New Jewel Movement
|
New Jewel Movement
|
|
|---|---|
| Leader | Maurice Bishop |
| Founded | 11 March 1973 |
| Dissolved | 1983 |
| Merger of | Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation (JEWEL) and Movement for Assemblies of the People (MAP) |
| Newspaper | The New Jewel |
| Ideology |
Communism Marxism–Leninism |
| Colors | Orange |
| Slogan |
En Avant Jambes, En Arrière Jamais! "Forward Ever, Backward Never!" |
The New Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation, or New JEWEL Movement (NJM) was a Marxist-Leninist vanguard party in the Caribbean island nation of Grenada that was led by Maurice Bishop. Established in 1973, the NJM issued its manifesto prior to the granting of Independence to Grenada in 1974. The movement gained control of the country with a successful revolution in 1979 and ruled by decree until 1983. In 1983, its leader Maurice Bishop was killed by paramilitaries affiliated with hard-liners in his own party. This led to a military government, which was deposed by the US military in a 1983 invasion.
The New JEWEL Movement (NJM) was formally established on 11 March 1973 as an alliance of the Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation (JEWEL) and the Movement for Assemblies of the People (MAP), led by young lawyer Maurice Bishop. From 1973 to 1979, the NJM was an opposition political party active in Grenada. During the 1970s, the political situation in Grenada became increasingly polarized and violent. For the 1976 general elections the organisation formed an electoral coalition known as the People's Alliance with the Grenada National Party and the United People's Party. However, the alliance lost to the ruling Grenada United Labour Party in elections which were branded fraudulent by international observers. In the late 1970s, the NJM formed the National Liberation Army (NLA), also known as "the 12 Apostles".
In 1979, the NJM launched a revolution against the government of Eric Gairy while he was out of the country. The NJM gained control of the military barracks, radio station, government buildings and police stations in the country. Maurice Bishop then suspended the constitution and announced that the NJM was now a provisional revolutionary government, the People's Revolutionary Government, with himself as Prime Minister. After the revolution, the NJM described itself as a Marxist-Leninist vanguard party. The party did not consider itself to be a communist party because it did not believe that either the NJM or Grenada had reached a level of development where it would be possible to achieve communism. The NJM pursued policies to reach a point where a communist party could be formed, but considered itself to be unready due to the party not being led by a proletarian class and due to the low level of education in Marxist-Leninist politics.
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