propaganda press! freedom in Guyana

DR. JAGAN rose in stature to become a world class statesman who was highly respected by the international community. Through all the difficult and bleak years when many doubted that democracy could and would be restored, he never jeopardized Guyana the nation.

He resisted calls to adventures which would have harmed any chance of unity and reconciliation in the Guyanese kaleidoscope.

He was, after all, the son of down-trodden sugar workers, who began his consciousness of rich versus poor, of the economic and social disparity of classes and the need for political struggles and solutions in the pursuit of social justice, even before he left to study in the United States of America.

In the years following his return to the colony in 1944, Dr. Jagan encountered a lack of basic commitment in several organisations around the colony. He discovered a transparent dishonesty among the leadership which divided the Guyanese people into competing sections of race, class and religion. This tendency to competing among social forces in the face of social and economic retrogression forced Dr. Jagan to consider an organisation committed to the honest articulation of the real problems of the Guyanese people.This resulted in the formation of the Political Affairs Committee in 1946.

The British Administration’s was uneasy with Dr Jagan’s reform in favour of the working people’s interests during his term as popular representative in the local legislative between 1947 and 1953 against both the colonial administration and big business those vital battles waged and won by Cheddi.

Dr Jagan championed the rights of the workers by way of being an aggressive advocate in the Legislative Council. He paid a lot of attention to statistics in order to demonstrate how the workers were exploited by a vicious system. He was dedicated to securing independence for Guyana and to free the country from the shackles of imperialist and capitalist oppression.

Dr. Jagan won the 1953 General Election by a landslide but the government only lasted for 133 days. In October 1953, the British Government suspended the constitution. The big shots were able to sow the seeds of disruption and this brought about the beginning of the split in the PPP.

Over a long period, Dr Jagan had to engage in a programme to restore democracy to Guyana.

I have no doubt whatsoever that Dr Cheddi Jagan was an exceptional patriot, and he deserved the fraudulent Order of Liberation.