Workers Party of Barbados

Workers Party of Barbados
Leader	George Belle
Founded	1 May 1985
Ideology	Marxism
Politics of Barbados Political parties Elections

The Workers Party of Barbados was a Marxist political party in Barbados. The party was established on 1 May 1985 by Dr. George Belle, who served as the general secretary of the party.^[1] The party had a pro-Soviet orientation and grew out of MONALI, an earlier Marxist movement based at the Cave Hill University of the West Indies campus which had gained national notoriety during the 1983 Grenada invasion.^[2][3][4][1] When announcing the transformation of MONALI into the Workers Party of Barbados, Belle affirmed the party would be organized along the lines of democratic centralism and would work on a basis of a programme of "progressive reforms and revolutionary democratic demands".^[5] The founders of the party included trade unionist Ricky Parry.^[4]

The party contested the 1986 elections, when it presented two candidates.^[6] The party received just 40 votes, failed to win a seat, and did not run in any further elections.^[7]

WPB called for a boycott of the 1986 Commonwealth Games, in protest against Margaret Thatcher's support for participation of South African athletes.^[8] Barbados later joined the boycott of the event.^[9]

Electoral history

Election	Party leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Outcome
1986	George Belle	40	0.03	0 / 27	0	3rd	Extra-parliamentary

References

1. Политические партии: справочник Изд-во полит. лит-ры, 1986. p. 286
2. Perry Mars. Ideology and Change: The Transformation of the Caribbean Left. Wayne State University Press, 1998. pp. 58-59
3. Latin American Regional Reports: Caribbean report. Latin American Newsletters, Limited, 1984. p. 8
4. Antilla, Issues 157-177. Imprimerie Absalon, 1985. p. 28
5. Quarterly Economic Review of Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Windward & Leeward Islands, Vol. 1. Economist Intelligence Unit Limited, 1985. pp. 16, 19
6. Barbados General Election Results - 28 May 1986 Archived 18 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine Caribbean Elections
7. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p91 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
8. Heather L. Dichter, Andrew L. Johns. Diplomatic Games: Sport, Statecraft, and International Relations since 1945. University Press of Kentucky, 2014
9. "8 More Nations Join Boycott of Commonwealth Games; Total Now 23". Los Angeles Times. 20 July 1986. Archived from the original on 21 February 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

External links

• George Belle Archived 13 October 2004 at the Wayback Machine