Dear Editor,
Clement Rohee’s attempt to nullify the fact that the PPP of Cheddi Jagan “declared itself to be a communist party” raises serious questions about his political awareness or his own ability to comprehend the history of the party to which he pledged his life-long loyalty (See SN letter 12/21/21). It is perhaps best to ignore his deniability. At the risk of belabouring a point that has already been established, here is the actual quotation from the official monthly organ of the PPP refuting his claims:
“[T]he Party decided in 1969 to commence a process of transformation from a loose, mass party into a disciplined Marxist-Leninist organisation, capable not only of widely disseminating Marxist-Leninist ideology but also of more effectively organising and uniting all working people in the struggle for a socialist Guyana…
“Since 1969 a series of steps have been taken to reorganise the Party’s structure, promulgate a Programme, develop a disciplined core of cadres and membership imbued with the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, undeviatingly apply the principles of Marxism-Leninism to everyday problems, apply the principles of democratic centralism and criticism and self-criticism and such other principles as were necessary to achieve our objective. In this regard since our decision to transform the Party, our work on the ideological front of the class struggle has been strengthened in the fight against right and left deviationism…
“Our international work is based on proletarian internationalism…We are generally recognised as and accorded the status of a communist party by all other fraternal parties [in the Soviet bloc]…The prestige of our Party both locally and internationally has never been higher. We can say with confidence at this 22nd Congress that our Party has been transformed into a Communist Party.” [“PPP is Marxist-Leninist”, Thunder, Third Quarter, 1985, p. 6].
Even at a time when the Soviet Empire was showing signs of political decay in 1985, Jagan’s PPP was shoring up its fraternal loyalty to Soviet communism and Castro’s Cuba, while still predicting the impending collapse of capitalism. Clement Rohee, famously known for the lingo “goat ain’t bite meh”, cannot fudge the facts regarding Jagan’s PPP, especially when the party’s narrative, actions and history dictate otherwise.
Sincerely,
Baytoram Ramharack
