Report from Jamaica
ZEIDENFELT, ALEX
REPORT FROM JAMAICA Opposition Comes to Power Election ends the long reign of colorful Alexander Bustamante By Alex Zeidenfelt Shortly after noon on February 2, the Governor of Jamaica appointed...
...as Bustamante is affectionately known to his followers, has built up the JLP and its adjunct trade union wholly about his own dynamic personality...
...Most important, it deprived Bustamante of his favorite, if not his only, campaign issue...
...Two or three independent candidates closely identified with the pro-Communist People's Educational Organization also made a poor showing...
...Although he and Bustamante are first cousins, Norman Manley is of a different stripe entirely...
...However, it is questionable whether these diverse elements can be held together now that the JLP has been retired from power and Bustamante may withdraw from public life...
...He proposes to develop industry and especially agriculture, the mainstay of the island's economy, in order to raise the standard of living...
...For a long time, the PNP housed a collection of incongruous elements which constantly vied with one another for control...
...Manley replied by bringing suit for libel against Bustamante...
...He conducted his campaign on a highly personalized level, generally ignoring public issues and hammering away at the theme that the PNP was a Socialist, if not a Communist, conspiracy...
...The election returns showed that Bustamante had held the loyalty of the agricultural workers and lower classes...
...During the last campaign, Bustamante sought to overcome this handicap by resorting to tactics that had worked well before...
...A former close associate of Manley in the PNP...
...The booming tourist industry and the discovery of rich deposits of bauxite, which are being developed by American and Canadian interests, have helped lift Jamaica out of the doldrums...
...Among those ousted were Kenneth Hill, a member of the House of Representatives and Mayor of Kingston, his brother Frank, Richard Hart and Arthur Henry...
...Past 70 and in failing health, saddled with a party machinery that has proved itself shockingly inept, his chances of returning to the helm are slim indeed...
...REPORT FROM JAMAICA Opposition Comes to Power Election ends the long reign of colorful Alexander Bustamante By Alex Zeidenfelt Shortly after noon on February 2, the Governor of Jamaica appointed Norman K. Manley, leader of the People's National party, Chief Minister of the colony...
...Scholarly, reserved, cautious, one of the most brilliant lawyers in the British West Indies, he has been the guiding force of the PNP almost from its inception in September 1938...
...Bustamante broke with the parly shortly before the 1944 elections and formed the JLP...
...He proposes to carry out his program by utilizing "the dynamics of both public plans and private activity in the tasks that lie ahead...
...All were members of the PNP's Executive Committee...
...one was its second vice-president...
...As predicted, the PNP won 18 seats and the JLP 14...
...Two members of Bustamante's government, both ironically Ministers of Education, were sent to prison for malfeasance in office...
...the JLP captured 22 out of the 32 seals at stake...
...Despite overweening egocentricily and tawdry theatricals which have made many look upon him as a buffoon, Bustamante has demonstrated positive qualities of leadership...
...Neither he nor his movement has any definite program or fixed ideology...
...Thus ended the tempestuous rule of Alexander Bustamante, one of the most remarkable political leaders of the British West Indies...
...Bustamante sought to establish himself as the representative of the laboring man, business and agricultural interests, and for a time he was successful...
...IN COMING ISSUES Conservatism in America CLINTON ROSSITER Britain and the Far East DENIS HEALEY End of a Party J. B. PRIESTLEY...
...Alex Zeidenfelt is a specialist in colonial relations who has contributed to the Journal of Politics and Inter-American Economic Affairs...
...From the first Jamaican general elections in December 1944 to the elections of last January 12, when he was repudiated by the electorate, Bustamante dominated the public life of the island as de facto Prime Minister and undisputed head of the largest political party, the Jamaica Labor party, and the most important trade union, the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union...
...Manley solidified his strength among the city dwellers, middle class and politically sophisticated voters and benefited considerably from the activities of the Farmers' Federation, which diverted votes that normally would have gone to the JLP...
...No longer did it favor extensive nationalization of the island's industries and resources...
...The National Labor party, an offshoot of the PNP, and the Farmers' Federation, the creation of R. L. M. Kirkwood, Chairman of the Sugar Manufacturers Association of Jamaica, were almost obliterated at the polls...
...The PNP is a frankly Marxian Socialist party closely patterned after the British Labor party...
...The situation came to a head in 1952, when the right wing forced Manley to throw out the leaders of a pro-Communist faction that was using the party and its affiliated Trade Union Congress as vehicles for Communist propaganda...
...Kenneth Hill formed the National Labor party and, though proclaiming himself a Marxist, has sought to steer an independent course...
...The party had undergone a remarkable transformation from militant socialism to mild liberalism...
...Barring repudiation of the PNP's campaign promises by its leaders, the recent change in the Government of Jamaica does not presage any drastic changes in policy...
...Some of his followers regarded violence and strong-arm methods as legitimate political weapons...
...He charged that its leaders had sent Cheddi Jagan, head of the pro-Communist People's Progressive party in British Guiana, a telegram congratulating him on his election victory...
...With the minor parties and independent candidates wiped out, it now becomes possible for a genuine twoparty system to develop in place of the traditional emphasis on personalities...
...Even though there is considerable unemployment today and sugar prices are declining, the island's economy is in a fairly healthy state...
...He has grown in stature, however, and his performance in office surpassed even his friends' expectations...
...Agriculture made great strides, schools were built, and definite steps were taken to cope with depressed economic conditions...
...Manley will, in all likelihood, raise the intellectual level and moral tone of public life, but it is doubtful that his policies will differ greatly from those of Bustamante...
...Arthur Henry was accused of administering the oath of allegiance to members of his party cell by placing a pistol on top of the Communist Manifesto, symbolic of the weapons they planned to use to subvert the Government...
...two other associates were tried on charges of manslaughter but acquitted...
...A former streetcar operator, moneylender, minor police official and hospital attendant in Boston, his qualifications for the difficult task of leading the island toward self-government were extremely limited...
...His success was phenomenal...
...Like most strong leaders, the latter neither tolerated other strong personalities in the party nor prepared leaders for the succession...
...Now that he has been entrusted with the responsibilities of government, he may well swing further to the right...
...The expulsion of the pro-Communist clique in 1952 helped make possible the PNP's election victory in 1955...
...In the field of labor, his Midas touch turned the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union almost overnight into the largest labor organization in the island...
...Manley's program calls for a national bank but not the nationalization of existing banking facilities or other industries...
...Bustamante's defeat may spell his retirement from politics...
...The January elections for the 32 seats in the House of Representatives produced few surprises...
...Richard Hart, lawyer and scion of a wealthy Jamaican family, teamed up with Ferdinand Smith, former leader of the National Maritime Union (CIO) who was deported from the United States, to form the People's Educational Organization and the Jamaica Federation of Trade Unions, both of which follow the Communist line...
...This was particularly so since the PNP came to the voters this time with a watered-down program...
...Bustamante's principal weakness was his failure to surround himself with men of integrity and a sense of public duty...
...Corruption and bribery were widespread—or, at any rate, public opinion believed that they were...
...He favors federation of the British West Indies and greater self-government for Jamaica...
...A fiery orator with great personal charm, "the Chief...
...In his political orientation, Manley stands somewhere between Clement Attlee and Aneurin Bevan...
...This was its chief source of weakness...
...Those segments of the electorate which had found Bustamante unpalatable but could not accept the PNP because of its extreme radical program and composition were now able to support Manley's candidates...
...Manley has assumed the post of Minister of Agriculture so that he can personally initiate and supervise this phase of his program...
Vol. 38 • March 1955 • No. 12
