Andrew Sage

self-consciously trying to be dense and impenetrable to make them seem intelligent.

His intelligence comes through just fine.

Indeed.

Indeed.

I've had a soft spot for him as well for some time, particularly after reading The Black Yarkabings.

Used to assign that one a lot.

And I would say that the Caribbean left at the time also had a bit of a soft spot for him because they were heavily influenced by his writings.

You know, in his 1956 pamphlet, Facing Reality, which was about the Hungarian revolution, ended up becoming a profound influence on West Indian radicals as it had revealed the potential of workers' councils and done a lot to expose the authoritarianism of the Soviet model.

This is something that Fundy wrote about and highlighted as he's given his sort of discussion of the origins and trajectory of the Caribbean left.

So in the 1960s and 70s, radical thought across the Caribbean was shaped by these more democratic socialist ideals.

You had movements like Jamaica's Young Socialist League, Trinidad's New Beginning Movement, and Grenada's New Jewel Movement.

They were all inspired by James and by grassroots workers' councils rather than the typical Soviet orthodoxy.

Of course, the Caribbean left was not immune to conflict or division.

There were conflicts between those who were more loyal to Stalinist or pro-Soviet positions, and that led to some splits within unions and political movements.

Now, initially, the neutral movement was leaning in that participatory democratic direction, but eventually they ended up going into studying Marxism-Leninism more.

Now, really, at first, they mainly wanted Gehry out, but later they went into Marxism-Leninism and transformed the movement into a proper political party of the vanguard variety in an effort to unseat Gehry.

They started building some momentum and immediately faced consequences.

In 1973, Bishop, Whiteman, and others got beaten up and arrested by Gary's secret police multiple times.

Bishop's own father was shot and killed by Gary's forces.

And the high schoolers who were also taking a stand against Gary at the time were facing repression.