Dear Editor,
The Walter Rodney CoI confirmed more than our suspicions about Rodney’s assassination and the intellectual authors behind the plot. A similar CoI, perhaps in the form of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, with a general overview of post-independence history, would put a lot of political rumours to rest. The general discourse in the media, however, tends to avoid focus on Cheddi Jagan, though it can be argued that Jagan’s legacy contributed enormously to our current politically dysfunctional society.
Cheddi Jagan’s political survival was due to a unique relationship he cultivated with Guyanese, particularly Indians. The unfortunate reality is that an older generation of Indians refuses to acknowledge his shortcomings. A central reason for this stubbornness has been the lack of a repository of experiences from which to draw inspiration, as well as the absence of serious sustained challenges to Jagan’s leadership from within or outside the PPP. Both of these situations created an organization that claimed, overtly or covertly, to be the sole representative of Indians. The PPP leadership got a free ride. There was no Indian ‘Walter Rodney’ to expose the fallacies of the Jagan legacy, even when the party was at its weakest between 1964 and 1992.
As a charismatic leader, the emotional bond Indians shared with Cheddi was unbreakable. They could not accept Jagan’s 28 years of exclusion and disappearance into the political wilderness and being outmanoeuvered by Burnham’s pragmatism as reflections of a failed politician. His sacrifice was equated with fortitude, one to be imitated, as party cadres foolishly mimicked Cuban revolutionaries, knowing that Jagan had abandoned revolutionary tactics as a means of political struggle.
A number of deep contradictions shaped Jagan’s political career, all lost to Indians who were smothered by his charismatic appeal.
One, during the 50 years of his political career, from 1947 to his untimely death in 1997, Jagan remained a very naïve politician, stuck in Cold War politics. Though communism brought consistency to his alien ideology, it did not provide him with a well-grounded understanding of the nuances and complexities of Guyanese society. Stephen Rabe noted that while declaring himself to be a “left-wing socialist,” Jagan developed a “lifelong habit of speaking of the cuff”, a practice that regularly baffled both his friends and enemies.
Second, the Marxist ideological litmus test led Cheddi to weed out potential and strategic supporters within its leadership core. The result was an open window for opportunistic newcomers and a closing of the door to intellectual elements from within and outside the party. This trend had devastating consequences on the once multi-racial mass-based organization. It delivered the party into the hands of an uneducated and inept lumpen/rural managerial class. Jagan’s ideological test created additional problems within the early PPP. For example, Colin Palmer, in his study of Jagan, argued that while Jagan was “naïve” and “indecisive”, he accepted Governor Grey’s characterization of Boysie Ram Karran (Minister of Communications and Treasurer of the PPP) as a person “utterly devoted to Jagan,” who doubtfully shared “any ideology”; Fenton Ramsahoye (Jagan’s Attorney General) was seen as an opportunist, with “no deep convictions”; and R B Gajraj, a businessman, former mayor of Georgetown and a nominated member of the Legislative Council, was motivated by “a desire for personal reward”.
Third, despite its working-class rhetoric, the PPP’s dominant strategy for governing Guyana was based on its fortunate ability to win elections. Jagan knew, from the time he fought for universal adult suffrage, that the Indian majority and a divided politics was the party’s political ace. Coalition politics or power-sharing were given lip service, never taken seriously. Today, the PPP, based on changing racial configuration, cannot win a free and fair election by relying solely on its traditional support base. Yet, the party continues to hold out a false promise to its supporters that it can win an election.
Political emancipation for supporters of the PPP will come when the rank and file begin to deconstruct Jagan’s legacy and reassess support for the current leadership.
Yours faithfully,
Baytoram Ramharack
