In 1973, Alfred Marie-Jeanne, along with Garcin Malsa, Lucien Veilleur, and Marc Pulvar (father of Audrey Pulvar), founded an organization called "La Parole au Peuple" (Word of the People), which in 1978 became the Martinican Independence Movement.

Up until the 1990s, MIM had only limited success at the polls. Marie-Jeanne was elected to the General Council but was not re-elected. In 1983, when the first direct election for the newly-established Regional Council was held, the party received only 3 percent of the votes, and in 1989 lost one of their two mayors.

The MIM is, following the French regional elections of 2004, the majority party in the regional council. Its elected representatives are Alfred Marie-Jeanne, Daniel Marie-Sainte, Lucien Veilleur, Vincent Duville, Lucien Adenet, Jean-Philippe Nilor, Sylvain Bolinois, Francine Carius, Jean-Claude Soumbo, Raymonde Téreau, Georges Buisson, Marianne Malsa, Marcel Thelcide, Michel Michalon, Lise N'Guéla, Mady Ericher, Marie-Claude Cléry, Gisèle Aribo, Alain Rapon, Laurence Gracienne, Sandrine Saint-Aimé, Yolande Philémont-Montout, Marie-Line Lesdéma, and Aurélie Dalmat.

The party also counts among its members two general councillors, Lucien Adenet and Jean-Philippe Nilor, and the mayor of Rivière-Pilote, Lucien Veilleur.

In the municipal and cantonal elections in March of 2008, the MIM presented 17 at-large candidates.

The MIM publishes a journal, La Parole au Peuple, and operates a radio station, R.D.L.M. (Radio Lévé Doubout Matinik).