D.K. Duncan LAUNCHED AT the Ward Theatre on July 8, 1943, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is 60 years old today. The intention to launch the party was revealed by William Alexander Bustamante (Busta) at a public meeting, held at Race Course (now National Heroes Park) on July 9, 1942.
The announcement was made
a mere five months after Bustamante's release from detention. Busta had been detained under Defence Regulations at Up Park Camp on September 8, 1940 for making an allegedly inflammatory speech. Released some seventeen months later on February 8, 1942 he resumed active leadership of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU). The Union was formed shortly after the "EXPLOSION" of May 23-June 11, 1938.
THE BITU/JLP PARTY
A number of events prior to and after Bustamante's release from detention in February 1942 were significant in determining and/or influencing the decision to make the July 9 announcement at Race Course. Although the JLP was not officially launched until July 8, 1943 the party was for all practical purposes formed by 1942. It emerged directly out of a reorganised and strengthened BITU. Essentially, it became the political arm of the Union.
RECONCILIATION
Four months prior to Busta's detention, the Daily Gleaner of May 25, 1940 carried a news story which stated "- the PNP and the BITU have been reconciled and yesterday on a memorable Labour Day the two organisations had a big joint meeting at Majestic Theatre, Spanish Town Road -. Busta pledged never to quarrel openly with the Party, because he said he had been convinced that they had been previously kept apart by certain parties who wanted to weaken them by dividing them- ".
DETENTION
This relationship continued through to September 8 and beyond. PNP Union Leaders led street demonstrations protesting Busta's detention. The PNP's General Council publicly condemned the detention. At a joint public meeting of the PNP and the BITU, The Gleaner of September 16 reports that Busta sent a message from detention asking "workers to follow the advice of Manley and Ross Livingstone". Arising out of a PNP Executive decision to meet with the Management Executive Committee (MEC) of the BITU, a Contact Committee was set up to provide a "permanent organisational link between Party and Union".
Phillip Sherlock quotes N.W. Manley as saying, "I took charge of the Union with my best PNP Organisers. It was in poor shape. We built it up and had eighteen months of great success". George Eaton tells us that "when Busta resumed leadership of the BITU in February 1942, total membership had risen to 20,612 (13,741 paying) as against 8,133 (5,200 paying) a year earlier". In the same book Alexander Bustamante and Modern Jamaica Eaton asserts that "Efforts had been made and continued to be made by Manley, the PNP Associates and the BITU to secure his (Busta's) release from detention".
THE RELEASE
On his release Busta refused an invitation from the MEC of the BITU to celebrate the occasion. Busta accused H.S. Shirley, the Acting President of the BITU, of corruption. He claimed that Officers of the Union had conspired to extend his detention. He added that "there was an unholy combination of certain persons with political ambition whose objective is that of destroying me and then to assume control of the Union as a political machine and to serve their own big friends".
Manley denied the allegations. He recalled that in August 1941 he had confronted Busta with the allegation of a deal and Busta replied that "the Government had taken him out of Detention Camp before a high officer and asked him to sign a paper promising to denounce the PNP as a condition of getting out". Eaton states that Governor Richards later denied that any deal was made as a condition of the release.
Whatever the reasons, history will record that Busta did launch a bitter attack on Manley and the PNP. He broke the PNP/BITU organisational links. Within weeks most of the senior Union officers including Ross Livingstone, his solicitor, were dismissed.
THE MESSIANIC LEADER
At the Race Course meeting, five months after his release, he said - "I will be the boss of my party, if any member goes to the Council and deceives me, he shall have a hot time, for I will be the boss. I will direct you how to vote and for whom to vote".
Norman Manley, reflecting on Busta's popularity, said the ultimate test of leadership was the support of the people. Bustamante easily passed that test.
Alexander Bustamante was to become Jamaica's first Chief Minister, as the Jamaica Labour Party won 22 of the 32 seats in the first General Election held under Universal Adult Suffrage in December 1944 - just eighteen months after the official launch of the party. One Love, One Heart.
A Dental Surgeon, Dr. D.K. Duncan is a former General-Secretary and Government Minister in the PNP Administration of the 1970's.
