The National Youth Organization (abbreviated NYO) was a youth organization in Grenada. NYO was the youth wing of the New Jewel Movement.
Emergence as a mass organization Before the revolution NYO operated as a clandestine organization. Prior to the revolution, the organization had around 40 members. In 1974 NYO was joined by the Grenada Assembly of Youth, led by Basil Gahagan. In 1980 the NYO was converted into an open mass organization, in which everyone who supported the party programme of the New Jewel Movement could obtain membership. The transformation of NYO into a mass organization was done simultaneously as NJM developed mass organizations in women's, labour and cooperative sectors. The emergence of mass organizations was partially inspired by the Cuban concept of poder popular, partially by the ideas of workers self-organizing of C. L. R. James.Perkins, William Eric. Requiem for Revolution: Perspectives in the U.S. / OECS Intervention in Grenada
NYO was represented in the National Advisory Committee, along with other mass organizations, during the Provisional Revolutionary Government.Lankshear, Colin, and Peter McLaren. Critical Literacy: Politics, Praxis, and the Postmodern. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1993. p. 144
Membership By the end of 1981 it had obtained a membership reaching 7,000.Malmgren, Cecilia, and Lasse Willén. Grenada: Karibiens okända revolution. Stockholm: Utbildning för Biståndsverksamhet, 1984. p. 61Malmgren, Cecilia, and Lasse Willén. Grenada: Karibiens okända revolution. Stockholm: Utbildning för Biståndsverksamhet, 1984. p. 56 However, by 1983 the membership had dipped to around 4,000.North, Liisa L.. Reviewed work(s): A Revolution Aborted: The Lessons of Grenada by Jorge Heine, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Jun., 1991), pp. 408-410
NYO organized youngsters between 14 and 22 years of age. There was also a separate Young Pioneers Movement, for younger children.Rose, Euclid A. Dependency and Socialism in the Modern Caribbean: Superpower Intervention in Guyana, Jamaica, and Grenada, 1970-1985. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books, 2002. p. 302
Profile The organization published its own fortnightly newspaper, Fight.What Was the NJM?Newspapers, Newsletters & News Magazines - Newspapers During the Peoples Revolutionary Government (PRG) Bernard Bourne was the chairman of NYO.The Milwaukee Journal - 7 May 1981. p. 7
NYO played a major role in the mass alphabetization campaign conducted by the Centre for Popular Education during the revolution. Around 65% of the volunteer teachers in the campaign came from the NYO ranks.Payne, Anthony. Dependency under challenge: the polit. economy of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Manchester u.a: Manchester Univ. Pr, 1984. pp. 113-114 The organization also mobilized youth for voluntary labour campaigns.Payne, Anthony J., Paul K. Sutton, and Tony Anthony E. Thorndike. Grenada: Revolution and Invasion. London; Sydney: Croom Helm, 1984. pp. 28, 35
NYO ran various vocational educational programs, such as trainings in leadership, sports, agriculture, first aid, sewing, handicrafts and forestry. Many of these trainings were conducted during youth camps. NYO also organized sports events.
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