In the 1930s, 100 years after slavery was abolished, saw the ex-slaves living in virtual slave conditions. Social conditions were extremely poor, education was limited to those with the ability to pay, little attention was paid to the health needs of the people and common diseases were rampant with the result of high infant mortality. The workers operated under terrible employment situations. In some territories there was a tied labour system which prevented agriculture workers from leaving the estate regardless of other opportunities available.
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The legislature in the territories was dominated by the planter class. The ex-slaves were denied the right to elect persons of their own choosing since the franchise was limited to those with land or capital, thus effectively blocking that path to improvement. The planter class thus effectively used the legislative process to shore up their position of dominance. The disturbances in the region must be analysed in light of these conditions.
As middle class, made up of professional teachers, doctors, lawyers were emerging and seeking to promote change. Many of the middle class were students in Britian and saw the political process at work and yearned for the social changes that were evolving there to be duplicated in the colonies. The British Labour Party, which was promoting social changes in Britain was the model for this emerging class. The Moyne Commission, which was set up to investigate the causes of the disturbances and highlighted these same points.
They were particularly conscious of the fact that the labour relations issue was at the heart of the problem, in particular the denial of the rights to form trade unions. They were particularly impressed with the role that the emerging trade unions, and hence labour, were playing in the political process. The Commission held public hearings in London and throughout the region in 1938 and 1939, and recommended sweeping reforms in everything from employment practices, public health, education and social welfare, to radical political change.
The Moyne Commission recommended the legislation to protect trade unions, the creation of labour departments and wage boards where they did not already exist; and the provision of workers compensation and unemployment insurance. The report also suggested the intensification of agriculture through mixed farming, an increase in the sugar quota, and improved imperial preferences. It supported universal adult suffrage and greater elected representation in government.
