Liberation From Below: The Caribbean Montreal-Based Conference Committee and the Global New Left

In the mid-1960s a group of West Indians formed the Caribbean Conference Committee (CCC). Dedicated to the cultural, economic, and political transformation of the Caribbean, the Montreal-based group organized a series of events that played a major role in raising the political consciousness of West Indians and members of the wider society. The CCC was part of the wave of New Left organizations that emerged across the globe and the group not only had a significant impact in North America, but its members profoundly influenced political developments in the Caribbean in the late 1960s and in the 1970s. Despite its importance, the author argues that the CCC has been neglected in the historiography. The author maintains that the CCC was an important Caribbean/Black New Left group that had a significant impact in Canada and played a crucial role in the emergence of the New Left in the Anglophone Caribbean. He also argues that, influenced by the Trinidadian Marxist C.L.R. James's ideas of spontaneous self-organization, the CCC made significant contributions to understanding social change and the dynamics of liberation in the 1960s.

Master's Thesis

Université de Montréal

Montréal

2008

vi-121p.

en