East Berbice PPP activist recalls the great example of Comrade J.J.

Sir,

On behalf of the East Berbice region of the PPP I extend congratulations on the transformation of the Mirror – the party’s organ into a full colour issue. For this we all must be grateful to Comrade Janet (or as we all called he Comrade J.J.)
       To us she was a kind hearted leader and even a sort of matriarch. What she has done for this country no colonial Governor, however progressive, has been able to achieve, despite the great power that these ruling elites had in Guyana.
       Janet Jagan understood that it was the party newspaper that reached out with reliable information to our grass roots people. When there were protests and demonstrations against injustices and shortages, or discrimination against workers, it was the Mirror that could be relied upon to report these things. Also, lest those with short memories tend to forget, Comrade J.J. set a high ethical and cultural standard for us all to emulate. She was dearly loved by the working people of all races. Anyone who saw how she conducted herself at Baby John during the memorial ceremonies for Dr Jagan could not help but be impressed by the great fortitude of the remarkable freedom fighter
“Boy Blue” Clement Douglas

Political Education & Ideology

Sometime in the early 1990s if not a short while before then, I had the chance to listen to the late Cecil Cambridge deliver an absorbing lecture on trade unionism. This was at the CLC in Thomas Lands, Georgetown. In terms of insider knowledge of industrial relations in the colonial and post colonial periods only Ashton Chase (133 Days in Office) and Dr Cheddi Jagan (Trade Unions and Democracy, PPP booklet) can be compared to Cambridge.
      His was a tremendous grasp of the process of labour value. Or as the Marxists defined this eco-social factor in the early 1900s, ‘the law of labour value’ (Schumpeter, Carr and Baran).
      Unfortunately, Mr Cambridge, a former Transport Workers Union (of B.G.) executive who gravitated towards the People’s Progressive Party and became a member of the party’s General Council, was not inclined towards militancy as endorsed by the PPP. He moved away from the ideology of international and/or proletarian solidarity, but evidently retained much of the political education he would have gained from those who were PAC and PPP leaders.

Dialectical methodology
I chose to cite the above example for the basic reason of highlighting the practical significance of workers’ education and the consciousness that flows from Marxism, and the adaptation of Marxism-Leninism to real existing situations in class society. Political education of the ‘materialists’ as opposed to others such as the ‘Idealists” and ‘Romantics” etc., systematically demystifies and abolishes all illusions created by capitalism.
      We find that the debate, the exchange of views (SN 13/5/09) and 26/5/09) relevant to slavery of the Atlantic Triangle and East Indian Indenture is of great consequence whenever the exploitative structures that were institutionalised by these systems needs to be understood in ‘totality’. As indicated previously in this forum I tend to agree with Rejendra Bissesar when in his discussion he suggests the option for what he terms “the dialectical methodology”. Indeed he goes on to throw out the idea that these traits of conceptualisation, of evaluating the deeper underlying and causative characteristics of any given reality, should be taught in schools. I want to believe that the idea refers to schools in the context of this country.

Praxis in Left Wing centres
The kind of “dialectical methodology”  that is part of curricula in the more advanced Universities in Bologna, Bari, Milan and Turin for example, all reflect the great historical influence of Antonio Grmascri. Outside of Italy, in France, Spain and Great Britain these kinds of intellectual objectives are invariably linked to the Left Wing/radical parties or the Marxist study departments of the Reformed Communist Parties.
     Wherever say in a local borough the authorities are progressive, or are supportive of the Communist or Marxist parties (France, Germany and West Bengal) there are often seminars and study sessions that focus on the dialectics of Marxism.
      However, as long as the overall education system remains in the control of bourgeois interests it is difficult to expect Marxist studies to reach the tertiary level. At the University levels things are different.
      Many Universities including those in Oxford and the City of London as well as in the United States retain Marxist research studies as a distinct area for academic pursuit.
      In other cases, Marxist who are also social scientists, conduct researches into prominent figures such as Malcolm X, Bruce Springsteen, Angela Davis or the English rock star David Bowie amongst others.
      But all of this requires resources. Fellowship or foundation grants such as the support proffered by the late Ted Turner can be utilised to extend the scope of Marxist dialectics as a serious branch of high level manpower training.
      In this sense Rejendra has done his homework. Let us hope that at least at the level of the youth movement the suggestions that he has made are appreciated.
Eddi Rodney

THAT FAMOUS INDEPENDENCE HUG

While rapping with former Member of the First Parliament of Guyana, Mr. David de Groot, I learnt that he was present at the historic Independence Day ceremonies at the National Park, midnight leading to 26th May 1966, when the Union Jack was lowered and Guyana’s Golden Arrowhead was raised.
     David said that, immediately upon the execution of that highly-symbolic action, Dr. Jagan left his seat and walked across to Burnham and bear-hugged him, at that point the crowd went wild with an outpouring of overcharged emotions that saw big men weep.
      I myself witnessed David’s emotionalism reflected in his eyes as he recalled that moment in time when Guyana was born out of the blood, sweat, and tears of patriots and martyrs, and upon recall of that emotive hug, so spontaneously given by Dr. Jagan to a man who had betrayed him at so many levels, but a man to whom he was still connected by historic and emotional bonds.
       Dr. Jagan’s speech in the Legislature indicated clearly that he had not abdicated his responsibility to fight for the people’s real freedom from a tyrannical oppressor, but the hug was for the man who first joined in the PPP’s unrelenting struggle against the oppressive forces and was once Cheddi’s brother-in-arms:  that the man himself subsequently joined with the oppressive forces to derail the freedom movement was a moot consideration at that particular emotionally-overcharged moment.
      Within that time and moment the Father of the Nation only recognized that all that he had struggled for were within reach, and that the potentials for the realization of Guyana’s motto: “One People, One Nation, with One Destiny” were being actualized.
      With his trademark generosity of an unparalleled forgiving spirit, Dr. Jagan’s angst and disappointment at betrayals that had derailed the momentum of his freedom fight, were subsumed by his great joy at this fructification of his long-cherished dream for his people.
Parvati Persaud-Edwards