One of the seminal contributions to what the late Professor George Eaton defined as the “psychological reorientation” of the Jamaican society was when, in 1972, the then People’s National Party (PNP) Administration, led by Prime Minister Michael Manley, decided to “put work into Labour Day”.

Until then, both the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the PNP celebrated the day in their own way, with marches and mass rallies involving the respective rival trade unions, namely the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) and the National Workers Union (NWU), which oftentimes ended in street clashes or menacing confrontations. In a bold move, Michael and his Government ministers led the initiative, to which they invited citizens from all walks of life to give a free day’s work to the nation, involving some project of social utility with emphasis on manual labour. The idea caught on like wild fire, and today, for the 53rd time, thousands of Jamaicans, from all walks of life and from various political persuasions (inclusive of Labourites and Comrades), will be carrying out various community projects across the island in an unprecedented show of national unity.

Of course, it must be noted that when it comes to “labour” the PNP has had an impressive track record, including the enactment of several pieces of legislation, such as maternity leave and equal pay for women, to name just two. Significantly, the main building at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security is to be named after former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller. I have used these references as a point of departure to delve into an intriguing period in the history of Jamaican politics.

You see, internationally, in strict political language, labour parties have always been perceived as socialist organisations, which, in essence, is what the PNP has always purported to be. According to Professor Eaton in his book
Alexander Bustamante and Modern Jamaica (which I had the honour and privilege of editing), 12 days before the launch of the PNP on September 18, 1938, Norman Manley had convened a meeting at his home so that Sir Stafford Cripps (later chancellor of the exchequer in the British Labour Party Government of 1945) who was holidaying in Jamaica could meet with some of the leaders of the burgeoning trade union movement. According to Professor Eaton, Alexander Bustamante attended along with a team of his union officers, and to ensure privacy and informality, Norman and Bustamante agreed to deny admission to newspaper reporters.

Coming out of this “secret” meeting, mischievous forces convinced Bustamante that, in his words at a meeting in North Parade, “There is a communistic group working behind the scenes of this PNP being formed…What they aim to do is to bring about the fall of myself and Mr Manley [Norman] in turn, and the ride to the Legislative Council power on the shoulders of a labour party they hope to control.” Notwithstanding this utterance, Bustamante occupied a seat of prominence on the platform of the Ward Theatre on September 18, 1938 when Sir Cripps (a British Labourite to boot) gave the inaugural address to launch the PNP.

It is to be noted that from then on the PNP has had a meaningful and long-lasting relationship with the British Labour Party, which would mean, I believe, that the JLP, when established, was more aligned with the British Conservative Party. And it must be noted that, in my opinion, the JLP has aligned itself with the right, as in the case of the United States of America, where it has always had fraternal ties with the Republican Party, while the PNP has embraced the leftist-leaning Democratic Party.

Indeed, as Professor Eaton maintains in his book: When Bustamante formally launched the JLP in July 1943, having abandoned the PNP, it was nothing more than a political label for the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), hence the word “Labour”, which did not carry any ideological undertone or overtone.

As a footnote, this coming July is likely to be of great significance to the Andrew Holness Administration, which is on the cusp of calling the general election. Need I say more?

In the meantime, Professor Eaton has noted that “in fairness to Bustamante, it must be pointed out also that both before and after the May 1938 uprising, when he had been prepared to label himself (or to be labelled) a socialist or revolutionist, the PNP had not declared itself a socialist party. It was over two years later, in September 1940, at the party’s annual conference that Manley made the declaration and spelled out what socialism would entail.

While he reassured party faithfuls that they were not being committed to revolution or godlessness, Manley did insist, nevertheless, that socialism was not just a matter of higher wages and better living conditions for workers, but “it involves the concept that all the means of production should, in one form or other, come to be publicly owned and publicly controlled”.

Needless to say, the PNP has over the years moved away from this Marxist formulation of socialism and embraced what it glibly terms as “democratic socialism”, which in many ways has segued into incorporating various aspects of capitalist ideas, especially after its devastating defeat in 1980 at the height of the Cold War, to the extent that Michael discarded the Kariba suit when he returned to power in the 1990s and pursued policies that defied the thinking of his father, Norman, in his early days of leading the PNP.

Interestingly or intriguingly, the PNP has continued to evolve ideologically and otherwise, to the extent that it now has as its president and prime minister-hopeful Mark Jefferson Golding, a gentleman that perhaps can best be described as a compassionate socialist. Meanwhile, many Jamaicans have been finding it difficult to differentiate between the two parties, which they believe, in the final analysis, may well be birds of a feather who prefer not to flock together.

In the meantime, it must be understood that both the PNP and the JLP were spawned out of the labour movement of the 1930s and 1940s, and Jamaicans will soon have to decide once more which one has been labouring more on behalf of the people of this noble nation.

Here’s wishing Jamaica a rewarding Labour Day experience!

Lloyd B Smith has been involved in Jamaican media for the past 49 years. He has also served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. He hails from western Jamaica where he is popularly known as the Governor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lbsmith4@gmail.com.