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.
