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People's Revolutionary Government

Government of Grenada 1979–1983

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ2152097
Source-derived summary

The People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) was proclaimed on 13 March 1979 after the New JEWEL Movement overthrew the government of Grenada in a revolution, making Grenada the only Marxist-Leninist state within the Commonwealth. In Grenada, the revolution is referred to as the "March 13th Revolution of 1979" or simply as "The Revolution". The government suspended the constitution and ruled by decree until a factional conflict broke out, culminating in an invasion by the United States on 25 October 1983.

Background

Independence of Grenada and the regime of Sir Eric Gairy

Grenada, a 350 km2 Caribbean island state located in the Lesser Antilles, gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1974, after a long process. In 1967, the country received the status of an associated state, thus acquiring very high autonomy in the management of its internal affairs. Sir Eric Gairy, a former union leader and leader of the Grenada United Labor Party (GULP), became prime minister and led the Grenadian government during the political process that later resulted in the country's complete independence. Even before then, however, Gairy's government experienced a clear authoritarian drift. In the 1960s, a new generation of intellectuals from the middle classes emerged in Grenada, many of whom trained at British and American universities. Their return to the country coincided with the spread of a strong Black Power movement in the Caribbean, inspired by that of the United States.

Lawyer and revolutionary Maurice Bishop was one of the leaders of a demonstration in 1970 in support of a protest movement that took place at the same time in Trinidad and Tobago; the Grenadian opponents took advantage of this context to denounce the corruption of Gairy's government.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “People's Revolutionary Government” as government of Grenada 1979–1983. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around People's, Revolutionary and Government.

Editorial reviewA useful synthesis for locating the documentary relationships between formal authority, participants and affected communities. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1979, 1983, 1974, 1967—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1979-03-13. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with People's, Revolutionary and Government providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “People's Revolutionary Government”, the useful work is to connect “government of Grenada 1979–1983” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2152097. VIAF identifies the subject as 142031139. The Library of Congress control number is n91020246. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1979, 1983, 1974 and 1967.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
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Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “People's Revolutionary Government”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow People's Revolutionary Government primary sources, People's Revolutionary Government archive and People's research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “People's Revolutionary Government”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from People's Revolutionary Government” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.