Dear Editor,
Reference is made to “Clem’s book on Cheddi” by Bill Cotton (Feb 7). Like Cotton, those who read the book are most impressed with the thorough research and documentation and the quality of writing. It is outstanding scholarship. Dr. Jagan was an honourable man and highly revered in Guyana and the Caribbean region and even in far off India and Africa and among anti-colonial nationalists. But they did not embrace his communism. In fact, every West Indian leader who was battling for self-rule or independence distanced themselves from Jagan’s radical socialist philosophy in making a case for freedom of colonies.
Clem’s book is welcome to understand how Jagan’s communism philosophy impacted on the date of independence of Guyana as well as being a factor in the rise of the Guyanese racialized dictatorship that was supported by West Indian rulers with the West closing their eyes on human rights abuses. As Cotton noted, Clem Seecharan, author of Jagan and the Cold War, was a Jaganite as indeed almost every Indian, including myself, in Guyana and regionally and even several non-Indians across the Caribbean. He was the Indian hero as Forbes Burnham was a hero to Africans.
Indian Guyanese were not sophisticated enough or au fait about the philosophy of communism to understand and support that anti-western, anti-American ideology. Once we (people like Clem, Baytoram Ramharack, Ravi Dev, others) became ‘educated’ about communism (from our tertiary education) and understood the consequences of Jagan’s anti-Americanism and his pro-Soviet (and Warsaw pact) solidarity, we parted ways on (his) philosophy.
It was not about Jagan being wrong. It had to do with winning over the Americans and British and of ideological pragmatism and the country’s future well-being. We knew communist philosophy would not endear Guyanese to America and the West and that the PPP would never get into office as long as it embraced communism (socialism). It did not matter whether one was a harmless Fabian socialist or a democratic socialist or a moderate left-winger; they were all labeled as communists as American policymakers made no distinction. And Washington was and still is virulently anti-communist.
When I first started university as a 17 years old, I was enamored by Jagan’s struggle for equality and justice; I still am! But having studied and understood American foreign policy and interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean, I realized there was no return of Jagan and the PPP to office unless he reformed his ideology. Dr. Jagan was stubborn, reluctant to move away from communism. His supporters and all of Guyana paid the price during that 28 years of authoritarian rule, banning of food, emergence of institutionalized corruption, etc. and all the attendants of a dictatorship.
The irony about Indian support for Jagan, is that every Indian wanted to migrate to America but voted for communist Jagan. The vote landed Indians in serious trouble in Guyana. Had they voted for a pro-American (Indian-based) party, Guyana’s faith would have been vastly different. Anyone who studied International Relations and American Foreign Policy would understand why Jagan would not return to government. Americans would not and do not allow the rise of communism in the west with every left-wing government toppled; Cuba was an exception because of Soviet military presence. Guyana was destabilized in the 1960s and a dictatorship was established. Jagan was removed from office twice – in 1953 and 1964.
In August 1989 at the Global Indian conference in Manhattan, Yesu Persaud (in the presence of Komal Samaroo, Pat Dial, myself and others), appealed to Cheddi to move away from communism in order to win over American support for free and fair elections. He sharply responded to Yesu: “You stick to your bourgeois ideology, and I will stick to my Communist philosophy”. Fortunately, communism collapsed in 1990 following the introduction of Perestroika and Glasnost by Gorbachev. Jagan moved away from communism, and the USA no longer objected to the return of Jagan to power. In fact, Washington under Bush demanded free and fair elections in Guyana and Jagan was elected as the first democratic President. Jagan saw the light after the collapse of communism. By then Guyana was saddled with 28 years of authoritarian rule backed by the non-communists.
As Seecharan asserted, Jagan’s rigid adherence and devotion to communism, hurt the country, his supporters, and indeed all Guyana. Had Jagan listened to stalwarts in British Guiana East Indian Association and Dr JB Singh, Balram Singh Rai, JP Latchman Singh, Sasenarine Singh, Hari Prasahd, Balwant Singh, Dhanraj Kumar, Ayub McDoom, Dudnauth Singh, Jailall Kissoon, and Indian businessmen, his ouster from power would not have been engineered and Guiana would have obtained independence much earlier. These stalwarts questioned his communism and appealed to him to tone down his communist rhetoric and anti-Americanism. Pushing them away, Indian businessmen opposed Jagan’s communism and backed the UF in the 1964 elections. The rest of the history is well known and documented by Seecharan.
Sincerely,
Vishnu Bisram (PhD)
