Maurice Bishop Assassinated (1983)

Wed Oct 19, 1983

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Maurice Bishop was a Grenadian revolutionary and a leader of communist New Jewel Movement, assassinated on this day in 1983. Following his death, President Ronald Reagan invaded Grenada, toppling the revolutionary government.

Bishop headed the People’s Revolutionary Government of Grenada from 1979 until 1983, when he was dismissed from his post and shot in a coup, leading to civil unrest and a U.S. invasion of the country.

Although Bishop grew up in Grenada, he left to study in London as a young adult. While there, Bishop acquired a law degree and studied the works of Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Julius Nyerere.

In 1970, he returned to Grenada and was active politically, representing striking nurses in court and helping lead the “New Jewel Movement”. The New Jewel Movement ultimately put him in power when, in 1979, the movement successfully led a coup against Eric Gairy and Bishop became the Prime Minister of Grenada.

Among Bishop’s core principles were workers’ rights, women’s rights, and the struggle against racism and apartheid. Women were given equal pay and paid maternity leave, and sex discrimination was made illegal. Organizations to promote education, health care, youth affairs, and literacy were also established. Due to his administration’s efforts, illiteracy and unemployment greatly declined.

In 1983, power struggles within the party culminated in Bishop and seven members of his cabinet being captured and executed by forces led by Bernard Coard.

After Bishop’s murder, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Grenada’s governor-general Paul Scoon appealed to the United States for help. Within the month, Ronald Reagan launched an invasion of Grenada.

"The Grenadian Revolution is ‘even worse’ - I’m using their language - than the Cuban and Nicaraguan Revolutions because the people of Grenada and the leadership of Grenada speak English and can communicate directly with the people of the United States.

…The people of Grenada and the leadership of Grenada are predominantly black…And if we have 95% of predominantly African origin in our country, we can have a dangerous appeal to 30 million black people in the United States."

  • Maurice Bishop, discussing a secret U.S. State Department report on the Grenadian Revolution