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The People’s Progressive Party joins with all Guyanese in commemorating the 64th anniversary of our Enmore Martyrs. June 16, 1948, would forever be remembered as one of the darkest periods in our nation’s history, when five young sugar workers – Pooran, Surujballi, Rambarran, Harry and Lallabaghee, were fatally shot by colonial police as they protested for better working conditions.
In looking back at this incident, it is clear that it ignited the struggle for an improvement in the economic conditions of the working class and against colonial occupation.
It was at the graveside of the martyrs in Le Repentir Cemetery that Dr. Cheddi Jagan made that silent pledge to dedicate the rest of his life towards advancing the cause of the working class in Guyana and fighting against their oppressors.
There was also the understanding that such a struggle would be continuous and one had to be unrelenting, as prior to 1948, there were numerous instances of historic significance where the seeds of fighting against oppression were already sown.
Indeed, the description by Dr. Jagan in the West On Trial of early 19th century life on the sugar plantations, where the animals used by the planters lived with greater convenience than the workers themselves, aptly illustrates the significant journey we have taken since that period in our history to improve the gains of our people in all spheres of their lives.
The party also recognizes the relatives of the five martyrs who have had to bear the burden of the tragic loss of their loved ones, and who would have had to make personal sacrifices of their own.
On such a historic occasion, it is important that we not only recognize the reasons then for the ultimate sacrifice of our Enmore Martyrs, but also to understand the current challenges and realities.
We have seen those who pretended to be friends of the working class and who try to exploit their challenges through misinformation and fermenting distrust, unleashing a most vicious assault on workers via the 2012 budget cuts by the opposition in the National Assembly.
We have seen these very individuals publicly mocking PPP Government-directed assistance to the sugar industry to benefit all sugar workers.
We have seen these individuals describing workers as ‘collateral damage’ and having ‘no regret’ for destroying their livelihoods.
It is clear that our struggles as a people to overcome the new challenges placed on the backs of our working class by those who pretended to be their friend’s marks a new chapter in our nation’s history.
As such, we must be guided by the struggles of our heroes in the past and be prepared to make sacrifices to improve our economic and social environment to constantly advance the gains of our people.
PNCR: A national occasion for celebrating achievements of the Trades Union Movement
The People’s National Congress Reform joins with the rest of Guyana in remembering Lallabajee, Pooran, Harry (Jug), Surujbally and Rambarran, those five sugar workers who made the supreme sacrifice in order to secure better working conditions from their employers, the then colonial sugar barons.
The commemoration of the Enmore Martyrs should be a national occasion to celebrate the achievements of the Trades Union Movement. Sadly, it is evident that the rights of workers are under threat; and the political environment, being fostered by the PPP regime, is hostile to the full development of all workers and their unions.
Regrettably, 64 years after their death, and 36 years after the L.F.S. Burnham-led People’s National Congress Government dedicated the monument, built to honour their memory at Enmore on the East Coast of Demerara, the PPP/C regime still feels compelled to seek to manipulate sugar workers as convenient political allies, while pursuing a relentless programme to divide and weaken the labour movement and undermine the rights of, particularly, public sector workers.
The government has been executing their blatantly hostile efforts to destroy the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), as the legitimate representative of the Trades Union Movement in Guyana, bolstered by such acts as the withdrawal of the annual subvention, fought for and obtained by the workers from the PNC Government, and the refusal to pay the National Assembly approved subvention for the workers’ education institution, the Critchlow Labour College.
The government also continues its vicious, arrogant and insensitive assault on public sector workers and their union, including the conversion of significant public service entities into public corporations, the stopping of the “check-off” system to the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and the effective abolition of the collective bargaining process, clearly in violation of the ratified ILO Convention by the government.
The brazen abuse of the contract employee mechanism to bypass the Public Service Commission, generously reward cronies in the Office of the President and shamelessly undermine the wages of traditional public service employees is yet another example of the anti-working class programmes being pursued by the PPP/C in government.
The PNCR takes this opportunity, as we commemorate and remember the sacrifice of the Enmore Martyrs, to remind the nation that, after 20 years of the PPP in Government, the rights of the workers and their unions and the struggle for a “living wage” must once again become a priority on our National Agenda.
PYO: The blood shed at Enmore in 1948 did not go in vain
Sixty-four years ago, at the Enmore Sugar Plantation, five workers made the ultimate sacrifice for better working and living conditions on the estates.
Pooran, Surujballi, Rambarran, Harry and Lallabaghee died on June 16, 1948, after colonial police opened fire on them.
As we remember these martyrs, it is important to remember from where we started and the journey we have made since.
These five brave and courageous workers were killed during a strike for better wages, the recognition of their trade union, and against the ‘cut and load’ system introduced by their colonial masters.
On June 17, 1948, the funeral procession marched from Enmore, on the East Coast of Demerara, to the Le Repentir Cemetery in Georgetown. The march was led by Dr. Cheddi Jagan and other leaders of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) and the Guiana Industrial Workers Union (GIWU), which would later become the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU).
It was at the graveside of the slain workers that Dr. Jagan made a silent pledge; and from thereon there was no turning back.
In the West on Trial, Dr Jagan declared, “The Enmore tragedy affected me greatly. I was personally acquainted with all the young men killed and injured. The funeral procession, which was led by my wife, other leaders and myself to the city, 16 miles away, became a tremendous mass protest demonstration. At the graveside, the emotional outbursts of the widows and relatives of the deceased had been intensely distressing, and I could with difficulty restrain my tears. There was to be no turning back. There and then I made a silent pledge – I would dedicate my entire life to the cause of the struggle of the Guyanese people against bondage and exploitation”.
History would show that there was no turning back. The blood that was shed at Enmore in 1948 did not go in vain. The People’s Progressive Party was formed two years later, and until his death, Dr. Jagan fought for their rights and never turned his back on the working people of this nation. In fact, many years after, Mrs. Janet Jagan remarked that the deaths of the five martyrs sent a ‘thunderbolt through society, invigorating the liberation struggle which followed”.
We, the young people of the PYO, believe that the sacrifice of the Enmore five continues to inform, influence and inspire the struggle for a better Guyana, and we call on all peace loving citizens who want to see our continued development not to allow this to go in vain. We endeavour to continue the struggle of our party and leaders who fought for this noble cause.
Life teaches that there will always arise those who, whether through direction or on their own, will seek to undermine the working class. Only recently, during the debate and passage of the 2012 National Budget in Parliament, we witnessed the utter disregard for workers in this nation, many of whom were forced out of their jobs and means of survival. This is the essence of the struggle that cost the lives of those five young men. Like Dr. Jagan, let us use this opportunity to dedicate our lives to continue this struggle.
The PYO pays homage to the struggle and ultimate sacrifice by our five Enmore Heroes and extend sympathy to their surviving relatives and friends.
