ABSTRACT
In this chapter I will be examining the role of the sugar industry in the economies of Barbados and Martinique from the post-war period up to the present. In both cases the sugar industry has suffered a decline in absolute and relative terms over the past two decades. Although I will be focussing upon the anatomy of this decline, I have attempted something more than just an overview of the period and the documentation of a process. In keeping with the general theme of this work, it is my intention rather to attempt to underline ways in which the sugar economies of two Caribbean territories continue to serve as legacies of the past. Historical continuity in these cases has been maintained by virtue of the fact that land and productive resources have remained to date in the hands of a restricted, white economic elite.
