Maurice Bishop Speaks

These are the speeches of Maurice Bishop, prime minister of Grenada during the 1979-83 revolution in that small, English-speaking Caribbean country.

In 1983 the workers' and farmers' government there was overthrown by a Stalinist-inspired coup. Bishop, the central leader of the revolution, was murdered. This betrayal opened the door to a U.S. military invasion, which installed a pro-U.S. regime.

Bishop explains here what the revolution was about and why the U.S. government opposed it. His speeches assess the gains made by the working people of the island during the revolution. Workers and farmers began to take in hand the governing of their country, develop its economy, and combat the effects of imperialist exploitation and racist oppression.

The reasons for the revolution's defeat are analzed in a speech by Cuban president Fidel Castro and in the introduction by Steve Clark.

- From the back cover