Guest column: The Labour Party concept in T&T - by Dr Hamid Ghany

As the struggle between the trade unions (minus the PSA) and the Government continues, there is a parallel issue of the creation of a political movement that will be independent of the major political parties that have dominated the political process ever since the constitutional and political reforms of 1956, 1959, 1961 and 1962 in this country.

In 1966, the first manifestation of the ideological desire for the formation of a labour party was realised with the creation of the Workers and Farmers Party (WFP). The dominance of the political landscape by the PNM and the DLP at the time was such that the electorate was largely divided between them. 

The other political party that was formed that year (the Liberal Party) also failed miserably. The idea of a true labour party has never captured the imagination of voters in Trinidad and Tobago. In the 1966 general election, CLR James could only muster 274 votes in the Tunapuna constituency for the WFP. 

In the same election, Basdeo Panday, contesting the Naparima South constituency, could only garner 326 votes as a WFP candidate.

The fallout between Eric Williams and CLR James was resolved in favour of Williams as James subsequently left the local political scene. 

Basdeo Panday took a different track and began the mobilisation of a labour party that would come to be called the United Labour Front (ULF) and it challenged the PNM for State power in 1976 (only ten years after the failure of the WFP). Along the way, Panday had gained control of the All Trinidad Sugar and Factory Workers’ Trade Union and he formed alliances with other labour leaders namely George Weekes, Joe Young and Raffique Shah. 

However, the 1976 general election was decided on the basis of racial voting (as had the 1966 and 1961 general elections). The dream of a true labour party in the form of the ULF fell in the face of racial divisions that were clearly manifested in the voting behaviour patterns of the electorate in Trinidad.

The electorate in Tobago defied the label of racial voting and turned against the PNM in supporting ANR Robinson and Dr Winston Murray in Tobago East and West respectively for the Democratic Action Congress (DAC). There were no ULF candidates in these two Tobago seats, whereas in 1966 the WFP only fielded one candidate in Tobago East (Drayton Fitz-Allan Wheeler) who got 77 votes. 

After the 1976 general election, the ULF eventually split apart and once more there was no true labour party in the country. The fundamental question is whether there is the consciousness in the country for a labour party to emerge as an alternative force to the political parties that currently dominate the political process.

The May 2010 general election was a game changer for the politics of this country. A new alignment of political forces emerged against the PNM and was able to remove it from office. 

In the aftermath of that, the new government has been trying to work out its governing style given that it is not a single-party government. In many respects, the COP has increased its share of the national vote by earning 102,265 votes from ten constituencies as compared to earning 148,345 votes from 41 constituencies in 2007.

Further analysis of the COP phenomenon of 2010 reveals that they only contested ten seats (Arima, Arouca/Maloney, D’Abadie/O’Meara, Diego Martin Central, Diego Martin West, Laventille East/Morvant, Laventille West, Lopinot/Bon Air West, Point Fortin, Port-of-Spain South, San Fernando West, St Augustine and Tunapuna) and they increased their vote share in these constituencies from 49,054 in 2007 to 102,265 in 2010. 

These constituencies (with the exception of St Augustine) are by no means traditional DLP/ULF/UNC strongholds. What has happened here is that the PNM vote has been eroded by the COP.

The challenge for the trade union movement in their current struggle with the government will be to mobilise workers to change from their UNC, PNM, COP identities in Trinidad and their PNM and TOP identities in Tobago and adopt a working-class consciousness to sustain a labour party. 

It is clear that this is where the joint trade union movement is heading (without the PSA). 

Last week, I raised the issue of whether there was the requisite class consciousness to support the class struggle that a labour movement would require in order to become a major political force that could challenge the Government.

Inside of the People’s Partnership Government, the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) would be regarded as the voice of labour. 

Any action to bring about a general strike will force the MSJ to choose between staying in the Government or joining their comrades in the joint trade union movement. All prior attempts at forming a true labour party with substantial voter support have failed from the WFP to the ULF. 

Is the MSJ going to become the vanguard party for the working class in this country or are the joint trade unions going to form their own movement independent of the MSJ?

Dr. Hamid Ghany is the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad. He is also a Senior Lecturer in Government whose areas of teaching, research and publication lie in the fields of Parliamentary Studies and Constitutional