Ah, but I have a machievellian plan of 'truesomye and awful cunnyng', you see.

From Wiki, an outline:

The West Indies Federation, also known as the Federation of the West Indies, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean that were colonies of the United Kingdom, including Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, and those on the Leeward and Windward Islands, came together to form the Federation, with its capital in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The expressed intention of the Federation was to create a political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single state—possibly similar to the Canadian Confederation, Australian Commonwealth, or Central African Federation; however, before that could happen, the Federation collapsed due to internal political conflicts. The territories of the federation eventually became the nine contemporary sovereign states of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago; with Anguilla, Montserrat, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos Islands becoming British overseas territories. British Guiana (Guyana) and British Honduras (Belize) held observer status within the West Indies Federation.

Federal problems[edit]

The politics of the embryonic Federation were wrecked by struggles between the federal government and the provincial governments, and between the two largest provinces (Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago) and the smaller provinces.

The West Indies Federation had an unusually weak federal structure. For instance, its provinces were not contained in a single customs union. Thus, each province functioned as a separate economy, complete with tariffs, largely because the smaller provinces were afraid of being overwhelmed by the large islands' economies. Also, complete freedom of movement within the Federation was not implemented, as the larger provinces were worried about mass migration from the smaller islands. In this sense, the current European Union can be said to have implemented a more unified economic space than the West Indian attempt.

Nor could the federal government take its component states to task. The initial federal budget was quite small, limiting the federal government's ability to use its financial largesse as a carrot. It was dependent upon grants from the United Kingdom and from its member states. The provincial budgets of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were both larger than the federal budget. This led to repeated requests for those states to provide greater financing to the federal government. These requests were not well received, as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago together already contributed 85 percent of the federal revenue, in roughly equal portions.

Furthermore, the office of the Prime Minister was a weak one. Unlike other Westminster systems with Prime Ministers, the West Indian Federation's PM could not dissolve Parliament.

Relationship with Canada[edit]

The Federation maintained a particularly close relationship with Canada, which had a similar past in that it was a federation of several former British colonies. In the early years, several Caribbean leaders suggested that the West Indies Federation should investigate the possibility of becoming a Canadian province, though this was never more than a fleeting interest.[citation needed]

Despite the breakdown in talks, in May 1961, Canada presented the West Indies Federation with two of the region's most important gifts: two merchant ships, named The Federal Palm and The Federal Maple. These two vessels visited every island in the federation twice monthly, providing a crucial sea-link between the islands.

Map of the Provinces of the West Indies Federation
Provinces and Territories of the West Indies
FlagProvinceCapitalPopulationArea (km²)
Missing Blue Ensign.svgAntigua and BarbudaSt. John's57,000440
Flag of Barbados (1870–1966).pngBarbadosBridgetown234,000431
Flag of the Cayman Islands (pre-1999).svgCayman Islands (attached to Jamaica)George Town9,000264
Missing Blue Ensign.svgDominicaRoseau61,000750
Missing Blue Ensign.svgGrenadaSt. George's91,000344
Flag of Jamaica (1962).svgJamaicaKingston1,660,00010,991
Flag of Montserrat.svgMontserratPlymouth13,000102
Saint Christopher-Nevis-AnguillaBasseterre55,600351
Flag of Saint Lucia (1939-1967).svgSaint LuciaCastries95,000616
Flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1907-1979).svgSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesKingstown83,000389
Trinidad colonial 1889-1958.gifTrinidad and TobagoPort-of-Spain900,0005,131
Flag of the Turks and Caicos Islands.svgTurks and Caicos Islands (attached to Jamaica)Cockburn Town6,000430
Flag of the West Indies Federation.svgFederation of the West IndiesChaguaramas3,264,600[1]20,239 km2


Dissolution[edit]

Many reasons have been put forward to explain the demise of the federation. These include the utter lack of local popular support, competing insular nationalism, the weakness of the federal government, prohibitions on federal taxation and freedom of movement, inadequacies in the Federal constitution, fundamental changes made to the constitution very early in its existence, political feuds between the influential leaders, the decision of the three most influential politicians not to contest Federal elections, friction between these leaders and the Federal government, the overwhelming concentration of population and resources in the two largest units, geographic and cultural distance between the units, the lack of a history of common administration, and the impact of the period of self-government that followed the promotion from Crown Colony system.

However, the immediate catalyst for the dissolution of the Federation was Jamaican discontent. By 1961, there were a number of reasons for Jamaica's dissatisfaction with the state of affairs:

  • Jamaica was fairly remote from most of the other islands in the Federation, lying several hundred miles to the west.
  • Jamaica's share of the seats in the federal parliament was smaller than its share of the total population of the Federation.
  • It was believed that the smaller islands were draining Jamaica's wealth.
  • Many in Jamaica were upset that Kingston had not been chosen as the federal capital.

The most important reason for Jamaican dissatisfaction was the Federation's continuing colonial status. Jamaica had joined the Federation because its leaders had believed that the West Indies would quickly be granted independence. Nearly three years after the formation of the Federation, this had not occurred; meanwhile, smaller British colonies, like Cyprus and Sierra Leone, had gained independence. Thus, many Jamaicans believed that the island could and should seek independence in its own right.

There were also problems with the Federation's proposed capital in Chaguaramas, at that time still in the hands of the United States (having leased it as a naval base from the United Kingdom during World War 2). Many of the Caribbean provincial leaders wanted Chaguaramas to be the Federation's capital. Provincial leaders such as Norman Manley of Jamaica and Dr Eric Williams pushed for handing over of Chaguramas to the Federation from the US. However the US and the UK disagreed and the Federation's Prime Minister Grantley Adams denied the provincial leaders from obtaining Chaguramas. For many Jamaicans it appeared that the Federation would then just hamper their development and movement towards independence.

As a result the Bustamante-led Jamaica Labour Party (the local component of the West Indian DLP) successfully forced Manley to hold a referendum in September 1961 on political secession from the Federation. It passed, with 54% of the vote, despite the opposition of Manley, the province's Chief Minister at the time. Manley himself lost the subsequent island elections in April 1962, and Bustamante became the first Prime Minister of an independent Jamaica on 6 August 1962.

After Jamaica left, there was an attempt to salvage a new federation from the wreckage of the old. Much depended on Premier Williams of Trinidad and Tobago, who had stated previously that he wanted a "strong federation". Premier Vere Bird of Antigua responded that his province would only be in a federation with Trinidad as an equal partner, not as "a little Tobago". He did indicate that a strong federation was acceptable provided that no attempt was made to create a unitary state.

Negotiations on this new federation began in September 1961; however, they indicated that Trinidad would have to provide 75 to 80 percent of the new Federation's revenue. Also, even though Trinidad would now represent 60 percent of the new Federation's population, the proposals under consideration would give it less than half of the seats in parliament.

By November, Williams indicated that he was now in favour of the idea of a unitary state. Failing that, he resolved to take Trinidad and Tobago into independence. In this, he was buoyed by his re-election as Trinidadian leader on December 4, 1961. Later that December, Premier Errol Barrow of Barbados met with Williams, but failed to persuade him to keep Trinidad in the Federation.

On January 14, 1962, the People's National Movement (the Williams-led Trinidad component of the WIFLP) passed a resolution rejecting any further involvement with the Federation. Williams himself stated that "one from ten leaves nought"—in other words, without Jamaica, no Federation was possible. Trinidad and Tobago became independent on August 31, 1962.

Without Trinidad and Jamaica, the remaining "Little Eight" attempted to salvage some form of a West Indian Federation, this time centred on Barbados. However, these negotiations ultimately proved fruitless. Without its two largest states, the Federation was doomed to financial insolvency. Barbados now refused to shoulder the financial burden, and Antigua and Grenada began toying with the idea of merging with Jamaica and Trinidad, respectively.

The West Indies Federation was legally dissolved with the Parliament of the United Kingdom's West Indies Act 1962. The remaining "Little Eight" provinces once again became separate colonies supervised directly from London, most of which became independent later on, as follows:

Montserrat remains an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands had been separated from Jamaica upon the latter's independence in 1962; Anguilla was separated from Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1980. All three remain UK territories as well.

From moi, a cunning plan.

We have two shiny new drivers. The first is obvious, the Wellington Alliance, which the Windies will be invited to join. They will doubtless temporise, and then the second driver hits when Ceylon is announced as becoming a Dominion in mid 1943, with India to follow, Malaya post-liberation, and what about you lot?

This changes the internal dynamics, and please note the close economic relationship with Canada.

What I have in mind is Canada essentially 'taking over the Windies' in a sort of collegial-mentor-senior Dominion way. Trade links are pretty close, there's a LOT of room for intra-Imperial trade expansion, Imperial Preference already exists, and even by 1944 the rise of Brazil as a regional power is unmistakable in APOD. it also gives one hell of a lot more depth to the processes and discussions needed to sort out the issues and here Canada has a very big stick, being a major customer for Jamaican bauxite not to mention tropical primary products.

The real stabilising factor here is actually Ceylon. Not being a British settler society (the contemporary term was 'White Dominion', which merely means 'British settler society' in today-speak) Ceylon becoming a Dominion co-equal with the White Dominions is a very big deal. So big a deal that I suspect Belize and Guyana are going to hurry into the mix as well - independence can not only be soon, but by trading away one layer of sovereignty they obtain very disproportionate economic and strategic benefits, and actually a stronger international voice. And here again it's Canada which plays the key role, and back we go to all those structures developed after Lord Durham's Report after the revolt in Canada. And Canada has generations of expertise to demonstrate when it comes to provincial relationships inside a Federal structure, AND can act as a neutral arbiter in case of disputes. Adding Belize and Guyana to the mix not only adds 'throw weight' but also changes the argument over where the capital should be, I think it makes Jamaica the lead contender with the other prize - the Canadian base - being Georgetown Guyana or Trinidad (Guyana has more areas for training, Trinidad's a better port and a strategic prize itself).

The alternative for the Caribbean countries is economic fragmentation and endemic poverty under US Imperial overlordship, and they know it (or their power-elites do), so their choice becomes lopsided, much more wealth, the same or more local power, greater international influence both politically and economically, but less 'shine and glory' as El Presidente of a tin-pot country.

I also strongly suspect that this will demand the Canadian base in the Caribbean be a fairly serious affair. Canada will, after all, be a nuclear power PDQ after the war and this will be the main Imperial facility int eh region even if it is mostly a training base for the so-far-nameless Dominion's military.

Cheers: mark