DECADE OF BURNHAM RULE- ANALYSIS AND PROSPECTS
1974 December 17, 17:59
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/ca...74GEORGE02214_b.html
1. SUMMARY: PRIME MINISTER FORBES BURNHAM AND HIS PEOPLE'S NATIONAL CONGRESS (PNC) ENTER THEIR SECOND DECADE OF RULE THIS DECEMBER. MUCH OF BURNHAM'S ANDPNC'S FIRST DECADE WAS SPENT IN EFFORT TO EXPAND AND CONSOLIDATE POWER WHICH THEY HAD SO NARROWLY WON FROM CHEDDI JAGAN. BURNHAM NOW APPEARS TO HAVE EFFECTIVELY NEUTRALIZED JAGAN AND OTHER THREATS TO HIS RULE AND HE HAS ACQUIRED FIRM GRIP ON POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POWER. HE BEGINS SECOND DECADE FREE TO FORCE PACE OF GUYANA'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ALONG LINES OF TIGHTLY CONTROLLED SOCIALIST STATE. IN ACCOMPLISHING THIS OBJECTIVE BURNHAM FACES OBSTACLES, INCLUDING HIS OWN CHARACTER AND CHARACTER OF HIS PEOPLE, WHICH MAY MAKE CHALLENGES OF SECOND DECADE TOUGHER AND MORE SUBTLE THAN FIRST. END SUMMARY.
2.AS PRIME MINISTER FORBES BURNHAM, LEADER OF THE PNC, CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 02 GEORGE 02214 01 OF 02 181501Z CELEBRATES THIS DECEMBER THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS PARTY'S RULE, HE AS COMPLETED ACQUISITION OF CONTROL OVER MOST ASPECTS OF GUYANA'S POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE. DURING THIS FIRST DECADE, MUCH OF BURNHAM'S EFFORT HAS BEEN DEVOTED TO MOVING SKILFULLY AND STEADILY FROM SHARING POWER IN A TENUOUS COALI- TION TO A DE FACTO ONE PARTY STATE. NOW THAT THIS PROCESS APPEARS COMPLETE, BURNHAM AND HIS PARTY ARE FREE TO FOCUS ON HOW THEY WILL EXERCISE THAT POWER.
3. IN BUILDING POLITICAL POWER BURNHAM FACED THE CONSIDERABLE OBSTACLE OF GUYANA'S RACIAL POLITICS OF AFRO-GUYANESE AGAINST EAST INDIAN. TO BREAK CONTROL OF PEOPLES PROGRESSIVE PARTY (PPP) REPRESENTING EAST INDIAN MAJORITY AND THEIR LEADER CHEDDI JAGAN, BURNHAM WAS FORCED INTO COALITION WITH CONSERVATIVE UNITED FORCE (UF) AFTER 1964 ELECTIONS. ONCE IN POWER, BURNHAM LED GUYANA TO INDEPENDENCE IN 1966 AND THEN USED ELECTROAL FFAUD IN 1968 TO GIVE PNC MAJORITY. WHEN CONTINUING RACIAL POLARIZATION SHATTERED BURNHAM'S HOPES OF ATTRACTING EAST INDIAN SUPPORT, HE RESORTED MORE OPENLY TO ELECTORAL FRAUD IN 1973 TO EXPAND HIS POWER AND GIVE PNC TWO -THIRDS MAJORITY IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. ALTHOUGH BURNHAM HAS FAILED TO ACHIEVE RACIAL BREAKTHROUGH, HE HAS REDUCED EAST INDIAN LEADER JAGAN TO DEFEATED ANDPATHETIC FIGURE AND SUCCEEDED IN DRIVING EAST INDIANS INTO APATHY RATHER THAN ACTIVE RESISTANCE. NOW, MORE THAN YEAR AFTER LAST ELECTION, BURNHAM'S CONTROL OF POLITICAL SITUATION IS SO COMPLETE THAT JAGAN'S ARREST, TRIAL AND CON- VICTION ON MINOR ARMS CHARGE THIS AUTUMN STIRRED LITTLE OPPOSITION FROM GUYANA'S EAST INDIANS. TEN, FIVE OR PERHAPS EVEN TWO YEARS AGO IT WOULD HAVE BEEN OTHERWISE.
4. WHILE BREAKING POWER OF JAGAN AND EAST INDIANS WAS PRIMARY PROBLEM FOR BURNHAM IN HIS FIRST DECADE, HE ALSO NEEDED TO AVOID BEING OUTFLANKED ON LEFT IN LEADERSHIP OF AFRO-GUYANESE. INITIALLY, BURNHAM SOUGHT TO DEFUSE BLACK POWER ELEMENTS, PRINCIPALLY EUSI KWAYANA'S ASCRIA, WHICH RIVALED HIM, BY CO-OPTING THEM INTO HIS GOVT AND OCCASIONALLY ADOPTING THEIR RHETORIC. BY MID-11971, HE WAS SECURE ENOUGH IN HIS POPULAR SUPPORT TO BREAK WITH KWAYANA AND OTHER BLACK RADICALS WHO CRITICIZED HIS GOVT. NOW, NO LONGER TOLERATED BY BURNHAM, ANTI-BURNHAM AFRO- GUYANESE GROUPS HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO SMALL FOLLOWINGS AND STERILE CRITICISM.
CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 03 GEORGE 02214 01 OF 02 181501Z 5.
COMPLEMENTING HIS CONTRO OF ELECTORAL PROCESS AND NEAR ELIMI- NATION OF EAST INDIAN AND AFRO-GUYANESE OPPOSITION, BURNHAM HAS ALSO SOUGHT TO ENSURETHAT HIS RULE WILL NOT BE THREATENED FROM OTHER QUARTERS. HE HAS WHITTLED DOWN PRESS FREEDOM, AT FIRST THROUGH GOVT LIBEL SUITS AND RESTRICTIONS ON IMPORTATION OF NEWSPRINT AND MACHINERY, LATER BY FORCING OUTSPOFKEN NEWSPAPER- MENT TO LEAVE THEIR JOBS, AND MOST RECENTLY BY GOVT OWNERSHIP OF REMAINING MAJOR INDEPENDENT PAPER. HE HAS POLITICIZED CIVIL SERVICE BY BASING APPOINTMENTS ON PARTY LOYALTY AND BY REQUIRING CIVIL SERVANTS TO PARTICIPATE IN IDEOLOGICAL TRAINING. FINALLY HE HAS UNDERMINED LABOR'S INDEPENDENCE BY SKILLFULLY EMPHASIZING HIS OSTENSIBLE TRADE UNION ORIGIN AND BY EXPLOITING LABOR MOVE- MENTS NUMEROUS INTERNAL WEAKNESSES.
6. IN SHORT, BURNHAM HAS IN TEN YEARS GAINED NEARLY COMPLETE CONTROL OF POLITICAL PROCESS AND EFFECTIVELY NEUTRALIZED THREATS TO HIS POWER. WHILE RETAINING SUPERFICIAL SYMBOLS OF PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY, HE HAS CREATED ONE PARTY STATE. WHEN NEW CONSTITUTION, SCHEDULED TO BE DRAFTED IN 1975, IS READY, EVEN THOSE SYMBOLS MAY BE SWEPT AWAY.
