The nation of Antigua and Barbuda pauses on 1st August each year to pay obeisance to—and to recall—the inimitable success of our ancestors’ struggle against the cruelty of slavery and the pervasive evil of its accompanying oppression.

Ever since its modern beginning in 1632, Antigua and Barbuda played a most significant role in filling the coffers of its overlord and contributed to fueling the industrial revolution in Europe. All slave colonies contributed to the build-up of the poor states of Europe. Antigua and Barbuda even contributed to the rise of one of the USA’s most outstanding universities.

The end of the slave trade in 1807, and of slavery in 1834, triggered by the successful 1804 Haitian Revolution, did not lessen the enrichment of the slaveholders; the accountants and scholars have demonstrated that wage labour increased profitability.

Further, the deliberate exclusion of the emancipated people from the emerging capitalist system of wealth-generation, ensured the continued poverty of the emancipated people. _The 1865 Labour and Contract Act_ and _The 1922 Masters and Servants Ordinance_ were designed to perpetuate the oppressive conditions that trapped the emancipated people in a vicious system of poverty and ignorance.

One hundred years following the end of slavery, it was the trade union movement that commenced altering the Antigua and Barbuda people’s condition by squeezing higher wages and better working conditions out of those who controlled the Legislature and the means of production. Generations of Antiguans and Barbudans owe a debt of gratitude to the AT&LU and all those poor workers who sacrificed much in order to improve the conditions of future generations. A new Antigua and Barbuda evolved rapidly after 1939.

The 1981 thrust that resulted in Antigua and Barbuda’s sovereignty, marked a new beginning in the unfolding history of the 191 years of emancipation. Today, in 2025, the modernization and recalibration of the economy of our small island-developing state takes into account the need for greater access to capital and for measured risk-taking among our fellow citizens.

I encourage looking back at history, and peering into the future where a powerhouse performance awaits the people of Antigua and Barbuda as we focus upon higher achievement and outstanding success, beyond 2025.

Honourable Gaston Browne M.P.

Prime Minister