Early Articles by Cheddi Jagan
The Cooperative Way
(The following is an excerpt of an article which was printed in a publication “Indian Opinion” in the year 1945. In it, Cheddi Jagan, for the first time, enunciates his concept of a “free and independent Guiana.” )
Our past has been dominated to a great extent by a philosophy of individualism and greed. More and more we are beginning to realize that this acquisitiveness for personal gain has to be supplanted by cooperation for mutual gain. Technocrats tell us that with an adequate labour supply - a few hours per day per individual - using the most modern technological methods at our disposal, we can greatly increase our productive capacity. One has only to think of the tens of millions of dollars spent in war materials during the recent conflict to realize the heights which production can reach. If it can be achieved in wartime, why not in peacetime?
This heightened production in itself does not mean an increase in the standard of living of the average individual. That can come about only when the abundantly produced goods are justly and adequately distributed. Looking over the past few decades, we see the shortcomings in the process of distribution in the capitalist countries. Wealth is becoming more concentrated in the hands of a fewer number of persons. Even in Denmark, one of the most social-minded and progressive of capitalist countries, in 1937: “0.4 per cent of people owned one-fourth of the property. 1.4 per cent owed the next fourth, 4 per cent the third fourth, leaving only the last fourth to be owned by 96 per cent of the people.” A similar situation more or less exists in most capitalist countries. Such a situation cannot be said to be conducive to the well-being, happiness and increased standard of living of all the people.
In the light of these facts, let us take a look at British Guiana. Our standard of living must be necessarily low because firstly, our productive capacity is restricted either by antiquated methods of production or by the production of only raw materials; and secondly, because distribution is so constituted that the average worker-consumer has to pay large profits to a whole series of middlemen. Not until we embark on a well-planned, collective industrial company can we get “out of the rut.” This of course presupposes control of government machinery of the people, by the people and for the people.
Let us take bauxite for example. Had British Guiana been independent and further had it been federated to Dutch Guiana, we could easily have become a productive centre for finished aluminum and its products. That industry alone could have given adequate employment to Guianese and materially raised the standard of living. Instead, our government is merely content in allowing the Canadians to scratch the surface of the earth with a handful of Guianese labour.
It therefore behoves the working class people to get control of government through their constitutional ballots in our forthcoming elections, with a view towards complete independence. A free and independent Guiana can easily cooperate and eventually federate with her Latin neighbours, especially contiguous Brazil. One finds in these days of planned industrial and agricultural economy that anachronistic boundaries made between various small countries hundreds of years ago are more a hinderance and a cause of friction.
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2000
Dr Jagan’s letter written in 1942 to his friend,
Dr Orrin Dummett
Edward Sanatorium
Telephone Cottage
Naperville, IllinoisSep 4th, 1942
My Dear Orrin,
Very good news indeed to hear that you are getting along well in Nashville. I am sure that as you get more adjusted to the environment you will like it all the more. As usual, I am feeling fine, so much so that I am beginning to feel skeptical of the diagnosis.
Next week I am going to ask for a stomach-lavage smear test, because so far all my spectrum test were negative. At the same time I am going to take a look at the three x-rays. At present, I am brushing up on a book on Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
I agree with you that the South and its prejudices will have to go. Now is the time for the Negro population to demand equality, and to see that the Atlantic Charter materialize and bear fruit at home. After the war I’m afraid, when there is no more international quarrel and common enemy, all nations will drift back to internal social and economic conflicts. Now is the time for all suppressed and minority groups to demand not only theoretical but also practical equality, so that the common foe will be revisited by all on an equal footing. It is only in this light can the civil disobedience campaign of Gandhi be viewed. How can a country or a people be asked to fight for something they do not possess? To ask the Indians, or for that matter anyone else, to fight for the Four Freedoms*, when those principles of the Atlantic Charter are denied them is morally invalid. Britain is fighting to liberate Poles, Czechs, Greeks and what not but liberation of countries under its own clutches is out of the question. I suppose you have read of the labour troubles and riots that occurred in Jamaica. Yes my friend, war is murderous and bloody, but at the same time it initiates changes - changes which are necessary for us. Clifton Close said that no matter who wins in the Orient, for the Orient itself there has been a Renaissance. History is in the making, whether anyone likes or not. There has been an awakening - the status quo that was is gone. Yes, now is the time for us to organize, to lobby, to make propaganda and demands, for now changes can be most rapid and to our benefit.
I am very sorry that we drifted apart when in Chicago for the past four years. Now that I look back and reflect, I feel rather guilty, and ashamed of myself. My economic status in my environment was perhaps to be blamed for my attitude and actions. They were all very emotional and superficial. To be poor is a crime, but to be poor and ambitious is a sin. You have to do things which you otherwise do not care to do. Finance - social and economic status - has influenced me so much, that were I to write an autobiography, I would perhaps call it “The Struggle of Complaisances.” It would really be a psychological expose. Unknowingly, - now that I look back – I must have hurt your feelings. If I did, I wish you place yourself in my position and then perhaps you will forgive me my superficial attitudes.
I am very grateful for you offer of help. At the present time, I am happy to say I am adequately supplied. Please convey my regards to Lois. Good luck and cherrio
Cheddi
I have really said a mouthful, haven’t I?
* Four Freedoms
Freedom of Speech & Expression, Freedom to Worship God, Freedom from Wealth, Freedom from Fear, President Rooseveldt
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2000
