Billy Strachan papers

Includes subject files on the Caribbean Labour Congress, Liberation (Movement for Colonial Freedom), Jamaica - political and economic, Trinidad and Tobago; West Indies Federation; British Guiana (Guyana); racism and discrimination, Race Relations Board, strikes and the labour movement in the West Indies, West Indies Committee of the Communist Party. Topics also include socialist parties in the West Indies, anti-colonialism, independence movements within the Caribbean. Correspondents include Cheddi Jagan, Janet Jagan, Michael Manley, Richard Hart.

Billy Strachan was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He arrived in England in March 1940 and joined the Royal Air Force. He became an air gunner and then a flight lieutenant. He returned briefly to Jamaica and then came back to England in 1947. He was a member of the Communist Party and the secretary of the London branch of the Caribbean Labour Congress. He founded and edited a monthly journal, Caribbean News. He left the Communist Party in 1967 but continued to take a great interest in the politics and history of the West Indies. He remained a close friend of Cheddi and Janet Jagan of the People's Progressive Party of Guyana.

Open for research although at least 48 hours notice is required (off-site storage). Access to individual files might also be restricted under the Freedom of Information Act. See archivist for details.

Catalogued to file-level online, http://archives.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/dispatcher.aspx?action=search&database=ChoiceArchive&search=priref=110049212