Today is the 47th anniversary of Norman Manley’s last and perhaps greatest political triumph: when he led the People’s National Party (PNP) to its second political victory on election day, July 28, 1959.

To have a full understanding of its significance, let us look at a brief history of politics between 1935 and 1959.

In 1935, a 26-year-old newspaper reporter by the name of Kenneth Hill founded the National Reform Association to fight for self-government. Around that same time, a man who called himself Alexander Clarke-Bustamante wrote several letters to the newspapers complaining about poor working conditions for labourers. In 1937, Norman Manley — who up to then had not shown an interest in politics — founded Jamaica Welfare, which was an organisation for rural community development.

Also in 1937, Allan Coombs formed the Northwestern Industrial Trade Union that sought better wages for workers in western Jamaica. In May 1938, Alexander Bustamante founded the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union. His launching pad was the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) meetings in Victoria Park — renamed St William Grant Park in the 1970s. It was the president of the local chapter of the UNIA, St William Grant, who allowed Bustamante to speak on the UNIA platform.

Later, in 1938, the PNP was organised by O T Fairclough, and Norman Manley was elected its first president. Fairclough got the trade unions — Jamaica Teachers’ Union, Jamaica Agricultural Society, as well as the National Reform Association — together to form one political party, the PNP. Bustamante was a member of the PNP and was on the platform at the Ward Theatre when the PNP was launched on September 18, 1938.

The PNP’s first aim was to fight for self-government and for all adults to have the right to vote. Prior to 1944, only those who owned land or paid a certain amount of income tax could vote. In 1939, the PNP organised all of the small trade unions into the Trade Union Advisory Council. Bustamante refused to allow his BITU to be a part of this group and he also spoke against the idea of self-government and political independence. In 1940, the PNP declared itself as a socialist party.

The Second World War broke out in 1939 and there were War Defence Regulations throughout the British Empire. In 1940, Bustamante and several others were detained at Up Park Camp under the war regulations. Included in the detention were the National Reform Association founder Ken Hill, his brother Frank, Richard Hart, and Arthur Henry, who 12 years later, in 1952, would be collectively dubbed “the Four H’s” and were expelled from the PNP as ‘communists’.

While Bustamante was in detention, the PNP managed the affairs of the BITU. When Bustamante was released in 1942 he accused the PNP of attempting to wrest the BITU from him and resigned from the PNP.

On July 8, 1943, Bustamante formed the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). At that time, JLP was just a political label thrown on the BITU for election purposes, more so as of December 1944 when the first election under universal adult suffrage took place.

And with Bustamante’s popularity the JLP swept the 1944 polls and Norman Manley did not win a seat in the House. After the election, Norman Manley admonished the PNP to “organise and organise and organise”. As part of this organisational thrust, the Trade Union Advisory Council was amalgamated into the Trade Union Congress in 1945, with Ken Hill as its president.

In 1949 the PNP lost again, but received more votes than the JLP. The Four H’s affair of 1952 divided the PNP ‘straight down the middle’ on ideological grounds. At one end was Wills Isaacs, Florizel Glasspole and Dr Ivan Lloyd, and at the other were the Four H’s.

But for the PNP to fully rejuvenate itself to clinch its first victory in the elections of January 12, 1955, three events helped the campaign effort. One was the return of Norman Manley’s second son Michael to Jamaica in December 1951. When the so-called Four H’s were expelled from the PNP, the Trade Union Congress was disaffiliated, and by 1953 the National Workers Union was established. In that year, Michael Manley got involved in the National Workers Union and swung the workers from the Trade Union Congress to the National Workers Union and the PNP.

The second was that the JLP had a bigger split caused by the Farmers’ Party, led by Robert Kirkwood.

The third was that Jamaica Agricultural Society president Rudolph Burke stayed with the PNP, which influenced members of his organisation to not vote for the Farmers’ Party.

So the PNP took the reins of government from the JLP in 1955. But by 1958, Bustamante regained his popularity and rejuvenated the JLP. In the election to the federal parliament in 1958, the JLP/Democratic Labour Party coalition won 12 of the 17 seats, while the PNP/West Indies Federal Labour Party coalition won only five. Norman Manley immediately hired the 23-year-old Percival James Patterson to do some serious political organising.

When P J Patterson reported to Norman Manley that there were more PNP supporters than JLP supporters on the voters’ list, Norman Manley called a snap election for July 28, 1959. The PNP won 29 of the 45 seats available, while the JLP won the remaining 16. Ironically, Norman Manley’s last and greatest political triumph was the start of his political demise.

Robert Lightbourne resigned from the federal parliament to contest the St Thomas Western seat for the JLP and won, which created a vacancy in the federal house.

Having suffered defeat, and being too broke for a campaign, the JLP did not contest the by-election on the excuse of being ‘anti-federation’. The JLP then built a momentum against the West Indies Federation. Norman Manley called a referendum in 1961 and lost. After signing the Independence agreement he called an election in April 1962 and lost. The PNP also lost in 1967 with Norman Manley still its president. In February 1969, Norman Manley retried and was succeeded by his son Michael Manley. Norman Manley died on September 2, 1969.

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