Orville W. TaylorIn Black History Month, we are writing and 'righting' some of our political 'his'tory as we speak and the history of the People's National Party (PNP) is one such story.
Finally, despite waiting two years, there was some confusion regarding the availability of the venue for the PNP's presidential elections.
Now, there is controversy because the finally selected Jamaica College is the alma mater of Peter Phillips. It is also just 12 tribes away from his former romping ground and very close to University of Technology where Omar Davies' brother presides.
Why wasn't the University of the West Indies (UWI) chosen? It cannot be that Portia Simpson Miller would feel out of place. She has a few friends there, including Professor Carolyn Cooper.
Unifying the party
Seriously though, I hope that the PNP will be able to unite after this divisive episode. Back in 1992 when P.J. and Portia were jostling for the throne of Michael Manley, rumours have it that comments were made in 'The Valley' about P.J., which created a rift between both camps since.
My understanding is that the bitterness of the shorter competition between P.J. and Portia was something that neither candidate could turn his or her back on or put behind him or her.
Ironically, in a recent radio documentary, P.J. was described by his colleagues as a unifier. One will recall that after Michael Manley declared in 1974 that the official ideology of the PNP was democratic socialism, there was a divide between the left-wing pro-communist elements and the more right-of-centre members among whom P.J. was located. After the end of Manley's second stint as Prime Minister, P.J. emerged and was reputed to have united the party.
Perhaps he did this in the post-socialist period, but I see very little of this in the present situation. The fact is, as was said in that same documentary, P.J.'s flaw is that he sometimes takes too long to state his mind. As a consequence, the devil has found work for idle hands and despite the protestations to the contrary, the race among the four contenders is anything but cordial.
At present, it looks as if it is a straight dichotomy of support between the 'roots' non-university elements and the intellectuals.
Political divisiveness
I am not going to examine the relative worth of the aspirants but let me tell you that the PNP is no stranger to political divisiveness within its ranks.
When it was being formed in 1938, the main power brokers were a set of post-World War I ideologues and intellectuals.
At its core, it was never a grass-roots party. Some of the founding foot soldier elements included H.C. Buchanan, who had introduced Bustamante to trade unionism via the Jamaica Workmen and Tradesmen Union that he had founded in 1937.
Fresh from a stint in Panama was another unsung hero of Jamaican politics and black struggle, Stanley Vernon.
None of these gentlemen were 'educated,' but they had a clear notion that the party was to be for Jamaican citizens at home and abroad and hence wanted it to be called the Jamaica National Party (JNP).
Well, Norman Manley would take no talk and on one occasion ejected Buchanan from his car while travelling cross-country for suggesting that the name should be JNP.
Not satisfied, Buchanan teamed with Vernon and later awaited Manley outside his office in a final attempt to make him relent and change the name. After a failed endeavour to block Manley's path, both Buchanan and Vernon made full contact with the ground after being visited by a crushing right and left from the former amateur boxing champion.
In an act of coldness for which Vernon died despising him, Manley had both men arrested and convicted for assault at common law even though they had been soundly beaten by him.
More crises
Another crisis in the PNP came in 1943 after Bustamante had been released from detention, where the governor had him for more than two years. Bustamante, in what appears to be a fit of jealousy, resigned from the PNP, in which he had been a founding member, because Manley had apparently run his union better than him in his absence. Realising also that he could not become the leader of the PNP then, he formed the JLP that year.
Five years later, the PNP also went through another crisis. This time it was a challenge to the leadership of Manley. In an attempt to strengthen his support, he purged some alleged communists, which included Frank and Ken Hill, trade unionist Arthur Henry, and lawyer Richard Hart. Known as the four Hs, like the agricultural organisation, the ouster of these men gave Manley a tighter grip on the party.
At the end of the 1960s, the PNP went through another leadership struggle and this time it was between Vivian Blake, who was seen as the natural successor to Norman Manley and Michael his son, who had the 'royal' pedigree of kinship to both his father and Bustamante.
Interestingly, Blake, a Queen's Council, was the more educated one and Michael, being island supervisor of the National Workers' Union, was the grass-roots candidate.
Interestingly, Blake was black but Afro-Saxon like the other PNP élites and Michael was three-fourths white but very Afro-centric.
The party was never truly united under Manley though. The winning candidate in this Pyrrhic victory will have a lot to fix.
Dr. Orville Taylor is lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
