Co-operation: the emblem of traditional Tobago

Dr Rita Pemberton

Despite the many challenges which faced the people of Tobago during their quest for meaningful emancipation after 1838, the population established a tradition of co-operation for which the island became well known.

There were several facets to the emergence and development of this tradition, which was evident in cultural practices in communities across the island. It was based on African traditions which were used to confront three issues: planter determination to circumvent the emancipation law, deprive the Africans of freedom and maintain the spirit of enslavement; Tobago’s isolation from the late 19th into the 20th century; and its political subservience since 1889.

After the legal termination of enslavement in 1838, Tobago planters were determined to exact every ounce of labour from the freed men, women and children at the lowest costs under the very servile conditions that had characterised enslavement.

Their aim was to wring profits out of a dying sugar industry, which meant not only that the freed Africans must continue to give their labour to the estate, but must do so under terms and conditions stipulated by the very planters who objected to emancipation.

In the same way that the emancipation law made no provision for resource-allocation to the freed people, or their accommodation as members of the society, the planting community gave no consideration to the fact that the Africans had ambitions of their own which would not necessarily accord with planter objectives.

Not only did planters expect them to remain on the estates as labourers, but they felt they should be compelled to do so. As a result, a barrage of restrictive mechanisms, including laws and punishments for infractions, refusal to sell land and very onerous taxation measures were inflicted on the freed Africans to stifle their ambitions.

In this scenario, African traditions provided the armoury against the planter onslaught.

The first step was to develop communities. Despite the restrictions on landowning, some Africans were able to purchase land, while others rented land from cash-strapped planters. These holdings provided the nucleus of the villages that continued to grow across the second half of the 19th century.

From these bases they used the agricultural traditions of Africa to support themselves and their families and provide a surplus which added to the family coffers. Villagers grew their own food, which provided them with food security and the path to independence. They sold their garden produce at local markets to other segments of the society, including planters.

To make up the deficit of services available to them, they reared animals which served as their banks: they were sold when money was needed to finance more expensive projects.

They had recourse to the lend-hand system, in which members of the community lent a hand to their fellows to assist in land-clearing and home construction.

The system generated a range of self-help activities based on the principles of community caring and sharing to ensure the needs of all members were satisfied, which facilitated the growth of villages and helped to strengthen the community bonds.

On the estates, they pooled their labour resources, taking turns to help to complete their tasks. In addition, they formed gangs which employed labourers to perform jobs contracted from the estates.

The irony was that, by offering higher wages than the estates, they attracted workers and out-competed the planters, whose persistent cry was that there was a shortage of labour.

Pooling resources was a common practice. There was a large number of savings groups. These included the sou-sou, when people paid in a specified sum and drew their “hand” in time to meet particular expenditure.

The co-operative pattern was visible in a range of community activities. It could be seen in the extended family, which included godparents and the web of family connection that was traceable to the remotest of cousins, wherever they were located. Exchange visits to relatives were a popular practice.

In fishing communities, boat- and seine-building and repair and pulling in the seine with the catch were communal activities.

So were all festivals and celebrations: the christenings of boats and children, activities related to the village church and school, special religious days such as Christmas and Easter, all generated much activity in the villages.

Weddings were community events in which the villagers were involved in all aspects: constructing the house for the newlywed couple, preparing and decorating the venue, supplying, preparing and serving the food, and of course attending as guests.

In times of death, community involvement was necessary for the required rituals. The men cut the wood and built the coffin, the women were responsible for washing the death bed by the river; and if the dead person was a female, they made the shroud, and all who assisted were given a piece of the fabric used.

The community gravediggers took care of matters at the cemetery. Members of the community organised the wake, built the tent to accommodate supporters, provided, prepared and served food for the grieving family, their supporters and the gravediggers and all who contributed.

Members of the community were brought together in daily activities such as washing by the rivers and collecting water at standpipes

It was the practice to share food, fruit and goodies with neighbours. In fact it was an unwritten law that fruit trees belonged to the entire community.

The members attended church services and schools in the village.

In the sphere of culture, they organised their Carnival and speech bands, which competed with each other. Because of isolation, the villages organised their own keenly contested sport tournaments, with each having cricket, football, netball, marble-pitching, kite-flying and boat-racing competitions.

In addition, there were village choirs, debating clubs, organisations such as Boy Scouts and Girl Guides and agricultural and craft exhibitions which promoted keen inter-village competition.

During the 20th century, the co-operative system was formalised, with agricultural credit societies: the first, started in Pembroke in 1917, was the second in the colony. By 1940 there were 14 village-based agricultural credit societies in Tobago. and the number increased to 28 in 1963.

In 1929, Pembroke established the first cocoa fermentary in the colony, followed by Roxborough in 1932, Delaford and Parlatuvier in 1934 and Scarborough in 1935.

In 1930 the Tobago Lime Growers Association opened a lime factory in Tobago and promoted co-operative marketing between small and large producers.

Tobago earned the reputation of having the strongest network of co-operative ventures in the British Caribbean.

These efforts created cohesive village units with a strong sense of responsibility for all members, took care of the less fortunate, and ensured the survival of all despite administrative indifference after 1899.

They worked, prayed celebrated and mourned together and the strong bonds that were generated fostered an island pride in the skills they honed and progress they made despite the challenges they faced.