Richard Hart (13 August 1917 – 21 December 2013) was a

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n historian, solicitor and politician. He was a founding member of the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) (PNP; ) is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by Norman Manley, Norman Washington Manley who served as party president unti ...

(PNP) and one of the pioneers of

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

in Jamaica. He played an important role in Jamaican politics in the years leading up to

Independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

in 1962. He subsequently was based in

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

for two years, before relocating to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, in 1965, working as a solicitor and co-founding the campaigning organisation

Caribbean Labour Solidarity Caribbean Labour Solidarity (CLS), founded in 1974, is a group that "sets itself the task of informing the concerned about labour issues in the (Caribbean) region as a whole", and "continues to support the national and anti-imperialist fight in ...

in 1974. He went on to serve as attorney-general in

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

under the

People's Revolutionary Government The People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) was proclaimed on 13 March 1979 after the Marxist–Leninist New Jewel Movement overthrew the government of Grenada in a revolution, making Grenada the only socialist state within Commonwealth of Nati ...

in 1983. He spent the latter years of his life in the UK, where he died in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. Hart was the author of several notable books on Caribbean history – including ''Towards Decolonisation: Political, Labour and Economic Developments in Jamaica 1939–1945'' (1999), ''Slaves who Abolished Slavery'' (1980, 1985; reprinted 2002) and ''The Grenada Revolution: Setting the Record Straight'' (2005) – and he lectured on the subject at universities in the West Indies, the US, Canada and Europe. Professor Rupert Lewis of the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

' Mona campus once described Hart as "the most consistent Caribbean activist".

Life

Richard Hart was born in

Montego Bay Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...

, Drayton, Richard (20 February 2014)
"Richard Hart obituary"
Other Lives, ''The Guardian''. on 13 August 1917, of mixed heritage that included

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

and African. He was the son of Ansell Hart, a Jamaican solicitor and author of a 1972 historical study of

George William Gordon George William Gordon (c. 1820 – 23 October 1865) was a Jamaican businessman, magistrate and politician, one of two representatives to the Assembly from St. Thomas-in-the-East parish. He was a leading critic of the colonial government and ...

. Hart was educated in Jamaica, attending

Munro College Munro College is a boarding school for boys in St Elizabeth, Jamaica. It was founded in 1856 as the Potsdam School (named for the city of Potsdam), a school for boys in St. Elizabeth as stipulated in the will of plantation owners Robert Hugh Munr ...

in St. Elizabeth, and in England, where he was sent to boarding-school at

Denstone College Denstone College is a co-educational, private, boarding and day school in Denstone, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England. It is a Woodard School, having been founded by Nathaniel Woodard, and so Christian traditions are practised as part of Coll ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. He returned to Jamaica in 1937, and became a founding member of the

(PNP) in 1938; he was on the party's executive committee from 1941 to 1952. He had the responsibility of drafting a model trade union constitution as a member of

Norman Manley Norman Washington Manley (4 July 1893 – 2 September 1969) was a Jamaican statesman who served as the first and only Premier of Jamaica. A Rhodes Scholar, Manley became one of Jamaica's leading lawyers in the 1920s. Manley was an advocate o ...

's 1938 Labour Committee assisting

Alexander Bustamante Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante (born William Alexander Clarke; 24 February 1884 – 6 August 1977) was a Jamaican politician and Jamaica Labour Party leader, who, on Independence Day, August 6th, 1962, became the first prime minister ...

in the formation of a trade union, and in 1940 was arrested for organising a demonstration demanding Bustamante's release from prison. Hart sat the English Law Society examinations in Jamaica, qualifying as a solicitor in 1941. In 1942, he was imprisoned without trial by the British colonial government for his political activities. In 1954, Hart – who self-identified as a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

– was one of four PNP members who were expelled from the PNP for their (alleged) communist views. The other three members were Frank Hill, Ken Hill and Arthur Henry, and they were collectively referred to as "the four Hs". Hart was also very active in the trade union movement in Jamaica in the 1940s and 1950s, and worked as a member of the executive committee of the Trade Union Council from 1946 to 1948. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Caribbean Labour Congress from 1945 to 1946 and Assistant Secretary from 1947 to 1953. Hart was known to have been a close friend of communist activist

Billy Strachan William Arthur Watkin Strachan (16 April 1921 – 26 April 1998) was a British communist, civil rights activist, and pilot. He is most noted for his achievements as a bomber pilot with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War, and f ...

, an accomplished Royal Air Force pilot who went onto become a pioneer of Black civil rights in Britain. He once toured Jamaica with Strachan and another Black communist called

Ferdinand Smith Ferdinand Smith (5 May 1893 – 14 August 1961) was a Jamaican-born Communist labor activist. A prominent activist in the United States and the West Indies, Smith co-founded the National Maritime Union with Joseph Curran and M. Hedley Stone. By 1 ...

, writing a Calypso song dedicated to them both titled "The Ferdie and Billy Calypso". Believing in the importance of popular education to empower people and raise the level of political consciousness in the community – to which his first book, ''The Origin and Development of the People of Jamaica'' (1952), was dedicated – Hart helped establish the People's Educational Organisation (PEO), which organized a bookshop and held meetings and debates, including on the type of political party that was needed. Drayton, Harold A. (13 January 2014)
"A personal tribute to my mentor, friend, and comrade Richard Hart (1917-2013), Part I"
''Stabroek News''. Together with other radical thinkers and activists he then formed the People's Freedom Movement (which was later renamed the Socialist Party of Jamaica). The party disbanded in 1962.

Guyana

After the demise of the People's Freedom Movement, Hart moved to

, where he worked as the editor of ''The Mirror'' newspaper, which supported the views of

Cheddi Jagan Cheddi Berret Jagan ( ; 22 March 1918 – 6 March 1997) was a Guyanese politician and dentist who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964. He later served as President of Guyana from 19 ...

,"Richard Hart", The Grenada Revolution Online.
/ref> from 1963 to 1965. While in Guyana, Hart also undertook research into the history and culture of the

Arawak people The Arawak are a group of Indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. The term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to different Indigenous groups, from the Lokono of South America to the Taíno (Island Arawaks), w ...

, making many visits to Amerindian communities in the interior.Drayton, Harold A. (20 January 2014)
"A personal tribute to my mentor, friend, and comrade Richard Hart (1917-2013), Part 2"
''Stabroek News''. After returning to the UK Hart initiated a correspondence with Canon John P. Bennett – the first Arawak priest to be ordained as an Anglican priest – and worked to assist in the writing and publication of an

Arawak The Arawak are a group of Indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. The term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to different Indigenous groups, from the Lokono of South America to the Taíno (Island Arawaks), w ...

-English Dictionary. The letters exchanged between Hart and Bennett would eventually be published in 1991, in a book entitled ''Kabethechino'' ("Close Friends"), edited by Janette Forte of the

University of Guyana The University of Guyana, in Georgetown, Guyana, is Guyana's national and most prestigious higher education institution. It was established in April 1963 with the following Mission: "To discover, generate, disseminate, and apply knowledge of th ...

London

On leaving Guyana, Hart moved to London, England, where he worked as a solicitor to a Local Government Authority from 1965 to 1982. In 1974, he was a founding member of

(CLS),CLS website.
/ref> together with Cleston Taylor (1926–2010), Lionel Jeffrey (1926–1993) and others. Hart remained the Honorary President of CLS, a group that "sets itself the task of informing the concerned about labour issues in the region as a whole".

Grenada; return to England

In 1982, Hart moved to

, where he worked as a legal consultant to the

. He was appointed Attorney General of Grenada on 25 May 1983. An internal power struggle in the leadership of the

New Jewel Movement 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 ...

led to the killing of Prime Minister

Maurice Bishop Maurice Rupert Bishop (29 May 1944 – 19 October 1983) was a Grenada, Grenadian revolutionary and the leader of the New Jewel Movement (NJM) – a Marxist–Leninist party that sought to prioritise socio-economic development, education and bla ...

and the

US Invasion of Grenada The United States and a coalition of Caribbean countries invaded the small island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela, at dawn on 25 October 1983. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in military occupation with ...

that began on 25 October 1983. Hart returned to England, where he operated a private legal practice for five years until he retired in 1988. He contributed an introduction to ''In Nobody's Backyard: Maurice Bishop's Speeches, 1979–1983 — A Memorial Volume'' (Zed Books, 1984), placing the Grenada revolution in a historical context within the Caribbean, and later wrote other works on Grenada, including ''The Grenada Revolution: Setting the Record Straight'' (2005).

Later years

Hart was readmitted to the PNP in 2001. In 2004, he was awarded an honorary degree by the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a Public university, public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of hi ...

. In 2005, he was presented with a Gold

Musgrave Medal The Musgrave Medal is an annual award by the Institute of Jamaica in recognition of achievement in art, science, and literature.Webster, Valerie J. (2000), ''Awards, Honors & Prizes, Volume 2'', Gale Group, , p. 447. Originally conceived in 1889 ...

from the

Institute of Jamaica The Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), founded in 1879, is the country's most significant cultural, artistic and scientific organisation:The University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the Tertiary education, higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking Country, cou ...

(UWI). In June 2006, UWI ran a three-day conference on Hart's work, entitled "Politics, Activism and History: The Life and Times of Richard Hart". In 2011, he was awarded an honorary degree from the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

. Hart wrote a number of significant historical works over the years. He was also instrumental in the publication of the first

dictionary in 1991. His 1999 title ''Towards Decolonisation: Political, Labour and Economic Developments in Jamaica 1938–1945'' was described by Linden Lewis in a review as: "a meticulously documented text about the struggle for decolonization, union recognition, and the establishment of an indigenous political party in Jamaica during the War years. The text is part memoir and part historical account. As a major participant in the labor and political struggles of the 1930s and 1940s, Hart was both observer and actor in the unfolding drama of the process of decolonization." Hart's 2012 book, ''Caribbean Workers' Struggles'', "is a wide-ranging and immensely readable essay that gives centre stage to the struggle for workers' rights and national independence against the forces of racism and imperialism." ''

Socialist Review The ''Socialist Review'' was a monthly magazine of the British Socialist Workers Party. As well as being printed it was also published online. Original publication: 1950–1962 The ''Socialist Review'' was set up in 1950 as the main publication ...

'' states: "This book is testimony to the courageous and unceasing struggle from below that won freedom and political rights for a population of slaves." His last published book was ''Occupation & Control: the British in Jamaica 1660–1962'' (2013). Hart died aged 96 at his home in

on 21 December 2013, survived by his partner of more than 50 years, Avis Ho-Young.

Awards

* 2004: Honorary Degree from the University of the West of England * 2005: Gold

from the Institute of Jamaica for his work as a historian. * 2005: Honorary Degree from the University of the West Indies. * 2011: Honorary Degree from the University of Hull.

Selected works

* ''Occupation & Control: The British in Jamaica 1660–1962''. Arawak Publications, 2013. * ''Caribbean Workers' Struggles''. London:

Socialist History Society The Socialist History Society (SHS) is a British-based organisation which publishes a twice-yearly journal (''Socialist History'') mainly about the history of the socialist and labour movements in Britain. It also publishes a series of pamphlets ...

/ Bogle-L'Ouverture Press, 2012. * ''The Abolition of Slavery''. London: Caribbean Labour Solidarity, 2007. . * * *''Slaves Who Abolished Slavery: Volume 1, Blacks in Bondage''. Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1980. *''Slaves Who Abolished Slavery: Volume 2, Blacks in Rebellion'' (1985).

University of the West Indies Press The University of the West Indies Press (or UWI Press) is a university press that is part of the University of the West Indies and was founded in 1992. The first book published by the press was ''Slave Society in the Danish West Indies: St. Thoma ...

, 2002. . * ''The Life and Resurrection of Marcus Garvey''. London: Karia Press, 2002. * ''Labour Rebellions of the 1930s in the British Caribbean Region Colonies''."Labour Rebellions of the 1930s in the British Caribbean Region Colonies – Richard Hart"
libcom.org, 5 December 2007. London: Caribbean Labour Solidarity & Socialist History Society, 2002. * ''The Ouster of the 4Hs from the People's National Party in Jamaica in 1952''. London: Caribbean Labour Solidarity, 2000. * * * ''Michael Manley: An Assessment and Tribute''. London: Caribbean Labour Solidarity, 1997. * * * ''The Grenada "Elections": An Analysis from Behind Prison Bars''. London: Caribbean Labour Solidarity & New Jewel Movement (UK) Support Group, 1984. * ''The Cuban Way''. London: Caribbean Labour Solidarity, 1978. . * ''Origin and Development of the Working Class in the English-Speaking Caribbean Area 1897 to 1937''. London: Community Education Trust, 1975. * ''The Origin and Development of the People of Jamaica'', Kingston: TUC Education Dept, 1952.

References

Tributes

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

"Remembering Richard 'Dick' Hart – a historian who made history"
The-Latest.com, 16 July 2014. * Everton Pryce
"In tribute to Richard Hart"
''Jamaica Observer'', 12 January 2014. * Harold A. Drayton
"A personal tribute to my mentor, friend, and comrade Richard Hart (1917–2013), Part I"
''Stabroek News'', 13 January 2014. * Harold A. Drayton
"A personal tribute to my mentor, friend, and comrade Richard Hart (1917–2013), Part 2"
''Stabroek News'', 20 January 2014. * Luke Daniels
"Richard Hart: A Tribute"
''

Pambazuka News ''Pambazuka News'' is an open access, Pan-African e-mail and online electronic newsletter. It is published weekly in English, Portuguese and French by the not-for-profit organisation Fahamu. The word ''Pambazuka'' means "dawn" or "arise" in Kis ...

'', Issue 661, 16 January 2014.

External links

Richard Hart papers at University of London

Institute of Commonwealth Studies. * ttp://www.microform.co.uk/guides/R97582.pdf Richard Hart Collection: Richard Hart’s Collected Papers 1937–1966 on Microfilm Finding List, Microform Academic Publishers.
Richard Hart Collection: Jamaica People's National Party: Pamphlets, Leaflets, etc., 1938–1956
Fiche Guide, Microform Academic Publishers. * . . .

Our History, Our Heritage, 2008.
Bristol Radical History Group, Contributors.
* Talk by Richard Hart

Bristol Radical History Group. * Richard Hart

Online from Socialist History Society.
"Neville James Interviews Richard Hart"
National Library of Jamaica. Via YouTube. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Richard 1917 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Grenadian lawyers 20th-century Jamaican lawyers Attorneys general of Grenada Historians of slavery Jamaican academics Jamaican activists Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom Jamaican expatriates in Guyana Jamaican historians Jamaican Marxists Jamaican non-fiction writers Jamaican male non-fiction writers Jamaican people of Jewish descent Jamaican solicitors Male non-fiction writers Marxist historians New Jewel Movement politicians People's National Party (Jamaica) politicians Recipients of the Musgrave Medal People educated at Munro College