Peoples National Movement

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Peoples National Movement

The Peoples National Movement (PNM) was launched as a political party on January 26, 1956. Nine months after its formation, the party won the general elections and formed the government of Trinidad and Tobago. In consequence,

its founder and leader, Dr. Eric Eustace Williams, an Oxford scholar and former professor of political science at Howard University who had relinquished his position as deputy chair of the Caribbean Research Council of the Caribbean Commission, became the first chief minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

From its formation the PNM demonstrated a preoccupation with policies reflecting its background and the intellectual orientation of its political leader. The party had emerged out of the Teachers' Educational and Cultural Association (TECA), formed during the 1940s and made up largely of educated, middle-class, Afro-descended professionals in search of political power. Inspired by the scholarly writings and incisive discourses of Williams, TECA members gravitated toward him and by 1955 had established the People's Education Group (PEG) and the People's Education Movement (PEM) as platforms for his lectures and political agitation.

Williams had been very critical of the nature of colonial education in the British West Indies. Once in office, the PNM preoccupied itself with the political education of its membership and, at the national level, with policies for the development of primary, secondary and vocational, and later tertiary education of the masses.

The party also addressed issues of constitutional reform, taking to the colonial authorities a fight begun by members of the TECA/PEG for the introduction of a bicameral legislature. The PNM viewed the crown colony government in Trinidad and Tobago as unacceptable, for the governor continued to preside over the legislature, and the chief minister was limited in his power over the executive. By 1959 the party was able to persuade the colonial authorities to put in place a system that replaced the office of chief minister with that of premier, and the executive council with a cabinet under his control. Strenuous agitation by the party in the colonial legislature kept constitutional issues in constant focus. This, together with skilful diplomatic relations with the colonial office and, later, tactfully soliciting the collaboration of the main opposition party, enabled the PNM to secure full internal self-government for Trinidad and Tobago with the attainment of independence in 1962. Thereafter, the PNM pursued full sovereignty, taking the country to republican status in 1976.

Another early policy orientation was aimed at the development of the country through proper economic planning. The PNM introduced three five-year development programs, the first two of which saw the implementation between 1958 and 1968 of initiatives to promote development of the infrastructure, municipalities and communities, fisheries, forestry, tourism, public utilities, and the service sector. An important aspect involved policies for expansion and diversification of the agricultural sector, including the sugar industry, which many scholars viewed, notwithstanding, as the dominant factor in the development of the Caribbean political economy and the many ills it had inherited. The emphasis was on increasing productivity in all areas, with the object of protecting jobs and improving working conditions and the lot of small farmers.

Other development initiatives were intended to incorporate heavy and modern industrialization in the petroleum sector to maximize exploration of the country's hydrocarbon reserves. Efforts were also made to develop non-oil manufactures. Williams was deeply inspired by Arthur Lewis's model of "industrialization by invitation," and from early on the PNM administration sought to attract investment by offering generous tax concessions to foreign concerns for the creation of pioneer industries and the development of existing ones. From the late 1970s development initiatives were dominated by efforts to diversify the energy sector by developing downstream industries, including natural gas, urea, methanol, and iron and steel, but with a much greater degree of national ownership. These initiatives laid the foundation for development of the modern industrial economy of Trinidad and Tobago.

Economic development was always perceived in terms of the redistribution of income with adequate concern for the common person. Such a policy was articulated in the People's Charter of 1956, which, presented at the party's first annual convention, enunciated the fundamental principles and ideals that were to guide the development of the party and nation. The charter committed the party to a comprehensive social security program for the general welfare of all the people of Trinidad and Tobago, setting the basis for the development of greater equity in the society.

On the eve of independence, Williams advised the nation that division of the races was a policy of colonialism and that integration of the races must be the policy of independence. In consequence, the government pursued a policy of multiracial solidarity, and policies were designed for increasing access for all in the society. The full realization of these ideals remained a challenge, however, because of the deep-seated polarization and division that had resulted from the plural nature of the society.

From inception, and despite the breakup of the Federation of the West Indies in 1961, the PNM pursued regional unity as critical to the individual and collective development of countries in the English-speaking Caribbean and to the progressive use of the broad cultural heritage and indigenous art forms of its population.

The PNM was the first of the political organizations to preoccupy itself with the development of party politics in the colony and present a national and international perspective that sought to embrace the myriad classes, races, and interest groups in Trinidad and Tobago. It remains that country's longest surviving political party and, by virtue of the policies pursued from its inception regarding education, political reforms, economic development, race relations, and regional cooperation, can be considered as the architect of independent Trinidad and Tobago.