REVIEW: BRITISH GUIANA*
In the fourth chapter Dr. Smith has a quick look at the economy. Although the economy is conventionally discussed under the headings agriculture, industry, etc. (with the Bookers Group having a section of its own) the discussion is very well presented. Particularly in discussing the sugar industry the inter-relations of the economy in the social and other organization phenomena are clearly brought out. Considering the wide range of subject matter in the book the discussion on the economy is admirably presented.
The economic structure of Guiana is the basis on which the present social organization has been built up. The narrow basis on which the economy is constructed tends to make it inherently unstable. Small wonder then if the society itself tends to be inherently unstable also. The heavy reliance of the community on the production of three commodities and on foreign capital investment points to the need for both diversification and an increased in local savings. It is only by altering the structure on which the society has been constructed can fundamental steps towards integration be maintained.
In a real sense the solution is not as easy as it sounds. The number of conflicts that modernization of a society produces will strain the integration elements of the community to its utmost. The present occupational grouping by race giving rise to a predominantly Indian peasantry and Negro urban worker sharpens the inevitable conflict between agriculture and industry, town and country over the scarce resources of the community. The need for rational economic policies is so plainly evident. Finding these policies are so unbelievably difficult.
Fortunately the situation can by the nature of things never be a static one. Slowly but surely occupational and geographical mobility are being advanced. The growth of the cities and the entry of new elements into old establishments are slowly breaking down the former dichotomies. This movement in itself although necessary must in the short run sharpen differences rather than highlight similarities. This is one of the innumerable paradoxes about Guiana.
