The landing by US marines on Grenada on October 25 is a counterrevolutionary aggression. Its aim is to wipe out the revolution that has been going on in this small Caribbean island since the overthrow of the. dictator Eric Gairy on March 13, 1979.
This invasion follows in the bloody tradition of US crimes in the region from the occupation of Cuba at the beginning of the century to the expedition by 40,000 marines to Santo Domingo in April 1965, and including the massive and prolonged interventions in Central America since the 1930s.
By using more than 3,000 men of the military forces of the most powerful imperialist country in the world to suppress the aspirations of the 110,000 inhabitants of Grenada for independence, democracy and social change, Ronald Reagan wants at the same time to make this expedition a show of strength and a warning to peoples in struggle.
The American imperialists intend to demonstrate to all the peoples of the Caribbean and the Latin American continent, who are exasperated by the crisis, poverty and hunger, that the United States will make them pay dearly for every serious attempt at national and social emancipation. In four years, the revolutionary regime of the New Jewel Movement (NJM) had improved the standards and conditions of life for the workers, developed health and education services, and stood up against the threats from imperialism. Such audacity and bravery — which could become contagious in a region that the US consider their 'backyard' — in their eyes required an exemplary punishment.
The marines' aggression is also a signal to the revolutionaries of Central America and Cuba to forewarn them of the scope of military means that the US is prepared to use to prevent the consolidation of new revolutionary regimes and the extension of revolution in this region. The landing on Grenada thus constitutes a direct warning to the Salvadoran revolution, Sandinista Nicaragua, and the Cuban workers state.
The United States acted with the greatest cynicism, and without the least diplomatic pretext usually used in these circumstances. Undoubtedly Reagan also wanted to put his own allies to the test, and test public opinion nationally and internationally on other major military actions in the region. The 300 soldiers of Barbados and other Caribbean islands, kept out of the fighting, are not going to confer a 'multinational' cover on the US force. On the contrary, the imperialist manipulation of Caribbean states in its fight against Grenada illustrates the attempts of the same type of manipulation of the Central American states against Nicaragua.
From the beginning the US spokespersons plainly and straightforwardly explained their intention — stating that they wanted to punish those that they called 'leftist thugs' and 'bandits'. This is exactly the same process which led Nixon to bomb the North Vietnamese dykes, by treating the North Vietnamese as 'international bandits'.
However, there was nothing improvised or makeshift about the American landing. It had been planned well before the events that led to its being put into operation. From the time that the New Jewel Movement took power, the United States was hatching its criminal plot, organising a veritable economic blockade of the island, and increasing its military provocations.
The United States cannot stomach the idea that a people in the region may take their fate into their own hands, after decades of imperialist domination. The US could not forgive Maurice Bishop's government for having opposed a salvage operation for Somoza in July 1979 within the Organisation of American States (OAS).
Several times, including last March, Maurice Bishop put the island's population on the alert against the US preparations for aggression. But it was then still very difficult for Reagan to find any justification whatsoever for his imperialist crusade in the name of the struggle against totalitarianism, while the revolutionary Grenadan government had mass support among the population, was preparing a democratic constitution, and foresaw the election of a national popular assembly. This was at the same time as the US supported regimes like that of 'Baby Doc' in Haiti and supported at arms length the murderous military dictatorships in Guatemala and El Salvador.
Reagan therefore had to wait, and seize the first weakening of the Grenadan revolution to throw his marines into an assault on the island. The confrontations within the NJM, the overthrow and then the execution of Maurice Bishop and several of his ministers by the military on October 19, created confusion and disarray within the Grenadan masses, propitious for the American operation. The popular demonstrations in defence of Maurice Bishop had been repressed, the people's militias disarmed, the masses demobilised and paralysed by the curfew.
Faced with these events, the Cuban leadership condemned the execution of Bishop and his comrades, decreed three days mourning in their memory, and took its political distance from the Revolutionary Military Council of General Hudson Austin, while maintaining its economic collaboration with Grenada.
The Council of State and the Political Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party (CCP) stated on October 20 that, 'No pretended revolutionary doctrine, principle or position can justify proceedings as atrocious as the physical elimination of Bishop. The circumstances of the death of Bishop and his companions must be clarified. And, if they were executed in cold blood, the guilty must receive a worthy punishment. While we are profoundly shocked, we will take the interests of the Grenadan people into consideration above everything else as far as our economic and technical collaboration is concerned, if that turns out to be possible. But our political relations with the new leaders in Grenada will be subject to serious and deep analysis.'
This declaration also made clear that, 'now, imperialism will try to use this tragedy and the grave errors made by the revolutionaries in Grenada, to try to sweep aside the revolutionary process'.
Despite the American military might put into operation, relentless fighting took place for several days in different points in the country. The United States has maintained a black-out on information, and the number of victims is not known. The 3,000 marines landed represent the equivalent of 3 per cent of the local population, that is one for thirty-five inhabitants. This is a considerable operation, equivalent to landing 300,000 marines on Cuba.
However, the step by step resistance around the points where the marines landed (the two airports), in the mountains, and in the capital St. George's, show that the 'pacification' of this small island will not be as easy as expected, and the American troops will have some difficulty in putting a 'made in the USA' government into the saddle.
In order to re-establish in Ronald Reagan style the sort of 'democracy' Washington claims was 'trampled under foot', the US troops will have to silence a people who have in fact had a taste of democracy during the last four years, to dissolve or bring to heel the mass organisations, and install a puppet team at the head of a pro-American regime.
The military resistance of the Grenadan revolutionary fighters increases the political price that imperialism will have to pay for its crime by a little more every day, and shows that the imperialist project of 'normalisation' is in no way assured of success. It demolishes the speeches of the Reagan administration and its local stooges about defending "liberty and democracy." Finally, it demonstrates that the other imperialist interventions projected in El Salvador, Nicaragua or Cuba will have to confront a still more relentless resistance. The determination of the revolutionary fighters in Grenada is a contribution to the liberation struggle of all peoples, and constitutes the most pressing appeal for international solidarity. To finish off this resistance the marines are undoubtedly quite capable of going as far as a massacre.
It is in the light of this back-to-the-wall resistance, in the tiny pocket handkerchief of an island that is Grenada, that the hypocrisy of the imperialist governments, allies of Reagan, appears most obscene. While Reagan violates the sovereignty of Grenada they discreetly look the other way, and wipe their feet on the principles of 'international law'. Francois Mitterrand, Margaret Thatcher, Bettino Craxi, Helmut Kohl and company have swallowed and digested the American fait accompli without too much trouble.
The prize for disgrace undoubtedly goes to the social democratic parties, who have contented themselves with mild protests, even though the NJM is a member of their so-called Socialist International. The Social Democratic prime minister of Portugal, Mario Soares, for his part has gone as far as to support the imperialist action to 'restore harmony in the island'. As for the French and Italian governments, one sees that it would be difficult for them to raise their voices, given that they are side by side with the USA in Lebanon, (and in Chad for France) and that they are demanding in loud voices the deployment of US missiles in Europe.
On its side the Soviet Union has confined itself to simple formal protests, which are not of the nature to reassure Cuba or Nicaragua about the firmness of its support in a similar situation.
At the level of the bourgeois governments in Latin America, the strongest condemnations have come from countries like Mexico, which in the context of their own economic crises, fear the effects that the US escalation may have in awakening and sharpening the anti-imperialist sentiment of the Latin American masses.
The American aggression in Grenada has added another blot to the ugly face of imperialism, after the British intervention in the Malvinas, and the starvation policy imposed by imperialist exploitation and the International Monetary Fund in the negotiations on the foreign debts of these countries.
The example of Grenada therefore highlights the fundamental conflict between the interests of these popular masses and those of imperialism. Tens of thousands of workers have shown they understand this by demonstrating against US intervention in Mexico and Santo Domingo.
Cuba and Nicaragua are the only governments that have called for mass mobilisation in defence of Grenada, while a first response in the streets was getting organised in Latin America, Europe, and the United States at the initiative of the Central American solidarity committees, revolutionary organisations and Communist Parties. This international mobilisation must continue and broaden to demand the immediate withdrawal of imperialist forces from Grenada, under whatever name they are disguised — multinational force, US marines, or Commonwealth force — and oppose the threat of American intervention in Central America.
In this framework there must also be the rejection of any recognition for any puppet government that may come out of the imperialist intervention and be installed in St. George's.
— No to the occupation of Grenada, US troops and their supporters out!
— No recognition of a government installled by imperialism!
— Immediate freedom for prisoners of war, and democratic freedoms for the Grenadan masses!
— Total support to the Salvadoran revolution!
— Hands off Cuba and Nicaragua!
Bureau of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International
October 29, 1983