T&T uprisings of 1934, 1935 and June 1937

Many young people are unaware that the uprisings of 1934, 1935 and June 1937 are linked. Every year, in T&T, the June 1937 disturbances are commemorated, but there is little or no mention of the earlier working-class challenge to the status quo in 1934. What were the factors that triggered these protests? The agitation of sugar workers in 1934 was part of the overall climate of working-class protest in the colony during the Depression years. The agony of the Great Depression (1929–1930s) lingered and added to the misery of the masses. These neglected laborer's faced poverty, malnutrition, poor sanitation, illiteracy and unemployment. Housing for workers in the oil and sugar industries was also in a deplorable state. The frustration and suffering of the Indo-Trinidadian working class found expression in the disturbances of 1934. However, their actions did not seem as threatening to the government and the employer class as the earlier 1919–1920 strikes, which were led by the urban Afro-Trinidadian working class, whose potential for societal disruption was always feared by the white élite.

From 1933 to 1935, unemployed Afro-Trinidadians in Port-of-Spain were mobilized in hunger marches under the leadership of Elma Francois, Jim Headley, Jim Barrette and Dudley Mahon of the National Unemployed Movement (NUM). The name of this group was later changed to the Negro Welfare Cultural and Social Association (NWCSA). ON Bolland argued that the NUM played an instrumental role in mobilizing workers and began “a new, radical labor politics”. During 1934, the NUM played a role in spearheading and influencing demonstrations among discontented workers.

The NUM contacted the sugar workers and was informed by Poolbasie, an outspoken Indo-Trinidadian worker, of the problems facing them. These included high rents for barracks, high levels of unemployment, estate drivers who exploited young female sugar workers, increased workloads, and a drought that made the land unworkable. The protest by 800 sugar workers on July 6, 1934, at Brechin Castle and Esperanza Estates, later joined by frustrated workers from the Central and Northern estates, set in motion a series of civil demonstrations. The police sought to quell the outburst but were attacked. After the violence subsided, 12 people were arrested. The domino effect was evident as almost 15,000 sugar workers in Tunapuna, Chaguanas, Couva and San Fernando staged similar protests. Fortunately, nobody was killed, although many protesters were jailed or fined. The spontaneity of the disturbances and the fact that no leaders emerged could be a reason why these working-class disturbances tend to be forgotten by the public.