Eric Williams - Criticism

Some state that the economic decline in the West Indies was consequently more likely to have been a direct result of the suppression of the slave trade. Such a criticism can itself, however, be overturned by noting that the apparent prosperity of these British colonies was only a temporary artifact of the revolutionary turmoil in Haiti, which made the British West Indies for a brief while seem more profitable. Williams' evidence showing falling commodity prices as a rationale can largely be discounted; the falls in price led to an increase in demand, raising overall profits for the importers. Profits for the slave traders remained at around ten percent on investment and displayed no evidence of declining. Land prices in the West Indies, an important tool for analysing the economy of the area did not begin to decrease until after the slave trade was discontinued. Supporters of Williams would note, however, that this apparent rise of land prices was merely due to wartime inflation.

It is thus a matter of dispute whether the sugar colonies were in terminal decline after the American Revolution. Their apparent economic prosperity in 1807 can be interpreted, as suggested above, in two ways. It should be noted that Williams was heavily involved in the movements for independence of the Caribbean colonies and had a fairly obvious motive to impugn the colonial power. Indeed, Williams' reputation among black West Indian scholars was always high.

A third generation of scholars led by Seymour Drescher and Roger Anstey have discounted many of Williams' arguments. They do however acknowledge that morality had to be combined with the forces of politics and economic theory to bring about the end of the slave trade.

On the other hand, Williams' central point that the rise of industrial capitalism in Britain was fueled by West Indian slavery, and that, in turn the new industrial bourgeoisie saw the maintenance of slavery as a drag on their profits, both still have some merit. In particular, we should note that significant decline in the British West Indies dates to after the abolition of the Corn Laws by the British in 1846 (one of the imperial preferences abolished was that in sugar).

Richardson (1998) finds Williams's claims regarding the Industrial Revolution are greatly exaggerated, for profits from the slave trade amounted to less than 1% of total domestic investment in Britain.

Williams was frequently lampooned in the paintings of his countryman Isaiah James Boodhoo.

It was under Williams' government that the state initiated the first unemployment relief programme, the Development and Environmental Works Division (DEWD).