Dear Editor,
Mr Hydar Ally’s letter published in Stabroek News, Wednesday on January 25, captioned, ‘No confusion about PPP’s ideological orientation’ and in the Kaieteur News of Friday January 27, under the caption, ‘My party, the PPP, is guided by the principles of Marxism- Leninism,’ caught my attention.
Because Hydar Ally has, for years, been the chief ideologue of his party, I was expecting an enlightened discussion on the PPP’s ideology: how it was/is manifested in the party’s praxis, when it was in office and now that it is in the opposition, its relevance on political, economic and social policies. Needless to say I was very disappointed since in the letter, this line of discourse did not materialize.
While admitting that there is confusion generated by sections of the media on the party’s ideological orientation, Mr Ally, rather than clear the air on his party’s present ideological posture chose to hide behind the utterances of the PPP’s founder leader, Dr Cheddi Jagan, by invoking what Dr Jagan had said in 1992, some 25 years ago, that the PPP’s “ideology is Marxism –Leninism”.
Consummate politician that he is Mr Ally is fully aware that the issue which is causing confusion among sections of the public and among party members and supporters is whether the present PPP leadership is guided by the principles of Marxism-Leninism. This problem has to be clarified and cannot be wished away. If it is true that the principles of Marxism-Leninism have indeed guided the PPP, then it has to explain the contradictions which have been so glaring after the death of the late President Cheddi Jagan and the subsequent rise of Bharrat Jagdeo, when the criminal state developed and there was an unprecedented rise in corruption. If the policies of Marxism-Leninism have been adhered to by the PPP then Mr Ally must explain how under the PPP the working class in Guyana has been destroyed, both in terms of its numbers and its ability to act as a class in defence of its interests.
Mr Ally ought to know that simply hiding behind the words of his party founder leader is not enough to convince those who believe that the party, after the passing of President Cheddi Jagan, abandoned Marxism-Leninism.
Yours faithfully,
Tacuma Ogunseye
