The New Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation, or New JEWEL Movement (NJM), was a Marxist–Leninist vanguard party in the Caribbean island nation of Grenada that was led by Maurice Bishop.
Established in 1973, the NJM issued its manifesto prior to Grenada being granted independence from the United Kingdom in 1974. The NJM took control of Grenada with a bloodless coup in 1979 and ruled by decree as the People's Revolutionary Government until 1983. In October of that year, Bishop and seven of his associates were killed by paramilitaries affiliated with hard-line elements in his own party. Those elements formed a military government, which was quickly deposed by a U.S. invasion later in October.
Origin
The New JEWEL Movement (NJM) was established on 11 March 1973 as an alliance of (1) the Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation (JEWEL); (2) the Organization for Revolutionary Education and Liberation (OREL); and (3) the Movement for Assemblies of the People (MAP). The party's manifesto was largely drafted by MAP's prominent intellectual, Franklyn Harvey, who had been influenced by the writings of C.L.R. James.
In its early days, Bishop described the NJM as "a political party aimed at raising consciousness and taking political power if the accepted processes didn’t allow for electoral change." The New Jewel newspaper, the party's principal publication, featured the motto: "Not Just Another Society – But a Just Society; Let Those who Labour Hold the Reins." Within hours, the NJM gained control of the country's military barracks, radio stations, government buildings, and police stations.
After the revolution, the NJM described itself as a Marxist–Leninist vanguard party, but not a communist party because it didn't believe it had advanced sufficiently to earn that label. According to the NJM, it "practiced policies to reach a point where a communist party could be formed, but considered themselves unready, due to the party not being led by a proletarian class, and due to the low level of education in Marxist-Leninist politics."
Foreign policy
The new government looked to Cuba for aid since the PRG had a "strained relationship with the United States" right from the outset. One of Bishop's first major projects was to supersede the small Pearls Airport on the north end of the island with a large, modern Point Salines International Airport on the south end. Over 600 Cuban construction workers were brought in to assist in the project.
Bishop's fall and the American intervention
The leaders of the U.S. government, and several other Caribbean nations, expressed concerns about the NJM government because of its close ties with Cuba, its alleged military expansion, and its new airport that could be repurposed as a Soviet-Cuban airbase.
Meanwhile, the NJM ruling party started showing signs of internal dissension as early as July 1982. That's when Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard, who was also the country's finance minister, resigned from the Political Bureau of the NJM Central Committee. According to the recollections of Bishop's press secretary Don Rojas, Coard's reason for resigning was that "he was not satisfied with the style of work and the priorities the Central Committee was addressing itself to. He was not more concrete than that." When several Central Committee members pressured Coard to be specific, he refused. Other members—who all came out of the OREL organization and were loyal to Coard (Rojas referred to them as the "OREL clique")—backed his decision and allowed him to resign his party posts while retaining his state posts. After a couple weeks of consideration, Bishop rejected the idea, which precipitated a disastrous sequence of events.
On 13 October, Coard took control of the PRG and placed Bishop under house arrest. Bishop's arrest, once it became known, triggered demonstrations and strikes throughout the country. On 19 October, Bishop was freed by a crowd estimated at 15,000 to 30,000 supporters. The military transported the bodies to an isolated peninsula known as Calivigny. "Their remains were put in a pit with tires and other debris, and set on fire." Six days later, the United States invaded Grenada and overthrew the Austin government. As a consequence of the successful U.S. invasion and occupation, the NJM ceased to exist.