Dr. Walter Rodney, interna- tionally renowned historian, author and political activist, was assassinated in Guyana on June 13, 1980 by the People’s National Congress (PNC) government of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham. Rodney was a founding member and part of the collective leader- ship of the Working People’s
Alliance (WPA); this recently form-
ed political party openly advocated
the removal of the PNC dictator-
ship as a necessary pre-condition
for the creation of a culture of
democracy. The regime’s decision
to eliminate an opponent of Rod-
ney’s international stature reflects
Guyana’s present-day crisis, a
crisis rooted in the country’s post-
World War II political and
economic development.
In the post-war experience of
the Guyanese national liberation
struggle-the struggle which
claims Dr. Walter Rodney among
its most outstanding martyrs-the
year 1953 marks a crucial turning
point.
It was 27 years ago, in colonial
Guyana’s first universal adult suf-
frage elections, that a mass move-
ment swept to victory the People’s
Progressive Party (PPP) under a
banner of national independence
and social liberation. But the PPP
government of Cheddi Jagan, and
the newly-enacted constitution
granting Guyana internal self-gov-
ernment, lasted only 133 days; on
October 8, 1953, British troops oc-
cupied the country and the Gover-
nor suspended the constitution.
The British rationale: the PPP had
fallen victim to an international
communist plot.
Although the reforms introduc-
ed during its short-lived rule were
quite limited, the PPP did, in fact,
espouse socialism as its ultimate
end. In light of this, the Party’s
tremendous popularity, particular-
ly with the working class, was
viewed by Anglo-American im-
perialism as a grave threat. Having
reestablished direct control of the
state apparatus, the British, there-
fore, acted to undermine the
Party’s working class base. On the
one hand, the old Trade Union
Council (TUC), to which the PPP
was closely affiliated, was dis-
banded; the new “free” TUC
created in its place refused mem-
bership to any union affiliated to
the left-wing World Federation of
Labor or to the Caribbean Labor
Congress. On the other hand, the
Party, and the working class,
became the victims of a racial split
engineered by the Crown.
37update * update . update * update
Racial Politics Over 90% of Guyana’s 800,000 people are constituted by two distinct racial groups. The Afro-
Guyanese-the descendants of
African slaves forcibly imported to
work the colonial plantations, com-
pose 38% of the population; the
Indo-Guyanese-the progeny of
an indentured labor force re-
cruited from India, following the
abolition of slavery in the British
Empire-form a majority with
55% of the population.
Despite the continuing occupa-
tional separation of the major
racial groups, the PPP had suc-
ceeded, to some extent, in
creating an organization that cut
across race lines in both its mem-
bership and leadership. But the
legacy of racial suspicion provided
fertile ground for British efforts to
“divide and rule.”
As early as 1954, a British-
sponsored Commission of Inquiry
called for Forbes Burnham, an
Afro-Guyanese and a so-called
moderate socialist in the PPP, to
either assume leadership of the
Party or to split from it. The pos-
sibility of new elections and of in-
dependence negotiations was tied
to that demand. Burnham oppor-
tunistically seized the chance for
individual leadership and, together
with the British, commenced a
nakedly racist campaign against
the “extremist” lndo-Guyanese
elements in the PPP. In 1955, he
split with Jagan and formed a
separate Party faction, ultimately
to become the PNC.
As promised, the Colonial Office
conducted elections in 1957.
Although British maneuvers of the
previous four years could not pre-
vent a Jagan victory at the polls in
1957 and in 1961, the Party was
38
never again able to unify the work-
ing class under its leadership.
Upon formation of the Jagan
government, Burnham unleashed
a war of subversion against all
vestiges of working class solidari-
ty. A principal weapon at his dis-
posal was the reactionary new
TUC which, by that time, func-
tioned solely as an appendage of
the American Institute for Free
Labor Development (AIFLD). It
was through AIFLD that the U.S.
CIA financed, in 1962, an 83-day
general strike against the PPP
government, by a predominantly
Afro-Guyanese Civil Service
workforce. The racial violence, in-
itiated by Burnham’s well-armed
provocateurs during the strike and
which continued through 1964, af-
forded Burnham control of the
overwhelmingly Afro-Guyanase
police and local military.
In the elections of 1964, the
defeat of the PPP was ensured by
a new system of proportional
representation; a coalition of the
PNC and a small right-wing party
formed the new government. It
was upon Burnham then, that na-
tional leadership was conferred
when independence was granted
in 1966.
The PNC’s “Left” Swing
Shortly after independence, the
Burnham regime undertook an in-
ternational public relations cam-
paign, advertising itself as a
revolutionary socialist force. The
political context of the period-the
liberation struggles of Vietnam,
Angola and other parts of Africa as
well as the emergence of new
forms of Black struggle in the
United States and the Carib-
bean-secured a welcome in dis-
NACLA Reportupdate * update . update * update
Prime Minister Forbes Burnham
tant corners for Burnham’s
socialist rhetoricizing.
Because of his anti-capitalist,
anti-imperialist posture, important
international voices remained
silent when Burnham took his first
serious steps toward absolute
rule:
*1966-The regime promul-
gates the National Security Act,
providing for suspension of the
right of habeas corpus and for
detention without trial of any
Guyanese for an indefinite period.
*1969-While the government
declares Guyana a Cooperative
Socialist Republic, it moves to na-
tionalize the press and introduces
a bill providing for compulsory ar-
bitration and the banning of
strikes.
*1974-Burnham presents the
Declaration of Sophia in which the
paramountcy of the Party (PNC) is
proclaimed.
.1978-An October general
election is postponed after a
rigged July referendum affirmed
JulylAugust 1980
the creation of a “Constituent
Assembly” to “draft” a new con-
stitution. General elections are
postponed again in 1979 in order
to complete the drafting. The new
constitution gives sweeping
powers to the Executive
President-a position to be
assumed by Burnham.
The WPA Alternative
The Burnham regime’s “left”
swing-to 80% state ownership
of the economy and to absolute
control of the state by the
PNC-created tremendous disillu-
sionment. For disenchanted Afro-
Guyanese, however, what alter-
native existed? During the racial
campaigns launched by Burnham
and his British benefactors in the
decade preceding independence,
the PPP had sought to guarantee
its survival by consolidating its
base along racial lines as well.
Thus, by the early 1970s, when the
bankruptcy of the Burnham
regime was readily apparent, the
PPP could offer no solace to the
Afro-Guyanese. An alternative
organization was clearly
necessary.
The WPA was born of a merger
in 1974 of four working class
organizations-African Society for
Cultural Relations with Indepen-
dent Africa (ASCRIA), Indian Peo-
ple’s Revolutionary Associates
(IPRA), Working People’s Van-
guard Party (WPVP) and Ratoon. It
addressed itself publicly to the
question of racial division in
Guyana and, for the first time in 25
years, thousands of workers broke
the racial barriers and flocked to
the WPA platform.
In 1977, the PPP called for an
end to one-party rule and propos-
ed the formation of a National
Patriotic Front Government. Al-
though the WPA, like most other
Guyanese political organizations,
endorsed the proposal, it raised
certain reservations; subsequent-
ly, it produced a program of na-
tional reconstruction, the central
theme of which held that Guyana
required the reestablishment of a
culture of democracy. The total
destruction of all democratic in-
stitutions under the PNC regime
necessitated not only the removal
of the dictatorship, but a period of
government during which all dem-
ocratic organizations would be
represented. This period of self-
organization, particularly of the
working class, would best create
the foundation, in the Guyanese
context, for the socialist transfor-
mation of the future. Toward real-
izing this program, the WPA has
joined with the PPP and the
Vanguard for Liberation and Dem-
ocracy-a coalition of groups that
span the political spectrum-in
the Anti-Dictatorial Alliance.
Silencing the Alternative
On July 10, 1979, the govern-
ment arrested three executive
members of the WPA-Omowale,
Roopnavaint and Rodney-on the
trumped-up charge of arson. The
worldwide publicity surrounding
the case led a group of interna-
tional observers to attend the trial
proceedings which began June 2,
1980. As a result, Burnham’s
chances of quietly locking away
his enemies seemed very slim.
The enemy had to be silenced.
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