Dr Rita Pemberton

The start of the 20th century seemed to offer much promise for Tobago. The sugar industry was completely dead, and the old planter and merchant class was no longer visible. There was a new class of landowners who were inclined to make maximum use of the island's resources and engage in agricultural diversification; but without the required support from the central government, the much hoped for development did not occur.

It soon became evident that there was no increased prosperity in the offing from the new century.

There continued to be rumblings about the disadvantages to the island of union, and despite the fact that some members of the working class supported the petition for closer union, there was disappointment in the absence of any real benefits.

A group of new plantation owners, some from Trinidad and others from Grenada, who made their home in Tobago, sought to wring profits from their newly acquired estates. They continued to offer 19th-century wages to their workers, who had very few employment options.

The spiralling cost of living made life very difficult and the result was a marked movement of migrants.

The island was faced with a dysentery epidemic which took its toll on the communities in the north, centre and western areas and revealed the poor state of the sanitary infrastructure and the absence of a supply of potable water.

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought on its own additional stresses, with shortages of imported items and accompanying high prices. Post-war depression added further stresses, with additional increases in the cost of living without any compensatory increase in wages, which led to the outbreak of labour disturbances in 1919.

By 1929, organised labour took root. Starting in Bethel, branches of the Trinidad Workingmen's Association were established across the island, and there were over 500 members of the organisation in that year.

Then came the crash of the cocoa industry in 1922. This resulted from the imperial decision to introduce cocoa cultivation to the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana), which ousted Trinidad and commanded the world market for cocoa. Although Tobago's small cocoa farmers continued in cultivation, labourers and cocoa contractors were negatively affected by reduced incomes.

The outbreak of World War II in 1939 led the imperial government to develop a food strategy as a part of its defence mechanism. The intent was to provide food for the population to defuse the protests that were evident in the larger island and reduce the extent of disaffection and militancy among workers in the united colony and prevent them from supporting communist ideals.

A Grow More Food Campaign, which offered increased prices for peasant-cultivated food, was introduced to ensure the colony had a supply of locally produced food, given the hazards to trade that were presented by the war. Guaranteed prices and sale for all items that were produced and conveniently located food-collection depots provided a great stimulus to food