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Guyana PREINDEPENDENCE GOVERNMENT, 1953-66
The PPP'S First Government, 1953
Once the new constitution was adopted, elections were set for
1953. The PPP's coalition of lower-class Afro-Guyanese and rural
Indo-Guyanese workers, together with elements of both ethnic
groups' middle sectors, made for a formidable constituency.
Conservatives branded the PPP as communist, but the party
campaigned on a center-left platform and appealed to a growing
nationalism. The other major party participating in the election,
the National Democratic Party (NDP), was a spin-off of the League
of Coloured People and was largely an Afro-Guyanese middle-class
organization, sprinkled with middle-class Portuguese and IndoGuyanese . The NDP, together with the poorly organized United
Farmers and Workers Party and the United National Party, was
soundly defeated by the PPP. Final results gave the PPP eighteen of
twenty-four seats compared with the NDP's two seats and four seats
for independents.
The PPP's first administration was brief. The legislature
opened on May 30, 1953. Already suspicious of Jagan and the PPP's
radicalism, conservative forces in the business community were
further distressed by the new administration's program of expanding
the role of the state in the economy and society. The PPP also
sought to implement its reform program at a rapid pace, which
brought the party into confrontation with the governor and with
high-ranking civil servants who preferred more gradual change. The
issue of civil service appointments also threatened the PPP, in
this case from within. Following the 1953 victory, these
appointments became an issue between the predominantly
Indo-Guyanese supporters of Jagan and the largely Afro-Guyanese
backers of Burnham. Burnham threatened to split the party if he
were not made sole leader of the PPP. A compromise was reached by
which members of what had become Burnham's faction received
ministerial appointments.
The PPP's introduction of the Labour Relations Act provoked a
confrontation with the British. This law ostensibly was aimed at
reducing intraunion rivalries, but would have favored the GIWU,
which was closely aligned with the ruling party. The opposition
charged that the PPP was seeking to gain control over the colony's
economic and social life and was moving to stifle the opposition.
The day the act was introduced to the legislature, the GIWU went on
strike in support of the proposed law. The British government
interpreted this intermingling of party politics and labor unionism
as a direct challenge to the constitution and the authority of the
governor. The day after the act was passed, on October 9, 1953,
London suspended the colony's constitution and, under pretext of
quelling disturbances, sent in troops.
Data as of January 1992
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