Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The 1952 general strike in British Honduras played an important part in the colony's struggle for independence from British rule in that it increased the national appeal of the People's United Party (PUP), the organization that would eventually win independence for Belize. Forestry, which had long been the mainstay of the economy of British Honduras, had declined precipitously by the end of the 1940s, thereby causing widespread unemployment and poverty throughout the colony. Thus, when the colonial governor, Sir Ronald Garvey, using his special powers to override the opposition of the legislature, devalued the British Honduran dollar on December 31, 1949, the plight of the Belizean working class became even more desperate. This devaluation meant that the worth of the Belizean dollar was now lowered from $4.03 to the pound sterling to $2.08, and in terms of the US dollar, from $1 to 70 cents. Since most goods in British Honduras were imported from Britain or the United States, the governor's unilateral decree was the last straw for already hard-pressed Belizeans. To protest Garvey's action, a group of young creoles formed a People's Committee in January 1950 and soon committee leaders widened their grievances to include British colonialism in general. On September 29, the People's Committee was transformed into the People's United Party, a political organization whose goal was to ... log in or subscribe to read full text