trade unionists, first ran candidates in the 1946 elections and became the majority party in 1951, beginning a long history of electoral victories. Voted out of office in the 1971 general elections that swept the progressive labour movement into power, Bird and the ALP returned to office in 1976. Social class and ethnic composition The development of social class of Antigua and Barbuda primarily occurred during the colonial era, where the immigration of British colonists (and subsequent importation of African slaves) created a strict hierarchy based both on race and class; Antigua and Barbuda has been described as "a classic case of the superimposition of race on class and vice versa." Both before and after the abolition of slavery in 1833, the two islands were dominated by a small minority of white plantation owners who constituted the colonial upper class. Beneath them were the Afro-Caribbean population, who "constituted the subordinate working class." In between these two groups were several middlemen minorities: free people of color, along with Portuguese and Syrian immigrants, who dominated the professions of law, medicine, and architecture "and the white-collar positions in banks, businesses, and the civil service." Between 1847 and 1852, 2,500 Portuguese immigrants from the island of Madeira emigrated to Antigua due to a severe famine. There, they established numerous small businesses and quickly joined the ranks of the colonial middle class, which up until then had been dominated by the island's mulatto population. As noted by historian Jo-Anne Ferreira, following "the abolition of slavery, post-abolition migration became a matter of economic survival for many plantation owners, because of the impending labor problems. There was an increasing interest in and desire for European labor, so the Portuguese, among others, were imported throughout the West Indies to increase the European population vis-à-vis the African population." In contrast to the Portuguese, Syrian immigrants to Antigua and Barbuda did not start arriving until the 1950's, and "are primarily involved in the import business and have managed to establish themselves in academic professions." As of 2008, there were approximately 475 to 500 permanent residents of Antigua and Barbuda who are of Syrian descent. The Irish first came to Antigua either as indentured servants or merchants; Irish indentured servants were primarily transported to Antigua during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. As increasing numbers of African slaves were transported to Antigua, the island's Irish population began to leave in search of