his volte face in calling off positive action in return for empty promises from the Government". Needless to say, after several meetings with colonial authorities it became clear that no progress was being made on the central demand for a constituent assembly or the reinstatement of the meteorological workers. On 8 January 1950, in front of a large CPP crowd at a public meeting in Accra, Nkrumah declared positive action. He called for a general strike to include all except those engaged in maintaining essential services such as hospitals and water supplies. Shops and offices closed. Roads and rail services came to a standstill. He travelled to Sekondi, Cape Coast and Takoradi to declare Positive Action there too. The colonial government responded on 10 January by declaring a state of emergency, banned processions, imposed curfews, and ordered the disconnection of public services in certain areas. The offices of CPP newspapers were raided and closed. The CPP and TUC leaders, including Bankole Awoonor Renner, Tommy Hutton Mills, Pobee Binney and Kojo Botsio and Anthony Woode were rounded up and arrested. Two CPP newspapers – The Accra Evening News and the Cape Coast Daily Mail- were banned and their editors J. Markham and Kofi Baako arrested. On 19 January, at a meeting of the Legislative Council, the government passed three bills – the Sedition Bill, a newspaper registration bill and a Bill to allow the Governor-in-council to impose curfew in any part of the country without having to resort to emerging legislation. On 21 January, Kwame Nkrumah was arrested and tried for inciting an illegal strike and for sedition for an article in the Cape Coast Daily Mail. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment. Several thousand workers were dismissed from their jobs and many others lost their pension rights. Things would never be the same again. The CPP had shown that an unarmed people could demonstrate the effectiveness of unified effort in the form of Positive Action. Never again would they accept that it was hopeless to challenge a seemingly mighty power structure. The political revolution in the Gold Coast had begun in earnest. 1951 Elections The imprisonment of the CPP leadership created a political vacuum which the then Governor said he was "anxious to fill without delay" by rallying "moderate opinion in support of the plan for the constitutional advance set out in the Coussey report and His Majesty's Government