Review by Herman Hall

Survival For Service
My Experiences as Governor General of Grenada
by Sir Paul Scoon

There is a body of literature on the rise and fall of the Grenada Revolution (1979-1983) but none of the major personalities involved have shared their memoirs. Actually many are dead. In “Survival for Service: My Experiences as Governor General of Grenada,” Sir Paul Scoon, Grenada's head of state during those trying times, provides the first genuine bird's eye view of the personalities, events and drama. In lively and engaging prose, Sir Paul lays bare for all to see some of the previously unknown aspects of this tragic epoch in Grenadian, and I daresay, Caribbean and world history.

Most accounts by international journalists and writers of the left and right on that anarchic period in Grenada's history were hurriedly penned for quick profit and recognition resulting in false and misleading information. Sir Paul even goes further by explaining: “The Revolution brought to the fore a number of instant experts on Grenadian affairs, some of whom were totally ignorant of even basic facts about Grenada.” A comprehensive book written by a Grenadian or Caribbean national on Grenada's darkest days is long overdue and that's why twenty years later Sir Paul Scoon's “Survival for Service” is in demand.

The late 1970s through the mid-1980s witnessed several countries in Latin America and the English-speaking Caribbean engrossed in political and ideological upheavals. The Cold War was at a broil and several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean found themselves in the midst of the rivalry of the then super powers—U.S. and the Soviet Union. Nicaragua, Suriname and Grenada were forging holy alliances with Cuba and the then USSR much to the displeasure of the U.S. Even Jamaica led by Michael Manley, Guyana under one-time CIA informer Forbes Burnham, Trinidad & Tobago led by George Chambers and St. Lucia led by Allan Louisy found out that once they attempted to steer a non-subservient or non-aligned foreign policy thrust, their nations were in the U.S. black book.

One island-nation, the smallest of them all, Grenada, stood most visible in the global theater. Events in Grenada had grave international consequences and Grenada made itself a football in Cold War rhetoric. Grenada was a household name between March 1979, when the first and only successful coup d'etat in the English-speaking Caribbean occurred on its soil, and October 1983, when its prime minister was assassinated and the U.S. invaded or intervened. During this tumultuous period, one man endured the challenges and pains. He is an integral part of that distressing period in Grenada's and Caribbean history. On October 4, 1978, Sir Paul Scoon was sworn in as Governor-General of Grenada. And at 5:30 a.m. on March 13, 1979, the Governor-General, only five months in office, received a telephone call from a police officer on duty informing him that the elected government of Prime Minister Eric Gairy was overthrown in a coup d'etat led by Maurice Bishop at a time when Gairy was in New York.

In the initial confusion of the events, Sir Paul was briefly detained much to the chagrin of Maurice Bishop. “My arrest was a bit of an embarrassment for Bishop and understandably so,” says Sir Paul. It is against this previously unexplored backdrop that Scoon launches into October 19, 1983, when Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, some members of his cabinet and other trusted associates were brutally murdered—their remains are yet to be found. A few days later, Tuesday, October 25, 1983, the U.S. invaded Grenada—an invasion that Sir Paul Scoon and most Grenadians more than twenty years later still call a welcomed intervention, rescue or liberation mission but the Pentagon and the U.S. military label an invasion. Providing aspects of the rescue, Sir Paul, in vivid details, recounts how he, his wife and his staff almost lost their lives as remnants of the Grenadian military poured bullets directly into the governor general's home as the rescue effort was ongoing.

Like most former British colonies of the 20th century that achieved independence, the governor general of Grenada is not the head of government but titular head of state. He is Queen Elizabeth II representative. Although Grenada had several governments between 1979 and 1983, each prime minister (the head of government) invited Sir Paul to remain in office and he did. Thus, the Queen of England was head of state throughout the Maurice Bishop regime—a fact that some experts on the Grenada Revolution still fail to realize. Immediately after the U.S. invasion or intervention, there was no government on Grenada because the government of Bishop's executioners was eradicated by the U.S. military. Only one man with constitutional authority survived, Sir Paul Scoon. He faced two options: He could assume complete authority by becoming head of government until elections were held, or he could appoint someone to form a government.

He chose the latter, demonstrating remarkable intuitive understanding of what's necessary for democracy to thrive. “Survival for Service” is not a book intended merely for a Grenadian readership; it is more than Caribbean history, it is world history. “It was in Grenada that the fall of communism began,” says Sir Paul Scoon. One can even go further by stating that Grenada provided the U.S. its first military victory since Viet Nam and this victory brought renewed spirit into the U.S. and its desire to contain communism. Veteran's Day of November 1983 generated the largest participation in parades across the U.S. since Viet Nam. While it took Sir Paul twenty years to tell his side of the story, the time was worth the wait.

“Survival for Service” is beautifully crafted, thoroughly organized, “comprehensive and absorbing with a wealth of behind-the-scene details,” says Marie-Jo Cools-Lartigue,” a daughter of a former Administrator of Grenada. It is biography, autobiography, social and political history saturated with revealing information as well as wit. Sir Paul tells of the Grenadian who went to neighboring Trinidad during the peak of Maurice Bishop's regime for dental care. The dentist asked the patient: “Are there no dentists in Grenada?” “Yes,” replied the Grenadian. “We have many dentists, but I can't open my mouth in Grenada. If I do, I will be sent to jail.” In this sharp snippet, Sir Paul calls attention to the suppression of freedom of speech under the People's Revolutionary Government. Sir Paul brilliantly gives the background leading to each major event—up to 1992 when he retired from office— thereby making it easier for the reader to understand what led to each event in Grenada.

His analysis of Sir Eric Gairy— the man who led Grenada into a genuine revolution in 1950 by freeing estate workers from bondage and who later achieved independence for Grenada but later considered Grenada to quote Sir Paul his “private estate”—is superb. Sir Paul, it appears, wrote as objectively and sincerely as possible. He gives the highest and lowest points, the strengths and weaknesses of all the powerbrokers in Grenada during his term in office. Sir Paul's description of how government, the civil service and the head of state function in newly independent countries such as Grenada and the rest of the English speaking Caribbean is outstanding. It is ideal for use in civics classes in high schools and in political science classes—especially comparative political systems courses—in universities. He understands the psyche of Grenadians much more than most Grenadians and may well be correct when he says that Maurice Bishop never understood rural Grenada.

And that's a reason why Sir Paul may have been the perfect person to be in office at that turbulent time in Grenada's history. Apart from Sir Paul's thorough analysis, he shares events that were carefully hidden from the media. Imagine the revolutionary Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and the conservative governor general playing tennis! Imagine the prime minister's security having their livestock of goats and pigs feasting on the plants, flowers and fruits in the governor general's garden. And how many people realize that at the peak of Maurice Bishop's People's Revolutionary Government there were more than 3,000 political prisoners, many whom were supporters of Bishop even up to the time of their arrest. Most literature about Grenada during 1979 and 1983 blame external factors for the problems and demise of the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG). Sir Paul takes the opposite view.

As far as Sir Paul is concerned, the state of the economy, problems in agriculture, poor planning and the bitter strife within the Central Committee of the Party triggered the downfall of the PRG. Scoon holds that notwithstanding the persistent coldness of successive U.S. administrations towards Grenada, the PRG by its very disjointed and myopic policies was the author and creator of its own demise. Although this is a noble attempt by Sir Paul to place Grenada as subject rather than an object in its own history, Sir Paul has not shared adequate information about relations between Grenada and the U.S. between March 13, 1979 and October 24, 1983. And this may be the only drawback of the book! To be sure, he details the presence and policies of the U.S. in the post-October 25, 1983 period but a more in-depth analysis of the nature of U.S./Grenada relations in the pre-1983 era would have gone a long way in consolidating his claim that internal factors were central to the demise of the PRG.

Grenada, the Caribbean and Latin America were much on President Reagan's mind when he assumed office and of the five essential pieces of legislation he wanted Congress to enact during his first term in office his Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) was the centerpiece. The CBI was created to halt the flow of leftist lava into the Caribbean. Reagan mentioned Grenada in several national speeches and there is still debate on whether or not he was correct by placing Grenada within the USSR axis. On Easter weekend 1982, I was one of the journalists who traveled with Reagan to Jamaica and Barbados. We were given an “off the record” briefing and “high level White House source” statement while airborne. The Jamaican-leg of the visit was intended to thank Jamaicans for rejecting Michael Manley and replacing him with their new leader Prime Minister Edward Seaga, and we were informed that the president would be aggressive by verbally attacking Cuba and Grenada while on Barbados.

The working luncheon held in Barbados with U.S. best friends at that time in the region (excluding St. Lucia, Guyana and Grenada not invited; Chambers of Trinidad & Tobago declined) mainly focused on Grenada. Reagan was mesmerized by Bishop's oratory and asked the prime ministers if Bishop would win elections if one were held. All the prime ministers except Prime Minister Milton Cato of St. Vincent & the Grenadines informed Reagan that Bishop would lose. In “Survival for Service,” Sir Paul states that within six months of the 1979 regime change Bishop would not have won a free and fair election had he called one.

This view was in sync with most heads of government in the region. Sir Paul gives his rationale for staying in office especially during the Bishop years. While one must respect his decision, one has to ask: Had he quit office to show how disgusted he was with the People's Revolutionary Government, would the Bishop Government have fallen earlier? Would rule of tyranny have been exposed much earlier? Would the British Government have exposed Grenada for its totalitarian state since the British Monarch would no longer have been head of state because the Queen's representative, the governor general, had resigned? And, would the “Revo” have ended in that brutal and savage manner?

Throughout the book, Sir Paul tells of his disdain of communism and his appreciation of democracy. One can assume he is referring to Western-style democracy: “Of all the political systems, I give my vote to democracy without any reservations.” And again, scholars of today and the future may ask if Sir Paul was so adamant against communism, why did he remain in office during the People's Revolutionary Government? Perhaps this question would make for an engrossing debate at Oxford, the University of the West Indies or Harvard.

There is no doubt that Sir Paul Scoon is a patriot and a statesman in every sense of those words. Every Grenadian at home and abroad was affected by developments in Grenada between 1979 and 1983. Some genuinely felt that Grenada was in the communist camp and did everything to bring down the Bishop regime; some who were in positions as consultants to the U.S. State Department and various U.S. intelligence agencies deliberately gave the U.S. false information for their selfish political ambitions.

Sir Paul Scoon was one of the few exceptions. He placed Grenada first at all times and his personal interest secondary. His experiences are worth reading and he has given us a history book worth saving for posterity. This book belongs in every library as it documents not just trying times in Grenada but is also a contribution to the history of the waning days of the Cold War, which turned hot in Grenada. Readers and scholars are invited to submit their reviews for publication in this magazine.