Guest column - the Challenge for a working class party - by Dr Hamid Ghany

In the Sunday Guardian last week, Vincent Cabrera, in an interview with Clevon Raphael, advocated the need for a working class party. 

In the lead-up to that part of his interview he had made out the case as to why he felt betrayed by the People’s Partnership Government on the ground that support was given during the 2010 election campaign by the labour movement, but the expectations of labour have not been met by the People’s Partnership in government. 

The key sticking point continues to be the 5 per cent offer that has been put on the table which some unions have accepted and others have not. The most interesting part of his interview was the treatment of Minister of Labour, Errol Mc Leod, whom he sidestepped for the time being. However, he indicated that he would come to Clevon Raphael first, the moment he had anything critical to say about Mc Leod.

It is this particular point that is most interesting in the context of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) that is a part of the Partnership when juxtaposed with his closing statements on the need for a working class party. 

The MSJ was hastily formed ahead of the 2010 general election and they were able to obtain a seat in the Cabinet (Errol Mc Leod, Minister of Labour) and a senatorial position (David Abdulah, general secretary of the OWTU). 

The differences with the Government have been diplomatically handled so far to the extent that Abdulah has been able to march with his union colleagues when they were being critical of the Government and offer solidarity while keeping his senatorial position.

McLeod was elected political leader of the MSJ in May this year, and there were no ramifications for him in respect of anyone making allegations that he had violated the Crossing-the-Floor Act by virtue of having been elected on a UNC ticket under a UNC symbol and now formally becoming leader of a political party other than the UNC. 

His support for government policy has not wavered and when the final vote for the 2012 budget was taken, he openly voted in favour of the budget. This has to be placed alongside Cabrera’s closing comments about the need for a working class party in Trinidad and Tobago. 

To all intents and purposes, the MSJ is supposed to be that working class party and for the time being they are in a coalition with the UNC, the COP and the TOP.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has shown an ability to take criticism from the political parties that make up the Partnership on a wide range of issues and not take that out on her partners. 

This is really moving the political culture of this country away from party partisanship politics to performance politics. Gone are the days of having a party card to help one get a job or a favour because that party may be a critic of the government and also be in the government. 

The coalition model has created a new kind of political culture of performance-driven politics as opposed to partisan politics.

There are those who are not comfortable with this trend and continue to refer to the Government as a “UNC government.” That is no longer the case. It is true that the UNC has the ability to dominate the coalition by virtue of its numbers in the House of Representatives, but the Prime Minister’s dispensing of state patronage is very different from what has obtained over the period of our independent history. 

While stones may be thrown at some of her projects, it cannot be said that state funds are being directed only at UNC strongholds.

The challenge for a working class party is how to overcome the bogey of race and voting behaviour. Does the working class have the consciousness to overcome all of the bogeys that are used in general election campaigns and afterwards to shift voting behaviour patterns? In 1976, the United Labour Front (ULF) was formed and the clear intention was to have a working class party. 

The idea was one that saw trade union leaders like George Weekes, Joe Young, Basdeo Panday and Raffique Shah coming together to advance the cause of the working class.

The voting behaviour patterns mirrored those of the PNM-DLP battles of previous elections in 1961 and 1966 with voting machines in that first general election with the ballot box since independence. 

Many PNM supporters who could clearly identify with some of these unions stayed with the balisier and did not desert their party. 

Will the MSJ of today become that working class party that Vincent Cabrera spoke about in last Sunday’s Guardian or is he speaking about a different political movement that will rival the MSJ? 

Are he and his colleagues comfortable with Errol Mc Leod being part of a Cabinet whose policies they do not support or is the policy of the Partnership of tolerating open criticism from its own members enough leeway for them to have it both ways?

The above column has been published with the permission of the author. It was reproduced from the Sunday Guardian