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Caribbean Islands Political Dynamics
Politics in St. Kitts and Nevis in the 1980s was marked by a
vituperative relationship between the PAM and its opposition, the
Labour Party. This state of affairs derived from a history of
bitter contention between the two St. Kitts-based parties and from
Labour's apparent inability to adjust to the role of opposition
after more than thirty years in power.
The PAM arose as an expression of middle-class opposition to
the political dominance of the Labour Party. According to most
observers, the reaction of the Labour government to this challenge
was not a positive one. The PAM's relatively strong showing in
1966, the first year it participated in elections, apparently
alerted the Labourites to the potential strength of the opposition
movement. The government's initial reaction to this threat was to
declare a state of emergency in June 1967, under which twenty-two
PAM members were arrested. Efforts to prosecute the detainees were
abandoned by the government after the first two defendants were
acquitted. Both the founder of the PAM, William Herbert, and party
leader Simmonds, among others, gave accounts of harassment,
imprisonment, mistreatment, and confiscation of property at the
hands of the Labour government.
For its part, the PAM also showed that it could play political
hardball after it came to power in coalition with the NRP in 1980.
In 1981 the government ended the practice of "check-off" deduction
of dues from the paychecks of members of the St. Kitts and Nevis
Trades and Labour Union (SKNTLU), considerably complicating efforts
by the Labour Party's union arm to raise revenues. PAM-associated
unions also challenged the SKNTLU for membership, particularly
among dock workers. In a move that was eventually blocked in the
courts, the government attempted to shut down the headquarters of
the SKNTLU (the so-called Masses House) by foreclosure through the
National Bank. Ironically, this action replicated a similar effort
by the Labour government in 1969, when the PAM's headquarters was
purchased by the government and members were turned away by armed
Defence Force personnel. Some observers felt that the PAM/NRP
government took matters a step too far when it arrested Labour
leader Moore in April 1987 for "utter[ing] seditious words." Moore
was quickly released on bond to the acclaim of a group of
supporters.
After its 1980 defeat, the Labour Party appeared to apply more
of its energies to criticism of the policies and actions of the
PAM/NRP government than to the formulation of a coherent
alternative platform. The party's 1984 manifesto called for wage
increases, a 50-percent reduction in electricity rates, greater job
security for workers, and the establishment of a separate
government for St. Kitts comparable to that enjoyed by Nevis. This
last issue echoed Labour's 1983 campaign against the independence
Constitution drawn up by the PAM/NRP, a campaign that proved
unsuccessful, as judged by the results of the 1984 elections.
Labour leaders also leveled charges of widespread corruption among
government ministers, a fairly common theme in West Indian
politics. Nonetheless, these negative tactics were not coupled with
any productive efforts to expand support among the sectors of the
electorate where the Labour Party had proved weakest, namely, youth
and voters on Nevis. A continued decline in SKNTLU membership also
hampered the party's organizational efforts.
The acrimonious relations between the PAM and the Labour Party
since 1980 can perhaps be best illustrated by a brief cataloging of
the allegations each has hurled against the other through their
respective party organs. Labour has charged the PAM with favoring
the wealthy over the workers; with responsibility for increases in
mental illness, drug abuse, and drug trafficking; with
"undermin[ing] black self-image"; with association with
international criminals; and with plans for a mass murder of
Kittitians in the style of the 1978 Jonestown, Guyana, massacre.
For its part, the PAM has accused the Labourites of burning
sugarcane fields; of physically assaulting PAM candidates and
threatening others, including the prime minister; and of employing
"communist tactics" in an effort to destabilize the country and
establish a one-party state.
Despite the results of the 1984 elections, the Labour Party
remained a political force on St. Kitts, although in the opinion of
most observers its prospects for a return to power in the 1989
election were not promising. A reassumption of power by Labour
under its platform of the mid-1980s would pose a serious dilemma
for the two-island federation, as it would almost certainly
precipitate the secession of Nevis.
The party that would lead such a movement, the NRP, continued
to dominate political life on Nevis in the late 1980s. Organized as
a secessionist movement, the NRP had a poorly defined political
ideology. As a coalition partner with the PAM since 1980, however,
it supported the moderate policies of Simmonds and his advisers.
After the 1984 elections, the NRP technically no longer held the
balance of power in the National Assembly, since the PAM took six
of the eleven seats contested. There were no public indications of
tension between the two parties, however, and the coalition
appeared secure as it looked toward another electoral test in 1989.
Data as of November 1987
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