Inspired by events that were occurring in the wider world and influenced by progressive views while he was a student in the United States, Dr Cheddi Jagan returned to Guyana in 1943, then British Guiana, intent on becoming politically involved on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged. He chose the trade union movement as an entrance point. Ashton Chase and Jocelyn Hubbard, both trade unionists, were sought out to join with him and Janet Jagan to form the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on November 6, 1946, as a study and discussion group. Branches emerged in various places including Kitty, Buxton and Enmore. My father, Boysie Ramkarran, joined the Kitty Group in 1947. Ashton Chase, at the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the PAC said that my father was the Secretary of that group. Eusi Kwayana was active in the Buxton group.
Amidst unrest and great and increasing poverty in the Caribbean in the 1930s and 1940s due to the Great Depression and drop in the price for sugar, the bauxite workers went on a long strike in 1947. In 1948 the successful Teare strike of transport workers took place followed by the Enmore strike of sugar workers. Having already won a seat in the Legislative Council in 1947, these events, and in particular the Enmore strike, motivated Cheddi Jagan to speed up the establishment of a political movement to struggle for universal adult suffrage, social justice and independence.
PAC’s internal discussions and consultations designated Cheddi Jagan as the Leader and Ashton Chase as the Chairman of the new party. Chase was General Secretary of the British Guiana Labour Union led by Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow. Billy Strachan, a Jamaican-British activist of the Caribbean Labour Congress and the West Indian Students’ Union, both in the UK, with whom Jagan was in touch, recommended Forbes Burnham as potentially having more appeal as Chairman because he had just qualified as a lawyer. The PPP was formed on January 1, 1950, after awaiting Burnham’s return and his brief sojourn as a member of the League of Coloured Peoples.
