada unwilling to step up.
After the failure of the Federation, Britain ceded colonial administration to two locals who had formed rival left wing parties. From 1967, the colony became an independent state that freely affiliated with Great Britain and then full independence in 1974, still within the Commonwealth. One slight that Britain inflicted on Grenada was that they reserved the airport to British flagged airlines, none of whom were willing to offer daily service and keeping out Pan Am and potential American tourism.
Two leaders with two parties excluded other freely British trained would be leaders. Maurice Bishop formed the New Jewel political movement. The New Jewel was not just Mr. Bishop but also stood for joint effort for work education and liberation. Despite being a British trained barrister, he took on Che style pseudo military apparel. He lead a coup in 1978 and suspended the constitution. He believed Communism itself had to wait on the creation of a Proletariat but he was a willing dictator in the mean time. He started an army and with Cuban military help a new airport. Bishop said the new airport would promote tourism but the USA believed that it would also be used to support Cuban troops serving in Russia’s African colonies. Excuse me, Socialist fellow travelers.
In 1983 all hell broke loose. Bishop’s vice president lead a coup and had Bishop arrested. There were then large demonstrations that freed Bishop. Bishop then travelled to a military base to regain control but there was fighting between rival units. Bishop and four members of his Cabinet were lined up against the wall and shot. Bishop’s wife and legitimate children had emigrated to Canada a few years before. Bishop however also had a relationship with his Education minister who had bore him a child with the traditional Grenadian name of Vladimir Lenin. She was shot next to Bishop while allegedly pregnant. The bodies were burned but a finger of Bishop survived as it was cut off by one of the firing squad to steal his ring. An Army General then lead another coup and instituted marshal law with immediate execution for violators. The British Governor General, a local man, asked the USA and neighboring nations to intervene to end the chaos. He did this from house arrest but failed to first ask permission of the British government. The Americans quickly invaded and there was only a day or two of fighting at the airports and the Governor General’s House. The lack of input from Britain created a rift between Thatcher and Reagan. Vladimir Lenin joined his half siblings in Canada but was shot and killed at a Toronto nightclub at age 16.
The new airport opened without further Cuban help. Later it was renamed for Maurice Bishop who is well remembered. The old British airport is now a dirtbike track but still has a few derelect Soviet Cuban planes on it from Bishop’s period. Grenada is still in the Commonewealth and the invasion lead to increased aid to waste from the USA.
Well my drink is empty. I wonder if that old Mini is still puttering around Grenada? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.