IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0101 PG.DQ
Held at: Institute of Commonwealth Studies
Title: Dominica: Pressure Groups Material
Date(s): 1938-1976
Level of description: Collection (Fonds)
Extent: 1 box
Name of creator(s): Institute of Commonwealth Studies
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Dominica passed between French and British hands several times in its colonial history and this, coupled with the early emergence of land-owning ex-slaves meant the island developed along different political lines to the big sugar colonies such as Barbados and Jamaica. By 1961 a Democratic Labour Party government had been elected, and it was this party which led Dominica first to associated statehood in 1967 and then to full independence eleven years later. 1980 saw the election of the Caribbean's first female prime minister, Eugenia Charles (Dominica Freedom Party), and although she had to survive coup attempts during her fifteen-year premiership subsequent peaceful transfers of power appeared to indicate that Dominica's political system was still functioning. The two disparate groups whose materials are held here constitute on the one-hand an old-fashioned organisation representing producers' interests (the Dominica Peasant Proprietors' Union) and on the other a classic pressure group seeking to prevent a miscarraige of justice in the case of Desmond Trotter, a black political activist accused of the murder of an American tourist. This latter group produced materials both in Dominica and in London in their successful efforts to overturn the death sentence passed on Trotter.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Constitutions, pamphlets and appeals issued by the Desmond Trotter Defence Committee and the Dominica Peasant Proprietors' Union, 1938-1976.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Alphabetically by group, and then in rough chronological order.
Conditions governing access:
Open to all for research purposes; access is free for anyone in higher education.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies can usually be obtained - apply to library staff.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Records at item level on library catalogue (SASCAT)
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
No further accruals are expected.
Archival history:
The Commonwealth Political Parties Materials collection was begun in 1960-61, with special emphasis being placed then, as now, on "primary material such as party constitutions, policy statements, convention reports and election manifestos." (ICS, Twelfth Annual Report 1960-1961). Since then, the main method of gathering material has been to appeal directly to political parties throughout the Commonwealth, though contributions from Institute members and staff following visits to relevant countries have been significant.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Institute of Commonwealth Studies
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
See also Dominica: Trades Unions Material (TU.DQ), and Dominica: Political Parties Material (PP.DQ), as well as Political Party, Trades Unions and Pressure Group Materials for other Commonwealth countries and related material in the library's main classified sequence, all held at the ICS.
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Description compiled by Daniel Millum, Political Archives Project Officer at the Institutes of Commonwealth and Latin American Studies.
Date(s) of descriptions: Created 09/03/2004 AIM25