Forbes Burnham will always loom large

Jan 03, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
In the interest of balance, one picture is missing in the anniversary of the PPP; there is attempt to “whitewash” history. In the PPP’s Anniversary campaign no mention is made of one of the founding leaders of the PPP. This founding leader of the PPP being Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham. There would be no PPP without him!
The PPP was founded on 1 January 1950 as a merger of the British Guiana Labour Party led by Forbes Burnham and the Political Affairs Committee led by Cheddi Jagan, and was the first mass party in the country. It was initially a multi-ethnic party supported by workers and intellectuals. Know your history!
Some argue, that because Burnham left the PPP 5 years after its founding, he should not be acknowledged for its creation and and point to the PPP’s survival 61 years beyond his departure. The substance you cannot refute is this; you can never destroy the foundation of Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham’s decision to merge with PAC to form the PPP and his role as a founding member. It cannot be denied. Therefore one must acknowledge his role in formation of the PPP regardless of its continuation after he left.
No anniversary of the PPP should attempt to remove Burnham’s role in the formation of the PPP. In other words, you cannot change your birth father because your mother divorced him 61 years ago. If for pure political mileage, current members of the PPP seek to “photoshop” history in attempts to bury Burnham, then historians and those with knowledge must come forward and lay it bare. Burnham will always pop up in the anniversary of the PPP.
Louis Nestor

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