The month of March is remembered for the deaths of two political icons of Guyana-Cheddi and Janet Jagan. Both were founder members of the People’s Progressive Party and between the two had over a hundred years of contribution to the politics of Guyana. No other couple in the Anglo-phone Caribbean and beyond could match such an outstanding achievement.
I propose in this article to analyze the political contribution of the Jagans especially in light of attempts to denigrate and cast aspirations on their role in the politics of this country. The impression that some so-called ‘analysts’ are attempting to project is that the Jagans were not politically sensitive to geo-politics, which they asserted, were responsible for the relative underdeveloped state of the country vis-a-vis other countries in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

It is my view that those who level such charges against the Jagans and the PPP which they founded are intellectually dishonest or motivated by political/ ideological prejudice rather than out of any objective and rigorous analysis of the facts and the context in which the Jagans entered the political arena. They failed to take into account the historical antecedents which obtained at the time of the entry of the Jagans into the politics of the colony.

I shall argue that the prevailing situation which obtained during the early 1940’s when the Jagans entered the political arena was one that was at best oppressive and consequently militated against the rise of militant political leaders who sought to champion the cause of the downtrodden. This is why many of the militants including Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, regarded as the Father of Trade Unionism in Guyana and several other working class leaders were either pressured into subservience by the Colonial Office or, in some instances, put on the payroll of the employers which in effect muzzled them and prevented them from articulating and representing the interests of the working people against the yoke of colonial oppression.

What distinguished the Jagans from other working class leaders was the fact that they were able to provide a political perspective to the problems affecting the laboring class in the then colony of British Guiana. Hitherto, the struggle was mainly seen as an economic struggle between the planter class and the laboring class. The working people for the most part were unorganized and therefore could not provide an effective challenge to the colonial power structures.

The formation of the Political Affairs Committee in 1946 bore testimony to the perspicacity of the Jagans. They recognized that the first task was to sensitize the population, in particular the working people on the need for a political assault on the status quo and not simply a tinkering of the system. Dr. Jagan from his own experience as an elected member of the Legislative Assembly for the East Coast Demerara constituency in the elections of 1947 saw how difficult it was to effect any meaningful changes for the working class unless there was a change in the power configuration of the colonial structures.

Hence the formation of the People’s Progressive Party in January 1950 which a mere three years after its formation was able to win a landslide victory in the elections of 1953, the first under Universal Adult Suffrage. The PPP under the charismatic leadership of Dr. Jagan won 18 of the 24 seats and held political office for three months after it was removed from office by the British Government. The Constitution was suspended and an interim administration was put in place made up mainly by those who were loyal to the Colonial office.  It is of interest to note that the British Government and for that matter the United States failed to provide development assistance to the colony. In fact, the period 1953-1957 was described as one in which the country simply marked time and could be regarded as one of the dullest and most uneventful period in the country’s history.

One would have thought that the British Government and other western countries would have used the period of suspended rule to boost the image and status of the interim administration if only to show how ‘incompetent’ and ‘ineffective’ the elected PPP leaders were. That did not happen. Instead, the colony remained frozen in time and it was not until the return to office of the PPP in the elections of 1957 that genuine efforts were made to develop and diversify the economic bases of the colony. The cultivation of rice expanded significantly and development assistance were sought by the new PPP administration from non-traditional sources on relatively easy terms.

Jagan was accused of not understanding the geo-politics of the situation especially Guyana’s location in what was described as a US sphere of influence.  However, despite his best efforts to source development assistance from western countries, not much assistance was forthcoming which forced Jagan to seek development assistance from non-western sources.

The fact is that at an intellectual level, the struggle for independence and national liberation necessarily had to take the form of a radical restructuring of power relations in the colony along a pro-working class orientation. It must be remembered that the Party derived its strength from the working people and any attempt to mislead or deceive the working class was fraught with dangers.  The fact that the PPP won all elections from 1953 to 1964 when it was manipulated out of office proved that the PPP’s faith in the working people was not misplaced.

Dr. Jagan was accused by detractors of having allowed himself to be tricked by the British Government on the issue of Proportional Representation for Guyana. The facts would show that Dr. Jagan foresaw the manipulations of Britain to remove him from office and vigorously opposed the move. It was not until it dawned upon him that failing to reach consensus on the issue could result in further delays to independence for Guyana that he reluctantly agreed fully aware of the consequences. It was a case of putting the interests of the country before that of Party-an extremely noble act in the circumstance.