Will the communist motif survive?

Apr 29, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

With the passing of Mrs. Janet Jagan, the ideological founders of the PPP are now all gone. There is still Mr. Brindley Benn but he is not active inside the PPP. This brings up the question as to whether the present administrators of the PPP’s politics will retain their communist insignia or will we finally see the reading of the last rights of communism in the PPP.
It is argued that even if the protégés of Cheddi Jagan had a wish to flirt with western aesthetics, the presence of the two Jagans would have prohibited the birth of such a pathway.
Cheddi Jagan knew that he had the support of East Indians. Secondly, he knew those Indians didn’t want his competitor to rule Guyana and his competitors had the devotion of the other ethnic half of Guyana.
This other half of course may have been more principled than Jagan.
The PNC constituency was Christian and not ideologically inclined. So the PNC, even if it wanted to denounce religion and espouse an ideology, could not have done so. Jagan on the other hand was subtle; the word “barefaced” may not be too harsh an adjective. Jagan could not be that unintelligent to know that his Indian enclaves throughout the entire country were Muslims and Hindus who practised small scale capitalism and had no interest in communism
In the US, legislators are famous for “tacking on.” “Tacking on” means that when you pass a Bill, you tack on another item you want on to it because you are unsure of its passage if you tender it as separate legislation. So if Congress approves legislation on mining, you can attach to that Bill, an order banning gambling on animals.
This is exactly what Cheddi Jagan did. He was locked in battle against the African PNC and he told his followers ‘if you want my solution then you have to accept my politics in totality and I am a communist.’
There was no exit for Indians until Walter Rodney came. So Jagan fought for Indians and in exchange, he expanded his communist status
The result on this “tacking on” was that the PPP became a farce, a charade and a masquerade. Here you had a leader who was more communist than the founding fathers but his flock was not.
The rural folks and the urban-based Indians were not in the least interested in communism, neither were Jagan’s protégés.
As the years wore on, both Jagan and his PPP trainees were greeted with chants of hypocrisy because they didn’t practise communist culture. Jagan chose to send his son to university in Canada (at the time, Sir George Williams University) the closest ally of the United States, the country that Jagan denounced all his life.
Cheddi could have easily called up a communist Minister in the USSR and his son would have had a place reserved for him at the best university in Moscow.
Jagan’s lieutenants were not to be left out. Boysie Ramkarran had a huge piece of real estate in Bel Air. It is interesting to note that Fazal Ali died in an accident along with the Marshall of the High Court while serving a writ in a property dispute at Mahaica.
As Jagan perambulated the world shouting for the inevitability of communism and the death of American imperialism, his supporters in Guyana were busy with their commerce, preoccupied with getting rich, and happily donated some of the wealth to Jagan’s party. Where were the communists in the PPP? Cheddi died in 1997. He didn’t live to see the weird biological mutations that took place inside the PPP Government. Even when he was alive the bourgeoisification process was in full swing.
By 2000, the communist house had come crashing down. The PPP boys and girls would probably have ended up in jail in Cuba if their capitalist habits had run as wild as they were doing in Guyana.
Today, their houses (or to use a word borrowed from the GRA Head, Kurshid Sattaur) or mansions rival any you find when the capitalist parties ruled over Guyana.
Cheddi didn’t live to see how the little boys and girl he turned into lovers of Cuba and Castro were transformed into Guyana’s nouveau riche. It would have certainly pained him.
One wonders what would have happened to Cheddi Jagan’s psychology if he was living in 2009. Anger and angst certainly would have destroyed his psyche. The communist cadres are no longer ideological practitioners. They are rich people desperately seeking American citizenship for their children.
And to think one of Cheddi’s closest non-biological sons betrayed him for such a wish.

Latest News

Will the communist motif survive?

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | January, 24th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Tennis Association applauds historic GYD $8 billion allocation to the...

Squash Association notes significance of...

Pepsi Hikers and GBTI GCC win Bounty/Antonio’s...

GYMMAF president lauds Transformative G$8 billion...

GOA says 2025 Sports Budget allocation...

Foreign Link Darts Club hosts successful...

Features/Columnists

‘Govt. must come clean on gas-to-energy project’

OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus

Sanctity, sanctity, sanctity – an era of infamy

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Will the communist motif survive?

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | January, 24th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]