Remembering Cheddi Jagan
Cheddi Jagan struggled relentlessly against injustice
by Chamanlall Naipaul (March 23, 2003)
HAD he been alive, he would have been 85 years old. It was so unfortunate and sad that he had to depart so quickly, because his charisma, wisdom, humility, incorruptibility and indomitable spirit are surely missed by a society plagued with increasing human problems.
However, we have one consolation in that even though, Cheddi Jagan departed physically, his teachings, principles, practices, morality, sacrifices, and voluminous and relentless struggles against injustice of the poor and down-trodden are indelibly written in the annals of our history.
Guyana is so fortunate to have had a father figure like him, if only it could follow in his footsteps.
I fondly recall his last visit to the Rupununi in September 1996, on which I was fortunate to be and was his roommate for one night in a simple Amerindian hut. This was indeed a true demonstration of his humility and simplicity - a President sleeping in such humble quarters. But that was the humility of the man Cheddi Jagan - a man of the people.
During that rigorous trip at age 78, he travelled more than 300 miles in south Rupununi to more than 10 villages, each scores of miles apart, across creeks and bumpy trails, holding public meetings in each village and speaking for over two hours at each meeting, after which he listened to villagers’ problems with utmost patience - like the true father figure he was. And he did that for seven consecutive days, amidst the broiling temperatures of the Rupununi.
But unlike most, he was propelled by a sincerity of purpose and a genuine and burning desire to alleviate the suffering of the poor and down-trodden, rather than self -aggrandisement.
Growing up in the logies on the sugar plantation at Port Mourant, and studying in America in the 1940s when the contradictions of the uneven distribution of wealth were very evident, were significant factors that shaped his political outlook. In addition, he was very much influenced by the struggle in India for independence, which at the time was at its peak under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
On his return to Guyana, he immediately began to pay an interest in local politics, even though, he was a practicing Dental Surgeon, a lucrative profession. He even got into conflict with the local dental association who complained that his fees were too low. But he argued that he did not see why he should charge poor people exorbitant fees.
However, one tragic episode in Guyana’s political and industrial history detonated his inner burning desire to end injustice and exploitation of man by man. And that episode was the shooting to death by colonial police of five sugar workers at Enmore who were protesting against the poor working and living conditions in the sugar industry.
In his autobiography, `The West On Trial’ he wrote, “At their graveside, with great effort I restrained my tears, and there and then I made a silent pledge that I will dedicate my entire life to the struggle against injustice and bondage.”
Professor James Rose, reflecting on the life of Dr. Jagan said: “On careful reflection, it can be said that the political career of Dr. Jagan spanned three distinct periods. Firstly, from the 1940s to 1964, when he was a fearless anti-colonial firebrand, nationalist, and liberator. Secondly, the period between 1964 and 1992, when he struggled against the notorious tyranny of the PNC dictatorship, attempting time and again to mould a truly broad-based opposition against the precursor of all forms of democratic manifestations at home. And finally, the all too brief post 1992 period when, having triumphed over the mindless tyranny of the PNC, he began the process of community and healing and national reconstruction.”
However, over the five decades of political life, he remained committed to the search for national unity and was relentless in this respect because he always believed that national unity was the prerequisite to Guyana achieving peace, progress and prosperity.
It is for this reason that he never became associated with any race-based political groupings when he returned from the US, and throughout his political career - at the time the two major groupings being the League of Coloured Peoples and the British Guiana East Indian Association each representing the interests of the main ethnic groups. Instead, he formed the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) which reflected a wide cross-section of the society and was the forerunner to the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) which was formed in 1950 with Forbes Burnham eventually becoming Chairman of the party. Founder member Ashton Chase should have become Chairman, but he gave way to Burnham. Many have contended that had Chase accepted the Chairmanship of the party, the political history of Guyana perhaps would have been different. But that is all history now.
Unfortunately, after having led the PPP to victory in 1953 under the first elections held under Universal Adult Suffrage, which he almost single handedly struggled for, his government lasted only 133 days in office. The British government sent troops and gunboats to forcibly remove his government and replacing it with an interim one.
In subsequent elections in 1957 and 1961, the PPP emerged victorious. However, between 1953 and 1957 the political and racial unity that was forged was fractured due to opportunism at the local level combined with Cold War machinations by the British and Americans who perceived the PPP to be a threat to their interests in this hemisphere, because of its leftist orientation.
This fracture, perhaps, was the greatest political setback to beset Guyana, having deep and far-reaching consequences on national unity and political stability.
But this did not deter Cheddi Jagan, in fact, it gave him greater resolve to continue the quest for national unity.
He exerted great care in ensuring that protests remained peaceful, because of his recognition that should they get out of hand it can jeopardise the quest for national unity. Many critics even accused him of not wanting to confront the dictatorial PNC. What they did not understand was that he had a revulsion for violence and bloodshed, which only result in the loss of innocent lives. At the same time, he recognised that such a situation would have ripped this country apart, maybe permanently. And so, in reference to the many provocations by the PNC, he used to remark, “Many times we have had to watch the situation and bite our lips.” This was, of course, one of his remarkable characteristics, having seemingly infinite patience.
In the end, his patience and determination triumphed, with many persons who used to say that Cheddi Jagan would never return to government, accepting they were wrong in their assessment.
Political Adviser to US President John F. Kennedy in 1961, Arthur Schlesinger publicly apologised for his role in ousting Cheddi Jagan from government. He had advised the then US President John F. Kennedy to support Burnham, whom he described as “the lesser of the two evils.” After which British and American intelligence worked collaboratively to undermine and remove the PPP government.
In 1992, when Cheddi Jagan was elected President, Schlesinger, remarked, “I am sorry for the grave injustice I did to Dr. Jagan and the Guyanese people.”
During his unfortunate shortened term as President, he worked tirelessly to rebuild the physical and social infrastructure of a society that was battered by 28 years of dictatorship and economic mismanagement. One of his first declarations was “no retribution, no witch hunting” characteristic of his abhorrence of victimisation and hatred for his fellow human beings.
But apart from working to restore the fundamentals of existence, he became immersed in the broader issues of society. He used his birthdays as occasions for fund-raisers for uplifting the welfare of the children of the deprived sections of society and began articulating his international struggle for a New Human Global Order.
He always firmly believed that there is a “dialectical interconnection between the international and local struggles.”
In one of his speeches which he did not deliver, he said: “While all our countries are individually searching for more aggressive and innovative ways to cope with the growing inter-dependence and globalisation taking place, there are fundamental issues which can be addressed only by new global initiatives. It is clear that if present worldwide trends continue, tensions, conflicts and disorders of potentially disastrous consequences could become the order of the day.”
Visionary words, indeed. He added: “We also need to establish new global institutions to respond to the global dimension of the existing human society. The UN itself has to play a more central role in global economic management and should have access to larger financial resources - the possible source of which we have already identified. The Bretton Woods Institutions - the World Bank and the IMF-have moved away from their original mandate and have to be brought back to doing what was originally intended. They need to concentrate on human development as distinct from means of development. They have to be more concerned with social and human factors than with statistics of growth. We need structural adjustment with a human face.”
It is not surprising that his proposed New Human Global Order became a focus of discussions at the UN and other international fora.”
Perhaps, his widow and former President, Mrs. Janet Jagan best sums up the five decades of an illustrious political career, during one of her speeches on the life of Cheddi Jagan.
She said: “Cheddi’s long march from Port Mourant, a small rural village in the eastern part of Guyana, to become the first freely elected President of Guyana, until his return to Port Mourant, where he was cremated, spanned half of a century. During that time, he did what few men have done in a lifetime: he committed himself to a single goal of freedom for his country and people and never, even for once, wavered. In many ways, his struggles and his accomplishments are so intertwined with the history of this country that sometimes it is difficult to study one without the other. Having dominated so much of Guyana’s post World War 11 history, he perhaps contradicted his own view that history is not made by individuals but by the people.”
But after such an illustrious contribution to this country, what has he left with us? He has left “the only recipe for survival and progress” former Minister of Information Moses Nagamootoo says and adds that this recipe is reflected in one of Cheddi Jagan’s parting speeches in which he said, “…Let us not refresh our spirit with hatred, but with one heart, let us unite Guyana. Let us join hands across the land and reach out to those in the deep past who helped to mould this great El Dorado.
Let us stand strong as Mount Roraima and powerful as the majestic Kaieteur.
Let us move together and steadfastly as the mighty Essequibo River.
An Enduring Legacy
by Prem Misir (March 31, 2003)
"THE `laws' of the market, Mill pointed out in 1848 in his PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, are simply statements of how things will be if we let the market operate unchecked; but there is no necessity for us to let it operate that way...The market is only one system among many...and if its results do not bring happiness, then we are free to modify it or to try another system" (Collins and Makowsky, 1993, p. 84).
Six years ago on March 6, President Cheddi Jagan died, leaving a variety of legacies as instruments to fulfil the dreams of the Guyanese people.
His lifelong concern was to bring happiness to the working class, using clear and concise convictions with an eye for philosophical adjustments, wherever necessary, and which was evidenced numerous times in his political life.
The People's Progressive Party's (PPP) 28 years of persisting opposition required as a pre-condition for survival, the capability of activating credible and substantial adjustments amid intensified and mature oligarchic conditions, orchestrated by the People's National Congress (PNC).
This political persistence in the wilderness years the PPP embellished with great success, for inability to make needed adjustments would have meant failure in opposition.
THE NEW GLOBAL HUMAN ORDER
In effect, if one system does not work, it may be time, as Mill put it, to modify it or seek an alternative. Jagan's mature resiliency to adjust his ideological thinking persuaded him to comply with what can be called Mill's maxim.
This thinking has, today, become the foundation for his enduring legacy, the idea to advance the cause and better the conditions of the working class. This legacy is the idea of the New Global Human Order or the global village that President Cheddi Jagan boldly initiated in 1996.
The view of the global village is remarkable, and is aimed at revitalising poor developing nations with an unexploitative moral involvement from the developed world.
Jagan, for the first time since 1992, clearly, outlined his philosophic vision for Guyana in a speech in 1996 to the International Conference on the Global Human Order. What he presented was quite provocative for the squeamish but practical, and requires endorsement and implementation.
In the Epilogue to the last Edition of The West On Trial, Jagan explained why a new global human order was necessary and where anything less was insufficient, thus: "Market-driven economic globalisation and unbridled modernization, coupled with inhumane and ill-designed structural adjustment programs, are leading to a spiral of marginalization and exclusion. The gap in living standards between the rich and the poor in both the North and the South is getting wider: the rich, "the included", "the Haves" are getting richer at the expense of the poor, the 'excluded", the "Have-nots"."
The social and economic discrepancies between the advantaged and the disadvantaged found nationally, also are located internationally. In effect, the fight to eliminate poverty and restore human dignity has to be waged across national borders.
SUPPORT
Jagan knew all along that the fight for Guyana's freedom was intertwined in the fight for world freedom, and so he took his battle to the international fora.
His formal call to wage war for the restoration of human dignity worldwide started with his address to the United Nations in 1993, and since then, there has been no turning back.
The following developments attest to Jagan's resilience and fortitude in his aggressive promotion of the New Global Human Order: appeal to world leaders in 1994; paper presented for the UN-sponsored World Hearings on Development, 1994; paper presented to the European Commission, 1994; address to the Commonwealth Heads of Government in New Zealand, 1995; letter to the President of the World Bank, 1996; paper presented at the Global Development Initiative Advisory Group at the Carter Centre, 1996; address to the World Food Summit in Rome, 1996; Memorandum disseminated at the hemispheric Summit on Sustainable Development in Bolivia, 1996.
The Guyana Parliament in 1994 approved a resolution on the New Global Human Order.
In 1996, an international conference on the New Global Human Order took place, culminating in its participants endorsing the proposed new order.
Then in 1977, CARICOM, The Group of 77 and China (G 77), and the UN General Assembly, endorsed the New Global Human Order.
The UN General Assembly has now scheduled this new order proposal for debate at its next meeting.
IDEOLOGICAL THRUSTS
Let's examine some of his ideological thrusts.
Jagan recommended the need for an appropriate theoretical perspective, a viewpoint that not only considers capital accumulation, but also the workers' relations and their conflicts at the workplace.
All the more reason we need to remind ourselves that capital accumulation, private ownership of the means of production, self-interest and the profit motive, and free competition are important components of capitalism. The unifying feature is individual competition.
This is fine if everyone starts on a level playing field. However, this is not the case in a market economy. Jagan expresses support for these capitalistic elements.
However, he quite rightly argues that capitalism or the market economy by itself, is not sufficient to produce the desired development for Guyana. Some adjustment is needed where capitalism can take on a human face.
Jagan believes that the developmental strategy also should focus on the relationship of the worker to the products of his labour and on the process of producing that product. The worker's lack of control of his own product can result in feelings of helplessness (alienation).
Alienation occurs in the context of an imbalanced relationship between the worker and the capitalist, and operating to the advantage of the capitalist and to the disadvantage of the worker.
In effect, the capitalist's needs dominate over the needs of the worker.
What Jagan proposed was for the worker to experience creative and purposeful activity through work in a society in which material needs are balanced with cultured needs. Balancing material with cultured needs will promote the development of a society in which a stability is struck between individual needs and social cooperation.
People should have the opportunity to fulfil their individual needs, but at the same time, they should not be effected at the expense of society's needs.
The capitalist's needs are, generally, pursued at the cost of societal needs.
Jagan wanted to correct this discrepancy through the global village where both worker and capitalist can operate through a framework of promotive interdependence. In this situation, both receive mutual rewards.
Capitalism is driven by the pursuit of individual interests; this approach could be of great satisfaction to a large number of people, except for the presence of gross structured inequalities that help some persons and obstruct others from advancing to higher levels in life.
Through no fault of their own, many of those prevented from reaching their potential, may never fulfil even some basic needs, due to large-scale institutionalised inequalities and discrimination in the society.
Jagan's advocacy for a complementary relationship between capitalism and socialism is well taken, and could represent an enduring legacy.
Establishing such a system is long overdue. An alternative to this mixed strategy is impoverishment and disparities in wealth and income.
Obviously, the absence of a mixed economic system comprising capitalism and socialism can hardly promote moral development, as espoused by Jagan's global village. Jagan's prescription endorses this joint philosophical approach.
Jagan's vision of blending the market economy with governmental interventions for nation building purposes is on target and must be vigorously pursued.
ELIMINATING UNEVEN AND UNBALANCED DEVELOPMENT
The foundation of President Jagan's global vision is a bona fide relationship between developed and developing nations, a relationship based on democracy, mutual trust and benefit, and interdependence. The playing field between these parties at the present time is uneven and unbalanced, making it difficult for developing societies to receive essential benefits.
The advanced nations participate in a global village. But this village is driven, determined, and dictated aggressively by the pursuit of profit, and not by moral and ethical development.
Further, this global village or global economy is controlled by developed nations. Any interference with this global economy resulting in loss of profit or a loss of comparative international trade advantage, may not be tolerated by these centre nations.
The moral outlook of Jagan's global village is completely opposed to the uneven and unbalanced development internationally. Jagan's global proposal should not be discarded. The best days ahead for it has to be in Guyana, and indeed, the Caribbean.
The global village would become more of a reality in an economic system driven by a mix between capitalist and socialist principles, rather than be solely applied within a capitalist economic system. This mix is scarce on the international scene.
Therefore, a useful starting point for activating the global village concept, has to be initially rooted nationally. Guyana can be the cradle for this experiment.
Jagan's political struggles and achievements should be motivators for promoting the idea of the global village.
Democracy wilts under the poverty of inhumane capitalism with its accompanying poverty and human indignity.
Many developed nations are beginning to understand the contradictions of this inhumane capitalism, particularly, in the area of retardation of human development. They see this contradiction as gradually inducing a decline in people's democracy and human development.
Jagan's New Global Human Order proposes to inject a new humanity into a country's economic and social system, a humanity aimed at restoring human dignity and peace in the world.
We must remain loyal to CBJ’s ideas
by Dr Frank C.S. Anthony(A tribute to Dr Cheddi Jagan on the sixth anniversary of his death)
SIX YEARS after his passing we still cannot sculpt the letters to make a word, which make sentences to accurately summarize Cheddi Jagan, and indeed we never will. For none can ever compress into a single word or a single idea the multitudes of excellent qualities and virtues that were embodied in him.
At the time of his passing, many of us tried to birth feeling into words to explain the irreparable loss of our friend and comrade. Today several years later, as we sit to think and perhaps to write about Cheddi Jagan, there is still sadness that would creep up inside of us like a stillness of the hallows of an empty cathedral.
It is still difficult to remember Cheddi Jagan for all that he was, and not remain passionate to his memory. In the poem ‘Epitaph’, I wrote;
Born are we to die,
And in that span between birth and death,
We must fill this gap
With a monument of achievements,
By which to be remembered
Symbolically March the month chosen to honour his memory, is the month of his birth and his death. The diverse activities that will celebrate the life of this great man, in the various communities of our country are testimonies to Cheddi Jagan’s rich legacy.His monuments of achievements are not only the physical and palpable changes that he brought to this country, but the indomitable spirit that he cultivated in his people, which is why different people would describe him differently. He was the workers champion, the freedom fighter, the writer, and the internationalist. These diverse nouns, independent of each other only describe one aspect of Cheddi. To create the true picture we must like an artist paint unto a single canvass the various colors, and then step back and admire this masterpiece.
Cheddi Jagan was indeed a masterpiece, an exemplar, a model, a teacher and an excellent leader. In a tribute the Director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Mr. Larry Birns wrote, "The death of Cheddi Jagan is not just a grievous personal loss to myself and colleagues. It also will leave particularly a void in the ranks of world-class leadership among the English speaking CARICOM nations, as well as the rest of the hemisphere. In the category of Latin American presidents, he was an indisputable giant among pigmies. In fact his presidency was guided by pragmatism, melded with humanness, and helped preserve a vital germ plasma for future flowering of a uniquely Latin American form of government aimed at serving all its population - not a small minority of well to do. Perhaps, the single most noteworthy aspect of his personality was that he was free of any meanness or narrowness of vision."
In 1999, well known Caribbean journalist Earl Bousquet said he was "a visionary, whether at home or abroad. And that he was considered by many the world over to be a man ahead of his time". And indeed he must have been, because six years after his passing from this dynamic world, his ideas refuse to be made redundant.
Cheddi as Earl puts it was always "the consummate teacher, he always provided the historical and other data to support his analyses and conclusions".
Tim Hector a regional politician recollects, "the painstaking analysis of American policy starting from the Marshall Plan, the Good Neighbour Policy, the Alliance for progress down to Caribbean Basin Initiative and up to NAFTA, with reference to large policy and minor detail".
Dr Jagan was indeed an educator; he was able to break down the complexities of the modern world to simple language for the grassroots supporters to understand. In the early days it was not unusual for him to make bar charts and graphs to graphically represent some complicated problem that was contained in the budget. The charts were then used as teaching aids to explain the concepts. No bottom house or street corner was exempted, if there were a few comrades to meet and to discuss these issues. Some of the comrades that work with him can testify, how he had them holding teaching aids while he explained the issue at hand.
This was the Jagan that we grew up to know, always practical, always pragmatic and as much as he would teach, he was always willing to listen and help the ordinary people find solutions to their problems.
I would imagine that for anyone to amass the broad spectrum of knowledge that Cheddi had certainly had to be an avid reader and a profound thinker. In an article by Cde. Janet Jagan, titled ‘Cheddi Jagan - the years 1943 to 1948’ she wrote, "Also emerging as his character was further developing, was an aspect of what was to become a life-long love and commitment - studying, reading and writing. He read extensively. He enjoyed reading and then discussing, arguing, persuading and the general cut and thrust of debate with friends and opponents alike".
Teaching was important to develop the party cadres, and to depend upon mass education was not enough. It meant that more leaders had to be groomed who understood the tenets, the objectives and the ideology of the party. For this to happen a party school was established and was named Accrabre after one of the leaders of the 1763 Slave Rebellion. Soon the enrolment to the school was higher than what they could accommodate and a correspondence course was developed. This allowed the party to educate larger and larger percentages of the population about their conditions and how to organize and mobilize for their rights.
To complement the education work, study circles were established in all the villages. These were small groups that met regularly to discuss ideas and concepts that the party leadership had identified. At these discussions party leaders would make time to be present to guide the discussions or to clarify issues.
This kind of work was further complemented with the various publications from the PAC Bulletin, to the analytical political magazine ‘Thunder’, to the daily ‘Mirror’ and the numerous articles that was written by Dr Jagan and others. Pamphlets, booklets and books were published and effectively used to educate and awaken the people’s collective conscience. Among the books that he published were ‘Forbidden Freedom’, ‘The West on Trial’, ‘The Caribbean Revolution’, ‘The Caribbean - Whose backyard’ and ‘Selected Speeches 1992 - 1994’. It was a battle of ideas for the hearts and minds of the people. Dr Jagan for his persistent effort was able to school most of his contemporaries both nationally and regionally in political activism.
That is why those of us who entertain ambitions in the realm of historic greatness must take a pause to examine this paragon and ask ourselves why the people of this country have given him the title "Father of the Nation".
Such an accolade is not a propagandist coup, but a people’s recognition of his steadfast contributions and a simple way to express heartfelt thanks. When Cheddi died, the day was black with mourning; the Guyana diversity was unified in their loss. People sought each other, to comfort and console and the colours became blurred not by tears, but because deep down in our hearts we somehow felt a personal loss.
The personal loss, that despair was felt because an institution that went public in the mid-1940s was suddenly gone.
The dentist that became an educator/activist to propagate ideas to stimulate his people to dare to think outside the confinement of colonial shackles and dream of freedom was gone.
Cheddi Jagan did not only educate his people politically but also set out to ensure that they had access to primary, secondary, and tertiary education. In 1963 he established the University of Guyana, as evening classes at Queen’s College. His detractors then were totally against it and made many disparaging remarks about the university. It was then dubbed as "Jagan Nite School". Today the University of Guyana is 40 years old and has expanded to Berbice, the birthplace of Dr Jagan and is able to afford many Guyanese an opportunity to access tertiary education.
In the month of celebrating the life of Dr. Jagan let us look back and articulate a vision for our party and our country. As Jonathan Swift puts it, "vision is the art of seeing things invisible". We as leaders must be able to create, embody and communicate our vision. We must provide the context, give the purpose and establish the meaning. This is what would inspire people to mobilize, to act and to move as a united organization and ultimately as a united country. Vision is the fabric that must clothe us with our common identity.
This lesson from Dr. Jagan must not be lost, we must continue to advocate the vision, and must continually advocate that the future can be better than the past. We must restore that luxury to hope, that luxury to dream of better life in our country.
A good example of this is Dr Cheddi Jagan’s New Global Human Order; this concept is still not outdated. Inherent in this concept is recognition of the predicament of the socio-economic conditions in the world and in particularly the developing countries.
Where the gaps between the haves and the have-not have been increasing. It would seem that the prescriptions by many of the Multilateral Financial Institutions have not been working and indeed in some cases many of the countries that have followed the rigid recommendations of the structural adjustment programs have not eradicated poverty but in some cases have exacerbated poverty.
Let there be no doubt, that these indomitable ideas that struggle to bring relief the human condition from suffering would forever beckon like an eternal flame, lighting a path to the future.
As Etienne de Grellet, once said
I shall pass through this world but once,
Any good therefore,
That I can do,
Or any kindness that I can show to any human being,
Let’s do it now, let me not defer or neglect it,
For I shall not pass this way again.
Cheddi Jagan did his part, it is time we do ours.
