Remembering Cheddi Jagan
CHEDDI JAGAN THE PEERLESS VISIONARY!
by Clinton Collymore
Dr Cheddi Jagan, former President and Leader of the People’s Progressive Party was a statesman of exceptional vision. He could be said to have appeared at a time when a person of his caliber was direly needed and also to have appeared well in advance of his time. This is a duality that baffles many persons, mainly his detractors.
This assertion is based on two realities:
1] He participated in the fight for political independence where he led from the front.
2] He agitated for economic independence and also led this struggle from the front.
As such Dr Jagan was no armchair general. His leadership from the front connotes that he took on an active role in both the colonial and post colonial periods. He took up the fight for the working people and charted a course forward when others hesitated, compromised themselves or simply knew not where to go.
From the inception, Dr Jagan knew where he was going and forged the tools necessary to reach his perceived destination. He is rightly called the Father of the Nation. Those who today begrudge him this well deserved title, either sided with the colonialists or are ashamed of what they did under the colonial and post colonial periods.
His Birth
Cheddi Jagan was born March 22, 1918, in a rural working class family in Port Mourant, on the Corentyne. To the day of his death on March 6, 1997 he did not forget his roots. He never betrayed the working people and constantly struggled on their behalf. These days some of his detractors cling to his achievements, hoping to gain political mileage.
There are those who now praise Dr Jagan for their own selfish aims. They seek to use his name and prestige to further their wicked agendas. These agendas would have been denounced by him in his lifetime. They and their mini political parties have no shame. In addition they seek to rewrite history, applying a liberal coat of white wash to themselves.
What Cheddi Jagan built in his lifetime is still in existence.
What Cheddi Jagan fought for, has mostly been achieved
What Cheddi Jagan stood for, is now acclaimed world wide
The struggle Cheddi Jagan waged continues in the policies and programmes of the People’s Progressive Party-Civic. He is the architect and lodestar of the present PPP-Civic Government. It is most fitting that he heads the National Honours List in 2007, with him being posthumously awarded the exclusive: "ORDER OF LIBERATION".
Organised Struggle
When he led the formation of the Political Affairs Committee in 1946 he was criticized for so doing and labeled a "communist".
When he founded the People’s Progressive Party in 1950, he was again criticized and labeled a "communist". The Cold War was moving into top gear.
The formation of the PAC led to the publication of a PAC Bulletin. That newssheet created a stir in the United Kingdom and turmoil in British Guiana. In its first issue its aims were stated as follows:
"To assist the growth and development of the labour and progressive movements of British Guiana, to the end of establishing a strong, disciplined and enlightened Party, equipped with the theory of scientific socialism; to provide information and to present scientific political analyses on current affairs, both local and international; and to foster and assist discussion groups, through the circulation of bulletins, booklets and other printed matter."
The PAC Bulletin ceased on December 26, 1949. It was succeeded on January 1, 1950 by the Thunder, official organ of the PPP. The PPP was also formed on January 1, 1950.
The strike by sugar workers in 1948 was so important that it was debated in the British House of Commons. The PAC was the only newspaper to champion the cause of those sugar workers. Today all have jumped on the bandwagon of the Enmore Martyrs.
The label of "communist" was used by Anglo-American imperialism to orchestrate ideological opposition to Dr Jagan, his party in general and also to his Government in 1953. The PPP was the main instrument in bringing about independence for Guyana in 1966 and the main champion of the working people’s rights and benefits.
When he agitated for freedom from Great Britain (the colonial power) he was denounced, for there were lackeys of colonialism who did not want independence.
Unable to stop the national momentum to independence, they conspired to put the opportunistic, racist and terroristic Burnham clique in power. This lack of vision cost the nation 28 years of hardship, arising from the dictatorship that Burnham established.
When he agitated for and won universal adult suffrage, he was denounced by vested interest.
When he moved to end dual control in schools, he was denounced by vested interest.
When he agitated for the right of workers to join trade unions of their own free choice, he was attacked. When he tabled legislation for this measure, he was vehemently opposed.
When he urged the principle of Recall for those legislators who crossed the floor in the Legislature, he was denounced through many specious arguments.
Today, ten years after he died, Recall is Constitutional reality. The PNC which for three decades opposed this democratic feature, was forced by circumstances to vote in favour of it in the National Assembly. That party is having a rebellion in its parliamentary ranks.
When he espoused Marxist theory in political economy, he was denounced.
Today the world is seeing the gradual acceptance of Marxism by those very fountainheads that spewed virulent anti-communist propaganda. Dr Jagan was the victim of a deliberate misinterpretation of Marxism to suit the objectives of Anglo-American agendas. However these sources are making a distinction between Marx and Lenin. They have not yet got around to accepting Lenin.
Many articles have been written on the towering caliber of Cheddi Jagan the Statesman. It is appropriate to quote a paragraph from an article by Navin Chandarpal in Thunder of the first quarter of 2007. He wrote:
"While Dr Jagan was alive, there were many who rejected his ideas and considered him to be irrelevant. Ten years after his death many have turned around and now recognize the wisdom of his ideas. Today, he stands like a colossus as leaders across the political divide bring to life the positions he had taken on a wide range of national and global issues."
This is exactly the purpose of this article: to highlight the ideas of a man way ahead of his time and to show his consistency of thought and intellect. He has made such an impact at home and abroad and has built up such a momentum, that even 10 years after his death, his heritage of revolutionary works surges onwards. His erstwhile foes are now seeking to clamber onto his bandwagon.
Many who had deemed him to be "lost in the wilderness of political opposition" and had written him off, had sought to either cash in on his loss of power or seize control of his Party. They failed ignominiously. He kept his Party organizationally and ideologically intact during 28 years of dictatorship and confounding his detractors, brought it back to state power by winning democratic elections in October 1992.
The spectacular nature of this feat was not lost on the world of post colonial politics. In no other part of the contemporary world had a political leader returned to power after a lapse of 28 years under a vicious dictatorship. Other leaders in similar situations had either succumbed to opportunistic inducements, or their parties had long since crumbled.
Man of Vision
Some of his historic creations despite intense criticisms could be listed as follows:
* The New Global Human Order, as an alternative to warmongering and social denial.
* The creation of a Civic Component to the PPP, thus broadening the reach of the Party.
* The fight for free and fair elections, thus ending a reign of rigged elections in Guyana.
* The fight to restore Democracy, thus ending the PNC dictatorship in a peaceful manner.
He was undeterred and undeflected by the provocative massacre of sugar workers in 1948 by the colonial regime. These workers are now revered as Martyrs even by those who are philosophical bedmates and collaborators of the ones who committed the brutal massacre.
Coming to office by democratic elections in 1953, his progressive government was over-thrown by the British imperial power after a mere 133 days in office. Traitors and lackeys then took office. For four years the country "marked time" under collaborators who ran amok, banning literature, jailing progressives and suppressing the working class. They even dissolved the then Trades Union Council, deeming it "a subversive organisation".
Today, there are moves by progressive trade unionists who are seeking to re-structure the existing Trades Union Congress so that real democracy could be reflected therein. These efforts have been marked so far by the formation of an alternative trade union centre that is styled: "Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana" {FITUG}
* FITUG is a brain child of Dr Cheddi Jagan. At its conception and formation, he was accused by the very ones who still strongly maintain the undemocratic corrupt structure of the TUC of "splitting the trade union movement". They are still expressing this view.
* The long battle with right wing reaction over the trade union recognition issue, culminated with the needed and long thwarted historical legislation being enacted under his Presidency. The final touch is expected to be done in 2007 with further amendments being made to the Trade Union Act. Once again this democratization is being opposed.
Dr Jagan’s efforts over the years to democratize the trade union movement were frustrated by reactionary forces.
* He structured the state battle against poverty and other political and economic diseases immediately upon becoming President following the 1992 general elections. Those historic elections were fought under the theme "Time for Change: Time to Rebuild". And indeed Changes have taken place & Re-Building is on going. Guyana at this point in time is a huge construction site. Massive projects and programmes are underway in keeping with his vision. But true to form, his enemies oppose every project and every programme.
There has been since 1992:
* a revolutionary housing programme, which is still steaming ahead. It can safely be stated, that in no other part of the world is there such a dynamic housing programme.
* re-distribution of national wealth with the impoverished masses in mind.
* re-structuring and expansion of the national health services
* expansion of national electricity supplies, with rural areas taking precedence.
* expansion of national water distribution services to un-served rural and interior areas.
* embarkation on massive public works projects designed to create jobs.
* revamping and expansion of overseas scholarship programmes for youths.
* provision of student loans for tertiary education. A major Cheddi Jagan Initiative.
* institution of lean and clean government; rooting out corruption wherever it is found.
* curbing inflation and paying decent wages.
Having inherited from the PNC regime, a nearly triple digit inflation and shameful wages that lagged consistently behind madly galloping inflation, Dr Jagan promptly moved to restructure the wages and incomes policy that he inherited. He did the following:
a- factored in the percentage of GDP growth in the previous year.
b- factored in the percentage of inflation in the previous year
c- factored in a subjective percentage in his own discretion.
These three factors when aggregated, ensured that the wage increases granted to workers in the public sector were always above inflation. Even with this revolutionary formula, public sector unions still clamoured for more: much more than the treasury could bear.
Further Vision
There was a hue and cry from vested interest {who did not want to see any meaningful agricultural development} when Dr Jagan as Chief Minister of British Guiana, in 1957 launched the Black Bush Polder Scheme. That Scheme was and still is, a great success. The sheer magnitude of the Scheme paralysed the lilliputian imagination of political detractors, who warned black farmers, not to participate due to "rattlesnakes" abounding in the area.
Besides the revolutionary Black Bush Polder Scheme in Region # 6, there is the similarly revolutionary Tapakuma Scheme in Region # 2; the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary Scheme in Region # 5; and the grand plan to extend the Hutchinson Drainage & Irrigation Scheme across the coastal backlands (Regions # 4 & 5) designed to control annual flooding. Time and finance prevented him from proceeding with this Scheme. Today it is estimated to cost over US$400 million. An approach has been made by the Jagdeo administration to international funding agencies, for the necessary finance.
When he launched the University of Guyana from modest beginnings, the usual political scoffers deemed it "Jagan’s Night School". Today that institution can speak for itself.
The same skepticism arose when he and his Finance Minister, Dr Charles Jacob Jnr, launched the Bank of Guyana in 1963. The scoffers criticized the construction of the building and claimed that "it is leaning" and its foundation is "sinking". That structure is still there as solid as ever in 2007, for all to see.
One can recall the most recent scoffing at the construction of the buildings housing the Caricom Community Secretariat and the International Convention Centre at Turkeyen! Both are said by certain "engineers" to have "leaning" and "pillar" problems. The general overall idea being peddled by critics and scoffers for over five decades is that the PPP has no brains, being largely consisting of "cane-cutters and shovel-men".
There was another hue and cry when Dr Jagan moved to end appeals to the British Privy Council. There are some who still want to cling to the coat tails of the British Crown for they are terrified of their own peers at home.
Today the Privy Council has long been replaced and the Court of Last Resort is the Caribbean Court of Justice. True to form those timid political ones also strenuously objected to the CCJ even though they were the same ones who helped to construct the Caribbean Community and Common Market.
When in the early 1960’s Dr Jagan built the spacious heavy duty ferry boat the Makouria, {equipped with power driven turn table on its deck} he was accused of "wasting the tax payers money". Today in 2007, the Makouria is inadequate, wherever and across which ever river it may be plying and more are needed.
Foreign Policy
Cheddi Jagan came in for the most flak where his foreign policy is concerned. Strenuous efforts and slanders were used to try to get him to change his left wing leanings and his friendship with the Soviet Union and Cuba in particular. His active membership of the World Peace Council was scoffed at until some of his detractors joined that organisation.
These days everybody is calling for world peace. Up to a mere two decades ago, anyone calling for world peace was deemed a "communist" and a "Soviet agent".
When Dr Jagan advocated "debt relief" he was greeted with incredulity and disdain.
The obdurate brain dead rightwing propagandists accused him of "wasting time" and of being "unrealistic". It is not that he did not want to repay Guyana’s huge foreign debts, but his Marxist analyses {which he freely publicized to back up his case} indicated that a time is coming when debtor nations will be unable to repay their debts. This in turn will slow down economic progress in Western economies and trigger anti-western sentiments.
Those who scoffed at him, have now jumped on his bandwagon. It is in the interest of the western powers to help the impoverished Third World maintain purchasing power. Which poor nation (and the vast majority of the nations are poor) will buy the costly machinery etc produced in the West, if it cannot repay the onerous old debts owed to the West? For this specific reason, the World Bank and the IMF have created anti-poverty programmes.
Right here in Guyana in 1983, Guyana defaulted on debt payments and the IMF turned off the finance tap. Forbes Burnham was in office then.
The Race Card
Cheddi Jagan was wrongfully accused by his political detractors of being "an Indian racist". This was the key plank on which they sought to drive a wedge between Indians and others in Guyana. This propaganda was mainly aimed at Blacks. They charged that the PPP of which he was Leader {and subsequently General Secretary at the time of his death} was an "Indian Party". He lived long enough to have confounded them by 1997.
He was able to see an "Indian Party" formed in Guyana! That Party with only East Indian members was known as Rise, Organise And Resist {ROAR}. It was headed by an Indian supremacist, named Ravi Dev. It did so poorly at general elections in 2001, that it was only able to get a seat in Parliament via leftover votes. It was obliterated from the electoral map in 2006 polls. Dr Jagan had strenuously denounced Ravi Dev and ROAR.
From the very inception of the PPP in 1950, Dr Cheddi Jagan as its Leader, never claimed that the PPP was an Indian Party. He said and maintained to his dying day that the PPP is a Party of the working class, open to anyone who subscribes to its policies and principles. Election maths have long dealt crushing blows to this charge, for the votes obtained by the PPP-Civic in 2006, 2001, 1997 and 1992 elections clearly showed that the Parliamentary majorities won by the PPP-Civic were due to support by non-Indian voters at the polls. Census reports over the last decade showed Indians as less than 50% of the population. In addition to this mathematical fact, not all Indians vote for the PPP-Civic. In 2006, the PPP-Civic won 56% of the popular vote.
Dr Jagan has therefore confounded those wicked race mongering political charlatans.
Ravi Dev the Indian supremacist, had appeared on a PNCR platform at the Square of the Revolution at a ghastly time when Indians {mainly in Georgetown and the East Coast} were being murdered, brutalized, raped and robbed by elements claiming allegiance to the PNCR. By doing so he shot himself in both legs. What little support he had, vanished.
Dr Jagan in his West On Trial (page 291 revised edition) making reference to "Race, Class, Colour and Religion" wrote:
"The fact is that race and religion have been used by the colonialists to divide and rule and to blur the basic issues, which include the struggle for national liberation from colonialism and imperialism and the struggle of the workers and farmers for freedom from exploitation. These struggles sharpened the advent of the People’s Progressive Party."
The Robertson Commission (1954) in its report to the British Colonial Government said:
"It was largely by the efforts of Dr and Mrs Jagan, that the PPP was built up and kept united. In this way, racial dissension between African and East Indian elements was minimized and by the time of the election campaign in 1953, a useful political instrument was forged."
The Commission further stated:
"But except for the Europeans, the PPP could count on a substantial number of supporters among all races and all classes in British Guiana, with the bulk of its supporters naturally to be found among the ordinary working people."
THE PEOPLE’S PROGRESSIVE PARTY IS A PARTY FOR ALL THE PEOPLE!
The Religious Card
Dr Jagan was also accused of "not believing in God" and being "against religion". Heavy political weather was made of this, in the pre and post independence period. Even today some fools continue writing tripe in this vain in both the print and electronic media. Dr Jagan himself dealt with this matter very skillfully to the general satisfaction of the main religious communities: Christian, Hindu, Muslim. Census statistics show that the vast majority of Guyanese are religious. Cheddi Jagan declined to be embroiled therein.
While Dr Jagan professed no religious views or religious preferences, he could be said to have been "non-religious", rather than "anti-religious". He dealt with each religious group in an openly impartial manner. He invited all three mainline religious groups to state functions, a tradition still carried on by his successors. By doing so, he elevated Hinduism and Islam to the privilege enjoyed by Christianity for nearly two centuries.
Hindus and Muslims suffered under the colonial and post colonial periods. They were pressured to renounce their beliefs in favour of Christianity and were even coerced into changing their names. To this day some official documents still require applicants for government jobs to state their "christian names". Applicants for government jobs should instead be required to state their "first name", "middle name" (if any) and "surname".
What is a bona fide Hindu or Muslim to do when confronted with a state document which requires him or her to give his or her "Christian" name? They are not Christians.
Cheddi Jagan therefore had to wage political battles on highly sensitive grounds: Race, Religion and Party Orientation. With the Cold War raging, he had to {quoting his own words} "walk between the rain drops". Every battle in which he engaged or which was thrust upon him, was inflated out of all proportion to the facts and hurled at him as an ideological weapon to diminish his popular support. Truly he was a Man of Vision!
(Clinton Collymore is a member of the Central and Executive Committees of the People’s Progressive Party and was a Minister in the PPP/C government and a Member of Parliament. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Thunder)