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Caribbean Islands Prosperity and Government Centralization, 1974-81
The Arab oil embargo was a boon to the Williams government. The
oil price increases that followed it created a prosperity that made
the government of Trinidad and Tobago not only solvent but
financially comfortable. Concerns about the PNM were muted because
of the healthy economy, and since the opposition did not come
forward with a better alternative, voters continued to endorse
Williams. As GDP rose, however, various segments of society fought
for larger slices of the pie. Strikes, which had been frequent in
the lean years of 1972 and 1973, continued. During the spring of
1975, an estimated 45,000 people were involved in strikes.
The 1976 election again illustrated the difficulty of
developing a political movement in Trinidad and Tobago that
appealed to working-class people of both African and East Indian
origin. The black-dominated OWTU joined the East Indian-dominated
All Trinidad Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Trade Union
(ATSE/FWTU), the Trinidadian Islandwide Cane Farmers' Union, and
left-of-center intellectuals to form a new political party, the
United Labour Front (ULF). A Trinidadian political scientist has
called the ULF "a political banyan tree" that provided shelter for
many ideologically incompatible elements involved in the protest
movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Envisioning itself as the
representative of the working class, the ULF called for land
reform, nationalization of multinational firms, and worker
participation in management. Nonetheless, the ULF was unable to
overcome ethnic suspicions. Working-class blacks feared that East
Indians would control any ULF-led government. The ULF was also hurt
by the perception that the party was communist. Williams exploited
this view, promising to preserve individual landownership and
capitalism; as a result, the PNM captured twenty-four of the
thirty-six House seats in 1976. The ULF's ten seats came primarily
from former DLP seats with constituencies in East Indian workingclass areas.
Two remaining House seats, both in Tobago, were captured by the
Democratic Action Party (DAC). The DAC was founded by Robinson, the
PNM minister of external affairs who had resigned during the 1970
Black Power riots. A Tobagonian-based party, the DAC promised to
lobby for some regional autonomy for Tobago and specifically called
for the reinstatement of its legislative body. Once in Parliament,
the DAC members proposed the Tobago House of Assembly Bill, which
passed in 1980. This measure gave some self-government to Tobago in
the form of a fifteen-member elected House of Assembly, although
Port-of-Spain still retained a number of controls. In the first
election for Tobago's House of Assembly in 1980, the DAC won twothirds of the seats.
Subsequent to the 1976 election, Williams continued to gather
more power into his own hands, so that even the smallest decisions
came to be referred to him. He created the National Advisory
Council (NAC), which was a think tank made up entirely of
individuals selected by, and responsible to, Williams. The NAC did
the planning for the national bureaucracy and also masterminded the
increasing government participation in the economy. Because of the
oil windfall, per capita income increased and unemployment
declined. The state used the additional revenue to increase
educational expenditures and to attempt to restructure the economy.
State spending increased dramatically as over fifty governmentowned companies were created. Subsequently, the Williams
administration was accused of corruption; high officials were
alleged to have taken bribes in connection with purchases of
Lockheed airplanes for the national airline BWIA and Sikorsky
helicopters for the Ministry of National Security and in awarding
contracts for a racing complex. In the PNM convention of September
1980, Williams attributed the erosion of popular support to the
trade unions and to "enemies within." A poll conducted in January
and February 1981 indicated widespread suspicion that the PNM
cabinet was engaged in a cover-up of corrupt practices. Fifty
percent of those polled, including both blacks and East Indians,
felt that Williams should resign.
In March 1981, as the nation prepared for as yet unannounced
elections, Williams died. Although members of the cabinet knew that
Williams had been sick, his death was an unexpected shock to the
rest of the nation. Contrary to dire predictions, Williams's death
did not cause political disarray in Trinidad. Despite Williams's
own disillusionment with his role as leader and his increasing
centralization of power, he and the nation's British heritage had
forged a firm democratic tradition in Trinidad and Tobago. A few
months after his death, democratic elections took place on
schedule, reelecting the PNM once again.
Data as of November 1987
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