The British Caribbean and the West Indies Federation (1958-1962)

The West Indies Federation (1958–1962) was the most ambitious political experiment of the post-war British Caribbean, and the most spectacular failure. Conceived by a generation of West Indian nationalists — Eric Williams, Norman Manley, Grantley Adams, and the contributors to the 1947 Montego Bay Conference — as the framework for a single independent West Indian state, the federation lasted just four years before Jamaica withdrew after a September 1961 referendum and the federation dissolved in May 1962. The smaller territories went their own way: Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica in 1962, Barbados in 1966, and the rest through the 1970s and 1980s. The federation’s failure is, in the judgment of the historian Carl Stone, “the most important political event in the modern Caribbean.” The reasons for the failure are still being argued over.

The Background to the West Indies Federation

The idea of a West Indian political union had a long history, dating back to the late nineteenth century. The British Caribbean Colonies had been governed separately for most of the colonial period, and the political union of the West Indies was a long-standing ambition of West Indian nationalists. The 1938 West Indian disturbances and the Moyne Commission (1938–1939) were important steps toward federation, and the post-war period saw a series of conferences and committees that worked on the constitutional arrangements. The 1947 Montego Bay Conference and the 1953 Conference on the Federation of the West Indies were the immediate predecessors of the West Indies Federation.

The Moyne Commission (1938-1939)

The Moyne Commission, appointed in 1938 to investigate the 1938 West Indian disturbances, was an important step toward the federation. The commission, under the chairmanship of Lord Moyne, included members of the West Indian community and reported in 1940. The recommendations of the Moyne Report, which included a call for the development of trade unions, the improvement of social services, and the establishment of a West Indian university, were largely implemented in the post-war period. The commission’s recommendation of a West Indian federation was particularly important, and the 1942 Caribbean Commission was one of the early institutional expressions of the regional cooperation that the Moyne Commission had recommended.

The Caribbean Commission

The Caribbean Commission, established in 1942, was an Anglo-American body that worked on issues of regional development. The commission, which was the first formal institution of regional cooperation in the Caribbean, had its headquarters in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The work of the Caribbean Commission included the promotion of regional trade, the coordination of social policies, and the development of the West Indian university. The commission was active until 1962, when it was replaced by the Caribbean Development Bank and other regional institutions. The founding of the Caribbean Commission was an important step toward the regional cooperation that the West Indies Federation would later embody.

The Standing Closer Association Committee (1948-1957)

The Standing Closer Association Committee, established in 1948, was the principal body working toward Caribbean political integration. The committee, which was established at a conference in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 1947, included representatives of the British Caribbean colonies and the United Kingdom. The recommendations of the committee, which included the establishment of a federal constitution and the development of common services, were the basis for the West Indies Federation. The opposition to federation in Jamaica, led by Alexander Bustamante and the Jamaica Labour Party, was the most consequential political challenge, and the federation’s constitution had to be carefully balanced to accommodate Jamaican concerns.

The Establishment of the West Indies Federation (1958)

The West Indies Federation was established on 3 January 1958, with the federation formally launched on 22 April 1958. The constitutional arrangements of the federation provided for a federal government in Port of Spain, Trinidad, with a bicameral legislature and a prime minister. The first prime minister was Grantley Adams of Barbados, who led the Federal Labour Party. The federal government and the prime minister had responsibility for foreign affairs, defence, and the common services, and the constituent territories retained jurisdiction over local affairs. The federal capital in Port of Spain was a major political undertaking, and the federation’s institutions required significant investment from the British government.

The Federal Government and Its Programmes

The federal government of the West Indies Federation attempted to develop common policies and programmes in areas such as education, communications, and economic development. The University of the West Indies, established in 1948 as a college of the University of London and reconstituted as a regional university in 1962, was one of the most significant federal institutions. The federal shipping and communications policy, including the development of a regional airline, was an important contribution to the integration of the federation. The federal budget and the financial problems, however, were a major weakness, and the federation’s dependence on British financial support was a source of political tension. The federal government was never able to develop a strong financial base, and the financial weakness of the federation was one of the reasons for its collapse.

The Crisis of the Federation (1961-1962)

The West Indies Federation entered a crisis period in 1961 and 1962, as the political tensions between the larger and smaller members became unmanageable. The Jamaica referendum of September 1961, in which the voters of Jamaica were asked to choose between the federation and secession, was a critical moment. The result of the referendum, in which the voters narrowly chose secession, marked the effective end of the federation. The Norman Manley and Alexander Bustamante rivalry, which had dominated Jamaican politics, was a particularly important factor in the referendum, with Bustamante campaigning for secession and Manley supporting the federation. The collapse of the federation in 1962 was a major disappointment for West Indian nationalism.

Eric Williams, the Trinidadian leader, summed up the position of the smaller territories in a famous 1958 speech: “one from ten leaves nought.” The Jamaican position, in turn, was that Trinidad’s oil wealth and Jamaica’s bauxite revenues would be drawn off by the smaller islands. The arithmetic was, on both sides, partly right.

The Dissolution of the Federation (1962)

The West Indies Federation was formally dissolved on 31 May 1962, with the constituent territories moving toward separate independence. Jamaica became independent on 6 August 1962, with Alexander Bustamante as the first prime minister. Trinidad and Tobago became independent on 31 August 1962, with Eric Williams as the first prime minister. Barbados, which had been a major supporter of the federation, became independent in 1966. The smaller islands and the associated statehood that followed independence was a less dramatic solution, and several of the smaller territories became associated states under the West Indies Act of 1967. The dissolution of the federation marked the end of an ambitious experiment in Caribbean political integration.

The Legacy of the West Indies Federation

The West Indies Federation has had a long-term legacy in the modern Caribbean. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is among the most consequential regional successor organisations, and it has been more successful than the federation in maintaining regional cooperation. The University of the West Indies, as a regional institution, has continued to be a centre of West Indian scholarship and identity. The West Indies cricket team, which has been one of the most successful in international cricket, has continued to be a symbol of West Indian identity. The legacy of the West Indies Federation remains contested, and the failure of the federation continues to influence the politics of regional integration in the modern Caribbean.

Historiographical Note

The historiography of the West Indies Federation has been remarkably polemical. The contemporary participants — Eric Williams, Grantley Adams, and the contributors to the West Indian Federal Labour Party’s pamphlets — gave very different accounts of who was to blame for the failure. The post-independence scholarship, led by the work of Carl Stone, Democracy and Clientelism in Jamaica (1980), and the more recent work of Anthony P. Maingot, has produced a more analytical picture, in which the federation is read as the victim of colonial economic structures. The current debate, exemplified in the recent writing of Hilary Beckles and the contributors to the Oxford History of the British Empire, is over how far the federation’s failure was the result of the British constitution and how far it was the consequence of the political and economic differences of the constituent territories.

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