Class and Congress

Jun 30, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – By the time this article is published, the Congresses of the Alliance For Change (AFC) and the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) would have been on their way to being concluded.  Earlier this year in May, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) also held its Congress.

The results of these Congresses events, thus far, reveal significant trends in Guyana’s political landscape. They expose the contest for class dominance of the leadership of Guyana’s main political parties.

The congress of the PPP saw the bourgeois class extend its influence within the party. Last month’s Congress of the PPP led to the solidification of the bourgeois class’s grip on the party’s leadership. The PPP is now firmly in the hands of the propertied class.

This shift from the Jagan years has significant implications for the governance of Guyana. The PPP, traditionally a working-class party, has been transformed into a party that primarily serves the interests of the bourgeoisie. This change is reflected in both ideology and practice, with policies increasingly favouring the wealthy and the business community. At the last Congress, the PPP went as far as dropping any reference to Marxism-Leninism within the party’s constitution.

In the AFC, the middle class has reasserted its dominance in yesterday’s elections. The Congress results indicate a more commanding presence of middle-class leadership within the party. This development suggests a consolidation of power by the middle class, further sidelining the working-class elements within the AFC.

The PNCR is at a crucial juncture. Aubrey Norton and his team face the challenge of preventing the middle and bourgeois classes from taking over the party’s leadership. Norton’s potential victory would be a significant achievement for the working class. However, it remains to be seen whether he can steer the PNCR towards genuinely representing working-class interests.

Historically, the PNCR under Forbes Burnham embraced a working-class ideology but practised state capitalism, aligning its leadership with middle-class elements. The challenge for Norton is to break with this praxis and make the PNCR a true working-class party. But to do so, Norton will have to be Machiavellian and sweep away all the middle class and bourgeois representatives from within the PNCR’s leadership.

Aubrey Norton’s recent speech at the PNCR Congress focused on human development, a theme that resonates with working-class interests. It was a solid presentation. It was the right speech for the wrong occasion.

Before the PNCR can effectively campaign for elections, it needs to address internal challenges and unify its leadership. The Congresses of political parties have become less about addressing the needs of the working class and more about class contests for power.

The current status quo with the country’s main political parties leaves the working class in a precarious position. With the PPP and the AFC increasingly representing bourgeois and middle-class interests, the working class has few political allies. The PNCR’s direction under Norton will be crucial in determining whether the working class can find a political home. If Norton can lead the PNCR towards a genuine working-class ideology, it could provide a much-needed alternative for working-class voters.

But Norton’s problems are more than simply the class orientation of his party. His party faces the obstacle of its own making – the attempt at distorting the democratic will of the people in 2020, a party with a controversial past and a leadership that is not divorced from that past. Democracy is the PNCR’s Achilles Heel.

Despite the dominance of the bourgeois and middle classes within Guyana’s major political parties, contradictions within these classes could lead to new political formations. These contradictions often emerge from conflicting interests and ambitions, potentially paving the way for new political movements that could champion working-class interests.

Guyana’s working class is in desperate need of genuine political representation. The shift of the PPP and the AFC towards bourgeois and middle-class interests has created a vacuum. A genuine working-class party could address the needs and concerns of the working class, providing policies that improve living and working conditions. This requires a significant shift in the current political dynamics, with leaders who are committed to working-class ideologies and practices.

Aubrey Norton’s leadership could be pivotal in this regard, but it will require significant effort and commitment to transform the PNCR into a party that truly champions working-class interests. The future of Guyana’s working class depends on the outcome of these class contestations and the emergence of political formations that genuinely represent their needs.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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• Alliance For Change (AFC), Class, congresses, People's National Congress, People’s Progressive Party (PPP)

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