By Earle Clarke, 01/05/2018
“Where Justice is denied, where Poverty is enforced, where Ignorance prevails, and where one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to rob, oppress, and degrade, then, neither person nor property will be safe!” Federick Douglas
Dear reader, I beg the question, How could Doctor Timothy Harris proclaim to the inhabitants of the Federation, the Regional Brothers and Sisters and the International Community, that his People’s Labour Party (PLP) which was born out of Treachery, Deception and Bribery in 2014, be the real Labour Party in the Federation, eclipsing the St.Kitts – Nevis Labour Party which has been in existence since 1932 – 2018 (86 years ago)? We are fully aware that he is an Accountant by profession and can juggle figures, but he only possesses the book sense while we are fortified with the street and survival sense? How then, does he expect to mama guy us with this false proclamation of his? If his is the real Labour Party how come he was not gearing up for the Labour Day Weekend Celebrations? How come we did not hear any advertisement coming from his PLP to march with the workers on LABOUR DAY, for LABOUR DAY is a DAY SPECIFICALLY set aside to RECOGNIZE the VAST CONTRIBUTIONS made by the WORKERS of the WORLD to the DEVELOPMENT of their COUNTRY? How come he was not laying any wreaths on the graves of the fallen Comrades?
How come we have not heard any announcements coming from the headquarters of the PLP and from Dr. Harris its leader recognizing the CONTRIBUTIONS made by the workers of St. Kitts – Nevis? How come we have not heard any statements emanating from Dr. Harris about marching through the streets in SOLIDARITY with the workers of the country and the world over? How come warnings have been issued that, if any Civil Servants are seen marching on that Day, disciplinary measures will be taken against them; but, aren’t Civil Servants in and of themselves, workers? In 1981 I worked at Social Security as an Inspector and I went to march on Labour Day. On my return to work Tuesday morning, Rubie Taylor of Newton Ground and I were immediately called up to Mr. Manning the Director’s Office where we were told that we are working for the Government and we marched against it yesterday! I acted as the spokesman and politely asked Mr. Manning if he watched the world news yesterday? He asked what has that got to do with the allegation?
I told him, “Sir, if you did, you would have seen millions of workers from all walks of life, marching in solidarity with other workers all over the world, for it is a special DAY set aside for workers all over the world. It is not just a St. Kitts thing. It is International and we as workers marched in solidarity with our brother and sister workers to show support for them. Mr. Manning could do nothing but to say, Mr. Clarke and Miss Taylor go to your Department. If the PLP was a bona – fide Labour Party, would it have issued such a threatening warning to its workers, for the word LABOUR, refers to the WORKING CLASS! The People’s Labour Party, the People’s Action Movement (PAM), the Concerned Citizen’s Movement (CCM) are all right wing anti-Black and anti-working class political parties, which are associated with and affiliated to the Donald Trump Republican and the Theresa May’s Conservative Parties. I challenge them to deny this. Leaders of the CCM, PLP, and PAM, is my statement TRUE or FALSE? If it is false, condemn me with HISTORICAL FACTS!!
Dear reader, every time there is a General Election in St. Kitts – Nevis, representatives from the Donald Trump’s Republican Party of the USA come to St. Kitts to assist PAM in its electioneering campaign. If PAM is affiliated and associated with the Racist Republican and the Conservative Parties all over the globe, it is quite evident, quite logical that it just cannot work in the interest of the working class people of the country. You would never witness Republicans and Conservatives marching in any Labour Day march whether it is in St. Kitts, the USA or in Europe. You would never witness any oligarch or big business which finances PAM, marching in unison with the working class of the land. Just take a look at the way Theresa May, leader of the Racist anti-Black and anti-working class Conservative Party in England wanted to pack home all those Black people from the Caribbean who migrated to England donkey years ago to help re-build the country which was bombed destructively in the Second World War 1939-1945? Don’t you think that there are white folks who are up there, who are in the same predicament like the Black brothers and sisters from the Caribbean? Did you hear anything about Theresa May packing them up and sending them home? You see, the white folks resemble them. The colour BLACK is outstandingly VISIBLE!
I wonder if our Prime Minister when he journeyed to England with the other Caribbean Leaders really saw, really felt and really could empathize with the plight of his Caribbean people meted out by a Racist Conservative Party with which his PLP is affiliated? I wonder if he was really touched by their plight? I wonder if it dawned on him that all that Theresa May saw was Black people to be repatriated and he is of the same colour? I wonder if he now realizes that Cockroach has no cause to be in Fowl’s Political Party. That he and his party are out of their lane and out of their league and totally out of touch with reality? What gives him the impression that he is better than the brothers and sisters who were to be repatriated, his PhD Degree? Then, he should read the Autobiography of Malcolm X and hear what the Brother said about those brothers who have degrees and believe that the white Racists would look upon them differently, for all that the Racist would see is the colour; they would not be interested in no degrees, not even if our PM was to fly home to return with his!
How could any Black Conscious Politicians, the sons and the daughters of ex-slaves, in this enlightened day and age, deem themselves Conservatives and Republicans, never mind to be affiliated to them? The Republican Party was the Party of Abraham Lincoln the 16th President of the USA who was elected in1860 and again in 1864 during the Civil War. It was the Party which supported the Abolition of the Slave Trade. After the Civil War between the Northern and Southern States, because the Slaves outnumbered the whites in the South, many of them were elected to the Legislature and some even became Congress Men. This upward mobility of the freed Slaves incensed the Racist element of the Democratic Party which at that time was the Racist Party. Out of that Party emerged the KU KLUX KLAN in 1866 – The Most Racist Terrorist Organization in the world to reverse the gains made by the newly freed Black Slaves. Black People were burnt at the stake, their homes, their schools, their churches bombed and their barns burnt to the ground, their young girl children raped in front of their very eyes. When you hear some countries spouting HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, you don’t pay them no mind, for they are ashamed to deal with their sordid past history!
One year into his second term President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on 14th April 1865, a Good Friday when he and his wife attended a Theater play in Washington DC. This pattern of assassinating those who either work in the interest of Black People or the Working Class on the Planet still exists today, for it is the intention of the Capitalist Racists of the world headed by those in the USA that the Black People and the Working Class must not rise to enjoy their standard of living. They must always stay crushed and defeated at the bottom of the Social ladder. Dear reader, I pose the question, which God of Justice, Love, and Fairplay, would create such a lopsided world where HE favours one race over the others and one social class to crush the masses of HIS CREATION? When HIS SON dwelt on the earth, didn’t they crucify HIM because HE fought on the side of the poor, the wretched, the disadvantaged and the downtrodden? Were HE to return to Planet Earth today and carry the same message of yesterday, wouldn’t HE be assassinated the same way they assassinated Abraham Lincoln and made several attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro who liberated his people from illiteracy, ignorance and disease?
This is the modus operandi (operation) of the capitalists. They must continue to enslave the masses of the world. Slavery was not really abolished, because the system cannot survive unless it can feed off free or cheap labour. As long as we have Political Parties like the CCM, the PLP and PAM which are anti- Black People and the Working Class of the land, we will never be free. You see, dear reader, the Racists and the capitalists do not really cherish these black leaders, but, as long as they keep the masses crushed and degraded they would lend them support because they are suppressing the masses so that the rich of any colour could become richer. They really do not tolerate the shade of the colour, but, once the working class and the Black masses are crushed, they would applaud and support them. In getting back to the Labour Day Celebrations, I wish to give a brief history on the origin of the DAY! I must point out that LABOUR DAY or MAY DAY is the same. In the some English speaking Caribbean, it is celebrated on the first Monday of May, so that the workers could enjoy a longer weekend with more planned activities. In Socialist Countries like Cuba, it is celebrated on the first Day in May.
Most citizens of the USA are totally uninformed about the INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY OR MAY DAY, assuming that it is a holiday which is celebrated in Communist or Socialist countries like Cuba, in North Korea and the Soviet Union. These citizens do not even know that the Workers Holiday originated in the State of Chicago in Capitalist USA. In the late 19th Century, the working class was in constant struggle to gain the 8 hour work day. Working conditions were deplorable (horrible, very bad, pitiable) and it was quite common to work 10 – 16 hours per day in unsafe conditions. Death and injury were common occurrences at many work places and inspired such books as the Jungle by Upton Sinclair and THE IRON HEEL by Jack London to be written. As early as the 1860’s workers agitated to shorten the work day without a cut in their pay, but it was not until the late 1880’s that organized labour garnered enough strength to declare the 8 hour workday without the consent of the employer, but demanded by the working class. At this time, Socialism was a new and attractive idea to working people, many of whom were drawn to its ideology of working class control over the production and distribution of all goods and services.
. To be continued!