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After Janet got back, Governor Savage quickly realized that he could never work successfully with the Reds. As soon as he let them repeal a ban on importing subversive literature, they brought in stocks of Communist propaganda. Then the new ministers fomented another big sugar strike that shut down the colony's main industry. When that petered out, they brought in a bill to force recognition of their Red-led union, and denounced "that man Savage" in open-air rallies. And when Janet Jagan drafted a party declaration demanding that London abolish the governor's control powers and other constitutional checks, the Colonial Office apparently decided that it was faced with a determined Red plot to seize full power.
London Lesson. Taking no chances after all the oratorical threats, London ordered 1.600 troops and four warships rushed to the colony. Though news leaked from Bermuda that the cruiser Superb had sailed with sealed orders, there was no violence. As the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and Marines fanned out to occupy key points around Georgetown, and the radio announced suspension of the constitution and dismissal of the legislature, Premier Jagan made the understatement of the week: "We are most unhappy about the situation." He and the other Red-tinged ministers were not detained or molested in any way, but the legislature's dismissal had neatly squeezed them out of their jobs.
At first, adopting an air of injured innocence. Jagan & Co. announced that they would take their case to the U.N. and to British opinion. Then they got their second wind, and Janet dashed off a fiery manifesto beginning: "Our country has been invaded by foreign troops . . ." and calling, almost in the same breath, for a general strike, a boycott and nonviolence. In London, a few Labor M.P.s cautiously questioned whether it had been necessary to act quite so forcefully. "Better to be in good time than too late," replied Winston Churchill. That seemed to be exactly the view of the U.S. State Department, which issued a prompt statement declaring itself "gratified" at the "firm action" against a Communist bid for power within the U.S.'s vital strategic zone.