MASSES IN ACTION

Racial Consciousness

It appears that by the 1890s, the East Indians had begun to consolidate some sort of community life. By 1917, there were forty-six mosques and forty-three temples, while only two temples had been seen by a royal commission in 1870. (6) The end of indenture, though not as decisive as the end of slavery, produced a new wave of communal feeling among the East Indians of Guyana, one of the products of which was the British Guiana East Indian Association. The idea was put into practice on the initiative of Mr. Mudhoo Lall Bhose, and the other signatories of the first circular calling for the formation of the Asso­ciation were J. Viapree, Rampersaud Sawh, E. Kawall, J. D. Rohee, M. Ishmael, A. S. Ruhoman and Peter Ruhoman. On the 13th February, 1919 the Associa­tion came into being with Mr. J. Luckhoo as the first President. (7) The aims and objects of the British Guiana East Indian Association were the social, in­tellectual and moral improvement of its members by means of debates, lectures, writing of essays, and the provision of library and recreational facilities. After some disagreement, it was decided that the Association should also indulge in political activities. The Asso­ciation published Indian Opinion as its official organ, championing the cause of the East Indians in Guyana. In addition, there was a keen interest in the affairs of the Indian sub-continent. The editorial of an early issue of Indian Opinion published in May 1919 dealt with the recent disturbances in India and the affairs of the Indian National Congress.

There was a simultaneous resurgence of Negro racial consciousness. It was also linked to the end of indenture, since discussions of the role and status of the East Indian in Guyana inevitably involved com­parisons with the Negroes. But even more decisive was the impact of the American Negro struggle.

The government twice attempted to pass legisla­tion (in 1918 and 1919) against the importation of American Negro literature, which was widely read among the Guyanese Negro masses. The end of the war saw the attempts of the Pan-African movement to lobby the Peace Conference in France. Meetings were held in various places, notably in the Town Halls of Georgetown and New Amsterdam, to discuss the question of sending a delegate to the Peace Con­ference. Letters to the press, lectures and sermons on the problems of the Negro were all common, drawing frequently on examples from the U.S.A.

By 1923, the Negro masses had formed organ­isations such as the Georgetown branch of the Univer­sal Negro Improvement Association (Marcus Garvey’s), the African Communities League and the Negro Pro­gress Convention. The relatively small Portuguese community also sought to organise itself around the Portuguese Benevolent Society. There was much talk among them of their “Portuguese patrimony”, of the need to preserve the Portuguese language in Guyana, and of the desirability of a Portuguese political party.

 The Class Struggle

Co-existing with the emphasis on racial identity was a powerful upsurge of class consciousness. The Rev. M. A. Cossou, speaking at McKcnzie in Febru­ary, 1919, remarked that “if, as President Wilson has said, the world must be safe for democracy, the relations between capital and labour must be of the best”. Three months later, the preamble to a resolu­tion of workers in Georgetown proceeded as follows: “That this meeting of the working classes in the City of Georgetown and delegates from various associations of the working classes in the electorate of the counties of Demerara, Essequibo, Bcrbice and the Town of New Amsterdam, expresses……etc.” These were typical expressions of the awareness of the fundamental class contradictions in the society.

Rising Prices

During the war, prices had rocketed. A com­mission appointed to prepare a report on the salaries of civil servants found that on the average the cost of living had increased 150% by 1918. What improve­ment would the end of the war bring? This was the principal question posed by Guyanese as the conflict in Europe nearcd an end. In December 1918, shortly after the Armistice of the previous November, Rev. R. T. Frank, a great champion of the workers, warned them not to expect too much. In particular, he was gloomy but realistic in his assessment that the cost of living would not fall. He urged the formation of labour unions, and it was precisely the high prices of goods during and after the war which forced the workers to organise themselves.

Dockers’ Agitation

As early as 1905, H. N. Critchlow, then eighteen years old and a dock labourer, conceived with some other waterfront workers the idea of going on strike for higher wages. It was put into practice that very year, precipitating widespread rioting which was an­swered by the guns of the police. When another at­tempt at strike action was made the following year, Critchlow, as the spokesman of the dock workers, was brought before the City Magistrate on a charge of “preventing a labourer named Abraham Ritchie from earning an honest living”. The charge was dropped but so was the scheme for striking. It was not until 1916 that a new move was made. The hours of work existing for workers on the waterfront at that time were 6.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., with an interval of one hour for breakfast. The dockers determined that the hours should be reduced and that the wages of 64 cents per day should be increased to 84 cents. With the help of J. Sydney McArthur, a Georgetown barris­ter, and Nelson Cannon, a member of the Court of Policy, they prepared a petition to the government. When this failed, militant strike action gained the workers their demands.

The first success of the waterfront workers in 1916 was an empty one, since prices continued to spiral, and in September, 1918, they returned to the attack. Led once more by Critchlow, they demanded increases for both casual and full-time workers, a dif­ferent system of payment and a reduction of hours. The dockers bargained astutely, drawing up a detailed cost of living index showing the increases in the prices of foodstuffs and other essentials. Working a full six-day week of sixty-nine hours, regular employees could earn a maximum of only four dollars and eighty cents per week, which was manifestly inadequate when placed against the cost of living index. The Chamber of Commerce, which handled the negotiations for Bookers and the other Water Street firms, claimed that they were not responsible for the rise in the prices of basic foodstuffs, and they were at first prepared to grant no more than one shilling per week increase. The dockers were adamant, and won their point. In a final letter conceding victory to the workers, the Chamber of Commerce added ominously —  “the Council hopes that this will place a period on recurring demands”.

The length of the dockers’ working day then stood at nine hours. The “Eight-Hour Day” became the next rallying cry of these workers, and claims for this were pressed on the Chamber of Commerce early in December, 1918. The Chamber had already hinted that they intended to call a halt to any further improve­ments in the lot of the dockers; and they now ex­pressed “extreme regret and surprise that the labourers, within six weeks of a generous and liberal concession of all the terms demanded in their petition dated 16th September, 1918, should again approach the Chamber for further concessions”. The merchants claimed that since the beginning of the war, the scale of pay­ment had risen by nearly 100%, and to knock off one hour from the nine-hour day would mean in effect another increase of 10%. The Chamber’s continued rejection of the dockers’ claim for the eight-hour day was categorical, leaving no room for bargaining. Thus, in January, 1919, militant strike action was decided upon, leading directly to the formation of the British Guiana Labour Union.