The role of the provision ground and internal marketing system in the context of plantation slavery has been a subject of increased interest during the last generation. A description and analysis of the provision-ground system in the four Windward Islands of Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and Tobago during the last 50 years of slavery offer insight into these large subjects. Three tentative conclusions are reached: first, echoing Mintz, that the provision-ground and internal marketing system provided an extensive stage, as in Jamaica, for slaves participation in independent activities; second, that the slaves attempts to exploit the potential of these activities inevitably created intense competition between themselves and plantation owners and managers for labour services and land resources; third, that slaves success in creating and defending corners of independent existence fostered the growth of attitudes to plantation labour and to independent activities which affected labour relations in the post-slavery period.