The 1947 Bauxite Workers Strike
–seedbed of the political struggle for Independence

By Dr James Rose
THE 1938-1939 West Indian Royal Commission, more familiarly known as the Moyne Commission, after its Chairman Lord Moyne, was necessitated by the pan-Caribbean working-class discontent of the mid-1930s.The Commission unearthed what it acknowledged as the grossly exploitative conditions imposed on the workers, as well as the intent of the colonial elite to maintain that status quo. That was evidence so inflammatory that it could not be publicly released before the end of the war. Yet, its release did not lead to a repeat of the charged and violent tussles of the previous decade, because the ensuing accommodation of the trade union movement had been fashioned to provide a more structured and pacific method of dealing with the working class demand for justice.

This was the situation in British Guiana [Guyana] when the workers at the Demerara Bauxite Company [DEMBA] downed tools in April 1947

The Daily Chronicle of April 15, 1947 was headlined General Strike at Bauxite Mines Halts Production. The paper reported that, on the previous Sunday, the workers met with the local executive of the Man Power Citizens Association, the recognised union; that the shift workers withheld labour on Sunday and Monday; and, significantly, that a police detachment had been sent to Mackenzie on Monday.

The story also disclosed that MPCA President Mr Ayube Edun informed The Chronicle that the workers’ demands for better wages and better living conditions had been submitted to DEMBA some time ago, but with little hope of a positive or timely response.

The situation, if not pre-planned, was decidedly propitious. A new Governor had arrived in the country on April 7, 1947, but that the MPCA did not “ramp up” its strategy was clearly indicative of the influence of structured representation. Nor did the BGLU prove any more militant when it met the new Governor on April 15. It was far more intent on recounting the benefits won for workers through normal trade union activity and soliciting support for new initiatives.

The bauxite workers were, however, committed to their cause. They personally financed the transportation of supplies to Ituni without the consent of union reps, and demonstrated unshakeable solidarity for over six weeks of strike action.

The evidence suggests that the Political Affairs Committee [PAC] gave guidance and militant support to the striking bauxite workers. Formed in 1946 by Cheddi and Janet Jagan, Ashton Chase and Jocelyn Hubbard, the bauxite strike offered a great opportunity for the pursuit of the goal of the PAC, as outlined by Ashton Chase in a July 20, 1994 interview with Frank Birbalsingh, which was to mobilise public opinion and action in the interest of the working-class of the country, and eventually to lead to the formation of a political party.  Thus the Daily Chronicle of May 22, 1947 noted that Jocelyn Hubbard, speaking as the TUC General-Secretary, stressed that the struggle being waged at Mackenzie was being watched with a great deal of interest by people of every country. And though Eusi Kwayana, in his August 13, 1993 interview with Birbalsingh, denotes the PAC as a small group, it is instructive that he admits to having joined the PAC after Cheddi Jagan and his team spoke at Buxton in the lead-up to the 1947 Elections.

In this presentation, I reviewed the early mobilisation of the bauxite proletariat to the liberation struggle. In my next, I will focus on the mobilisation of the agricultural workers in the political struggle for Independence.