The 1920's and 1930's saw a series of conflicts between the African producers of cocoa in the Gold Coast and the European firms who bought and shipped the bulk: of the crop. The 'hold-up' was the characteristic form of the conflict the collective refusal by farmers to sell their crop in the hope of pushing up the price or of forcing the buyers to abandon anti-competitive price agreements. The hold-ups were reinforced by consumer boycotts of the imported merchandise handled by the same firms. There were also attempts by the farmers to obtain a better deal through 'direct marketing' - selling the cocoa directly to the overseas markets. The latter never had much success, but the holdup and boycott movements, particularly at the end of the period, were impressive and massive demonstrations of the Cocoa farmers' grievances and of their solidarity and powers of organisation. However, they did not achieve their objectives.