Dialectics of class formations in Guyana after 1988

WITH the assassination of Walter Rodney in 1980 and the collapse of the economy, the Mulatto/Creole middle class (MCC), like untold numbers of Guyanese, took flight out of the country.

Those MCC citizens who stayed had virtually given up on the any pursuit of big political operations, as they did from the beginning of the 20th century to the formation of the WPA in 1976.

But the dialectics of classes and their composition after the creation of the 1987 Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) by the new President of Guyana, Desmond Hoyte, impacted profoundly on Guyana’s sociology. Political the- orists can argue that Hoyte’s presidency reshaped the sociology of Guyana.

The ERP has attracted the attention of scholars in economics (see works by Tyron Ferguson, Ramesh Gampat, John Gafar among others) but to date, academics doing work in political theory have not applied a class analysis to the ERP.

This column is a modest contribution in this respect but its efficacy will be hindered by space; after all this is a mere newspaper column, and I restrict myself to 790 words.

The ERP had breath-taking dialectical interplay in the class structure of Guyana. I would argue that no other period in Guyanese history has produced such upheavals in the class composition of society than the ERP.

Six seismic shifts in the class outlay of this country came about through the implementation of the ERP. First, it resuscitated the traditional Indian petty-bourgeoisie that became moribund under Burnham’s totalitarianism.

Secondly, it resuscitated the MCC who had now found space to rekindle its class ambitions. Thirdly, the ERP birthed the nouveau riche class that was non-existent in Guyanese history. These consisted mostly of Indians (in Guyana and the diaspora.)

These were people who used the opening up of the economy to engage in unorthodox capitalism which brought in prodigious income. The nouveau riche class was pronounced in car importation, car parts importation, cambio operations, small hotel business, among others.

Fourthly, the ERP minimised the African working class through the IMF’s demand for a massive reduction in the entire public sector.

There was extensive curtailment of the civil service and an unstoppable process of de-nationalisation greatly reduced the number of public sector workers. Fifthly, the colossal reduction of the public sphere led to an expanding army of unemployed which gave rise to an active lumpen-proletariat.

Guyana, like all countries in the world had its traditional lumpen-proletariat, but after 1988, this stratum of Guyanese society became quite visible through its activities in the drug trade. This resulted in President Hoyte passing an anti-narcotic act that became one of the most draconian Bills in the history of the coun- try. Finally, the return to private agriculture on a large scale, especially in rice, also led to the rebirth of a viable peasantry.

Guyana’s class structure after 1990 bore no resemblance to pre-1990 days going way back in the late 19th century. Hoyte’s ERP had reshaped the composition of classes in Guyana. Since this article here is a continuation of my series on the evolution of the MCC, the rest of this analysis will be devoted to the rebirth of the MCC after the ERP.

The first indication that the MCC was back into politics and would reclaim class hegemony was the birth of the Stabroek News (SN). The paper was founded by two members of the MCC who were considered in the 1950s to be the crème de la crème of the MCC. Monies came in from MCC business people to form the party.

In a disclosure never made public before, MCC businessman, Stanley Ming revealed in an interview with David Hinds last year that he was one of the persons who contributed finan - cially to the startup of the newspaper.

All the intellectual members of the MCC contributed their talent to the success of the SN. For a good description of this class resurgence, see the book, “The birth of the Stabroek News” by historian, Anna Benjamin.

Interesting to note, she quotes from one of the founders as saying that the purpose of establishing SN was to offer support to the business community.

This book is a valuable research tool in the study of the role of the MCC in Guyana for it is filled with photographs of the crème de la crème of the MCC in their efforts to make SN a success, thus preserving the class position of the MCC.

In preserving their class position and in their renewed political pursuits, President Hoyte felt threatened by this new activism and lashed out at the MCC at a rally in Linden, using a racial epithet of Portuguese conspiracy to describe the MCC. Next- the MCC invents the AFC.