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 honorable man and highly revered in Guyana and the Caribbean region and even in far off India and Africa and among anti-colonial nationalists everywhere. But most did not embrace his communism because they know the consequences. 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. They recognized radicalism would not be entertained in the greater Caribbean region.
Clem’s book on Jagan and the cold war is welcome to understand how Jagan’s communist 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 well known media contributor Bill Cotton noted about the book (that was launched in London earlier this week), 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. Jagan was the Indian hero as Forbes Burnham was a hero to Africans. Indians idolized Jagan who was worshipped as a deity by Indians; my mother and nanny, as indeed almost every Hindu, had his photo in the ‘kutiya’ (household mandir) praying, offering flowers, and performing aartee as though it was a murthi. They (we) supported his anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggle and for an egalitarian society and to eradicate hunger and poverty. They (we) were enamored by his simplicity and incorruptible honesty and his struggle to empower the ordinary folks and to educate downtrodden people like me. We supported Jagan’s fight for justice, not his wanting to build a communist society and not atheism (which is anathema to our faith) as Indians have always been a deeply religious people since their first arrival in May 1838.
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, myself and 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 Wshington 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. I organized and or attended seminars by Dr Jagan and Janet at City College; Chuck Mohan was the main organizer of the Jagan’s lectures when he was a student there in the 1980s. I lobbied several members of Congress to pressure the Guyana government to hold free and fair elections. Their response was always the same – USA will not pursue policy inimical to its geo-security interests by having Dr. Jagan become the elected leader of Guyana. 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 basic foods, emergence of institutionalized corruption, etc. and all the attendants of a dictatorship. The irony or paradox about Indian support for Jagan is that every Indian wanted to migrate to America but voted for communist Jagan. They didn’t understand the consequences of their vote for Jagan. Their vote landed Indians in serious trouble in Guyana – their marginalization in the country. (Indians voted Jagan to keep out the party of the Africans and Burnham not because they embraced communism). Had they voted for a pro-American (Indian-based) party, Guyana’s faith would have been vastly different. The Americans would not have closed their eyes to the rise of the racialized dictatorship, the confiscation of their property, forced national service, and the banning of basic foods.
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. Recognizing that Jagan would not return to office without changing or reforming his ideology, myself and others sought to get Cheddi to reform his ideology as well as his position on America and the West. We were not successful. He rebuffed us. 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 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 UF in the 1964 elections. The result was disastrous for Jagan, PPP, Indians, and the country at large. The rest of the history is well known and documented by Seecharan.
