Personality, Appearance and Speech, by T.H. Pear

[p034] Personality, Appearance and Speech, by T. H. Pear (Allen and Unwin, 15s.) THIS book is essentially a study of personality, from a very original viewpoint: one which reflects the impact of radio and television on our attitudes and thinking. Professor Pear con- siders here the more superficial aspects of personality and how they impinge on others—manners, appearance and accent. He writes in his usual provocative and allusive manner, in a way which holds the interest of the reader. Those who expect a solemn tone will be disappointed, for this work cannot be regarded as a serious contribution to scientific psychology. Indeed it appears to ask more questions than it provides

[p035] BOOK REVIEWS answers. Herein lies its value, for it deals with a subject that has been given surprisingly little attention by psycholog- ists, compared with that given by politicians and other in- fluencers of public opinion. It ranges widely and entertainingly over many problems. This may give it the appearance of being ‘bitty’, but nobody can complain that any one problem is worked to exhaustion and boredom, for the book is as witty as it is stimulating. My only complaint is, that being one of the few people who still have not a television set, and therefore not being an ardent television fan, I found the text a little obscure sometimes. M.H. Caribbean Colony Jamaica Land of Wood and Water, by Fernando Henriques (MacGibbon and Kee, 25s.) AT its recent annual conference, the Labour Party pledged itself that when Labour was returned to power 1 per cent. of Britain’s national income would be devoted to developing the colonial territories. The only opposition to this proposal in the ranks of the Labour movement comes from those who feel that 1 per cent. is an inadequate compensation for all that has been done by British imperialism to its colonial subjects—and but poor recompense for the immense wealth which British capitalism has drained out of the colonial peoples. Jamaica is a typical example of a British colony, and in this book Dr Henriques has given a graphic picture of life in this Caribbean island from the time when it was first dis- covered by Christopher Columbus and seized for Spain till today, nearly four centuries later, when it is on the eve of becoming the centre of the newest dominion—the West Indian Federation. When the Spanish Conquistadores landed in Montego Bay the island had an estimated population of 60,000. A hundred years later, as a result of the vicious exploitation to which they were subjected, there were barely 1,500 of the native population left alive. Today all trace of them has disappeared. To make up for this loss of labour power, Negro slaves were imported from West Africa. This slave trade increased after the British seizure of the island in 1655, for the newly- esablished sugar plantations had an insatiable appetite for workers. In addition to the Negro slaves, convict labour in the form of bondservants was brought in and the supply was augmented by kidnappings in Scotland in the early eighteenth century. Thus we learn that a Welsh or Scotch bondslave cost £18 and an Irish one £15. Vv Much of Jamaica’s present troubles flow from the single- product economy, introduced by the British. (This is the cause of the steady emigration of Jamaican workers first to the United States, and now to Britain, in search of work.) The sugar plantations were highly capitalized and a source of immense profits for British capitalism. Chattel slavery in the West Indies was an adjunct to wage slavery at home. The gentlemen who adorned the board rooms in the City, interested only in their bank balances, were not concerned with the means employed to create these profits. When a Select Committee of the House of Commons investigated the con- ditions in the slave colonies (Jamaica in particular), in 1790-91, they refused to accept responsibility for the cruelties enacted by their factors and overseers. It is impossible to read without horror the extracts from the reports of this Select Committee. ‘The field slaves . . . are called out by daylight to their work .. . If they are not in time they are flogged. When put to their work, they perform in rows, and without ex- ception under the whips of the drivers .. . By these means the weak are made to keep up with the strong [and] many of them are hurried to the grave .. . the drivers in using their whips never distinguish the sex . . . Much the same work was expected from pregnant women as others.’ In the sugar mills, the slaves were worked “as long as. they can, which is as long as they cat’ keep awake or stand on’ their legs. Sometimes they fall asleep, through excess of fatigue, when their arms are caught in the mill and torn off’. These are but the mildest of the many fiendish things con- tained in the report. There are authenticated cases of slaves being put to death by their masters (and mistresses) by methods which can only be compared with those of the Nazi concen- tration camps. Yet it was forty years after the report of the Select Committee came out before slavery was abolished in the British Empire. The slaves did not always accept their lot meekly. They made constant efforts to achieve their freedom through re- bellion. This was usually put down with the utmost ferocity. These revolts brought to the notice of British public opinion the fearful conditions of the slaves and speeded the hour of emancipation. Other slaves chose suicide as a means of escape from their degrading condition. From the social and economic pattern established by slavery has developed the Jamaica of today. The abolition of slavery did not end exploitation. Wage labour replaced chattel slavery. The wealth of Jamaica still found its way into the bank accounts of Britain’s sugar barons. Just as conditions drove the slaves to desperate revolt, so in 1938 a wave of rioting swept through the British Caribbean in protest against the poverty-stricken conditions in the islands. The Colonial Development and Welfare fund was the direct outcome of this threatening rebellion. Thus every reform wrung from the iniperial power has been won by the struggles of workers and peasants. Today a powerful trade union movement is in the van of the battle for freedom of the Caribbean people. Socialist ideas have taken a firm hold. The descendants of the slaves are no longer defenceless but are arming themselves ideologically in preparation for the task of throwing off the last of their shackles. C. van GELDEREN Reforming the Law