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Remembering the Enmore Martyrs
Today is Enmore Martyrs’ Day. Sixty-three years ago this day five sugar workers were killed under circumstances that forever etched their names into the annals of history as martyrs in the plight of sugar workers.
The Enmore Martyrs’ Monument erected in 1977
On April 22, 1948, cane cutters, backed by their union, went on strike demanding the abolishment of the existing “cut and load” system in the fields. This reaping system which forced cane cutters to load the sugar punts with the cane they cut, was not popular among cane cutters.
It was introduced in 1945, and from time to time workers had gone on strike to demand that it should be changed. As part of the demands of the 1948 strike, the cane cutters called for the replacement of “cut and load” with a “cut and drop” system by which the cane cutters should cut the cane, but other workers would load the cut cane into the punts for shipment to the factory.
The workers demanded higher wages and improved living conditions on the sugar estates. Early on the morning of June 16, 1948, a crowd of about 400 workers gathered outside the factory at Enmore for a protest and picketing exercise.
The management of Enmore Estate was expecting this protest action, and the evening before had requested assistance from the Police. Lance Corporal James and six policemen, each armed with a rifle and six rounds of ammunition, were earlier sent from Georgetown on the morning of June 16 and they reported to the management of Enmore estate at 4.00 a.m.
Two hours later, they took up positions in the factory compound which was protected by a fence 15 feet high with rows of barbed wire running along the outward struts at the top.
By 10.00 a.m. the crowd had grown to between 500 and 600 persons and was led by one of the workers carrying a red flag.
The workers attempted to enter the factory compound through the gates and through two trench gaps at the rear by which punts entered the factory. But they were prevented from doing so because the locked gates and the punt gaps were protected by policemen.
A section of the crowd then hurled bricks and sticks at the policemen, and several persons managed to enter the compound at the rear of the factory. The policemen tried to push back the crowd, but after this effort failed, they opened fire and five workers were killed and 14 others were injured.
Lallabagee Kissoon, 30 years old, was shot in the back; 19-year-old Pooran was shot in the leg and pelvis; Rambarran died from bullet wounds in his leg; Dookhie died in hospital later that day; and Harry died the following day from severe spinal injuries.
These men, through the years, became known as the Enmore Martyrs.
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