Adrian Cola Rienzi: A Story Told

How many know that this year marks the centenary celebrations of the legal abolition of Indian indentureship but indentureship officially ended in 1920 and not 1917 as the books tell? How many know that the slave trade flourished in part because tribal chiefs sold their own people to colonisers, so much so, that today, some West African nations have issued formal apologies to their people for their role in the the slave trade? Many such stories remain hidden from us as we perpetuate certain truths either through ignorance or personal and political agendas.

Last Saturday, The National Council for Indian Culture held their second of the Quarterly Distinguished Lecture Series.

The speaker, Professor Brinsley Samaroo, retired head of the History Department at the University of the West Indies and former fellow at The University of Trinidad and Tobago’s Academy for Arts, Letters, Culture and Public Affairs, has written extensively on labour movements in the Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean history, and migration.

His most recent book was The Price of Conscience: Howard Noel Nankivell and Labour Unrest in the British Caribbean.

Professor Samaroo noted in his opening remarks last Saturday that he was particularly pleased that the lecture was taking place in Chaguanas because most things happened in two places – Port of Spain, where everything happened, and The University of the West Indies.

He said decentralisation was necessary in order to move the centre and develop central Trinidad as a place of ideas because, “As a society, we lack ideas and thoughts.” Thus began a very important lecture, a prelude of sorts to a book by the speaker (hopefully soon to be published), on the life of Adrian Cola Rienzi or Krishna Deonarine as he was formerly known.

Today, when we think of the labour movement, the name that comes to mind is that of Uriah “Buzz” Butler. While Adrian Cola Rienzi is one that we do associate with the movement, his importance has been downplayed according to Professor Samaroo’s recent research. Among the many points raised on Rienzi’s importance was his role in not only establishing the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers’ Trade Union but in the setting up of trade unions in the Caribbean.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers’ Trade Union, founded in 1937 as the All Trinidad Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union by Rienzi. And so the timing for such a public lecture is more than appropriate, particularly now that sugar has been knocked off the list and there is need to redefine the work space.

The question often asked of history is that of its purpose. While this column sheds some insight into the content of the lecture it does not wish to regurgitate the material of the lecture, but rather to ask the question: what exactly is the historian’s project? Or rather, what does the historian work towards and what is his role in the development of the imagination and public knowledge? Why is this story, for instance, being told now? I believe that the discovery of new knowledge is often a sign of the times. It is also often an indication of the urgency of certain narratives. The project is therefore also intuitive as much as it is prompted by the researcher’s insights into the society.

In a time of retrenchments and recession, for instance, one is now forced to redefine the work landscape, to redefine the skills required– traditional versus modern.

As such, many of the accompanying facets of work too will have to be considered such as infrastructure, education, laws etc. We are now required to think of work in a different way.

The story of the life of Adrian Cola Rienzi is, therefore, not only that of a man who lobbied for workers’ rights or about someone who argued for voting rights for the East Indian population. It is a story of the diaspora– a story of the collisions, contestations, unities, divisions, governance and law.

And like many other stories, it will inevitably leave gaps to be filled and offer the opportunity to pursue and d e v e l - op new knowl - edge.

B u t m o r e import ant l y, the story has been told.