BLUM, LÉON ings at the hands of the Mongoose Gang, a paramilitary force of Gairy’s followers, but he went on to found the Movement for the Assemblies of the People to address grievances. His father was murdered by government henchmen during a protest. In 1973, after several more arrests and beatings, Bishop merged his group with the Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation (JEWEL) to start the New Jewel Movement on Grenada. Beyond decrying the harsh repressiveness of Gairy’s regime, the group also opposed his moves to seek independence from Great Britain, formalized in February 1974. Bishop continued on as a leading opponent of Gairy, and in 1976 he successfully ran for a seat in Parliament. In concert with the Grenada National Party and United People’s Party, Bishop organized a wide coalition, the People’s Alliance, to further protest government tyranny. Bishop’s strident activism and his revolutionary rhetoric brought him accolades from the poverty-stricken masses, making him the island’s most popular political figure. On March 13, 1979, he sponsored a bloodless coup while Gairy was out of the country and declared creation of a People’s Revolutionary Government. Initially, the coup was greeted with wild enthusiasm from Grenadians of every class. Abandoning the parliamentary mode of governance, Bishop patterned his own regime on the Cuban model of Fidel Castro, with peasant and worker involvement at every level of administration. He also strove for improvements in health care, housing, and medical assistance to the island’s poor majority. All these actions endeared him to the lower classes, but Bishop had no real intention of instituting even limited democracy. He continued delaying new elections, restricted press activity, and kept political prisoners of his own. More controversially, he invited Cuban and Soviet workers onto the island, ostensibly to construct a new international runway. He also took the precaution of making several trips to the United States to assure the government of his peaceful intentions. Bishop’s flirtation with communist regimes raised hackles in the United States, and in 1983 President RONALD REAGAN instituted a trade embargo. This greatly exacerbated Grenada’s precarious economy and led to splits between Bishop and his hard-line vice premier, Bernard Coard. Tensions between the two increased and climaxed on October 12, 1983, when a meeting of the People’s Revolutionary Government formally accused the prime minister of spreading false rumors of an assas-
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sination plot. Bishop was then confronted at his home by Coard supporters and placed under house arrest. He lingered there a week until, on October 19, 1983, thousands of his followers massed into the street and released him. Bishop then led his throng to the military installation at Fort Rupert, which was subsequently stormed by Coard’s soldiers. An estimated 100 civilians were killed before Bishop and several ministers were detained and executed in cold blood. A large number of American students studying at a nearby medical college were also taken hostage. The Reagan administration used the murder of Bishop, the presence of Soviet advisers, and the taking of hostages as a pretext for eliminating communism on Grenada altogether. On October 25, 1983, American forces swooped onto the island, routed the Cuban garrison, and liberated Grenada. They also arrested Coard and his supporters, who were subsequently tried by the new government and found guilty of Bishop’s murder. Under American supervision, freedom and democracy were finally restored to Grenada. But despite Bishop’s repression and untimely demise, he still retains a measure of popularity with the island’s poorer classes. Further Reading Adkin, Mark. Urgent Fury: The Battle for Grenada. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1989. Bishop, Maurice. Maurice Bishop Speaks: The Grenada Revolution and Its Overthrow, 1979–1983. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1983. Coles, Romand. Self/Power/Other: Political Theory and Dialogical Ethics. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1992. Payne, Anthony. The International Crisis of the Caribbean. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984. Williams, Gary. “Brief Encounter: Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop’s Visit to Washington.” Latin American Studies 34 (August 2002): 659–687. ———. “Prelude to an Intervention: Grenada, 1983.” Journal of Latin American Studies 29 (February 1997): 131–169.
Blum, Léon (1872–1950) prime minister of France Léon Blum was born in Paris on April 9, 1872, into a middle-class family of Jewish descent. A brilliant student, he attended the prestigious Ecole Normale