the the poor, and with the poor. to The people's struggle through time for the realisation of that dream is the long march of history. From the very inception of our party, the New Jewel Movement, we have been guided by the clear understanding Com. against the dictatorship was not an end in itself, but a necessary precondition for the intinitel bulding that new and just society. Bulding the new society involves a long and difficult process of national reconstruction. which Gairyism had devastated the social and economic fabric of our society.... Fifty per cent of the labour force of our country was unemployed. Our infrastructure was totally Our tourist industry brought little Despite fertile Gairy's political interterence development of agriculture, chiefly duction of our main export crops had stagnated. Food crop production had declined, and our food import bill was approximately 40 per cent of total imJU....
Financial many years had reached staggering proportions, and left the national treasury in debt to local commercial banks and considerable on that the struggle larger struggle of Twenty-five years of dilapidated.
Was Ule which duction benefit to the country.
soil, with the proone buyer;
mismanagement Ove] arrears to local, national Another economic difficulty facing us at this moment is the US economic squeeze. US imperialism has embarked coordinater campaign economic strangulation of our country desienea to deprive us or access le financial resources from the bilateral regional, and international sources....
Confronted with the belligerence of US imperialism, and having the vicious legacy of 25 years of 'Hurricaine Gairy' to recover from, how has our revolution responded to the urgent task of national reconstruction?
In agriculture — the pillar of our economy — our main policy and tactic has been one of diversification. Diversification of agricultural export pro.
range agricultural commodities which can earn foreign exchange; diversification of agricultural export markets with the objective of penetrating new SuanAc. and lessening our dependence on any diversification and expansion of domestic agricultural production for import substitution, as a basis for agro-industrial development, and the linking of the domestic agricultural sector with the tourist sector.
Since the revolution, fifty times more money has been allocated in the budget for agricultura
levelopment. In the building of the hew tourism, we have also been diversiying our tourist markets through increased promotion in Western Europe, The Caribbean, and Latin American narkets. while nonetheless attempting versification in our traditional Norte maintain and indeed to american market.
JONE per achieve removed the burden lowest-paid workers.
$4 million has been concrete benefits to our working people. Unemployment has been reduced cent working population to less than 30 per cent by the expansion of the cooperative and state sectors. The people's budget has of income tax from the backs of the 30 per cent of the Financial assistance to the tune of provided to the jobs, and education, the revolution has brought concrete benefits to the masses in the field of health. A national milk distribution programme has distributed 1100 tons of milk to the elderly, to our youth, and to expectant mowners since 1979. Free health care made possible by increases in medical personnel and the expansion of services, particularly in the rural areas, has transformed the pattern of health. Socialist Action 26 October 1984
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lada is alone