Racial
prejudice, institutionalised to a fine point, was directed at the free blacks
and people of colour as a class during the Woodford administration 1813 - 1829.
The educated, well-off slave- and property-owning free black people responded
with petitions. Eventually a delegation led by the coloured doctor Jean
Baptiste Philippe left for London and met with the Secretary of State to the
Colonies, the Lord Bathhurst. They did not propose emancipation of the salves.
Slavery was an economic necessity that they as well as the Europeans subscribed
to.
The
case as presented was sound in law, inasmuch as the terms of the Cedula of
Population, under the Spanish government, guaranteed certain rights for free
blacks. The Articles of Surrender to the British by the Spanish Government in
Trinidad in 1797 maintained those rights. With the court’s decision, the free
blacks as a group had won a civil rights case, more than likely the first in
this hemisphere.
Out
of this came a political awareness that eventually formulated itself into the
reform movements of the 1850s, on through to the turn of the century to the
creation of the Workingman's Association. These reformists were concerned with
altering the nature of Crown Colony status so as to increase greater
participation by local people in the colony's political process. This was the
hot-bed, the crucible of Creole politics as expressed by people like Mzumbo
Lazare, Maresse Smith, Phillip Rostant, Preudomme David, Captain Cipriani,
Albert Gomes and eventually C.L.R. James, Dr. Patrick Solomon and Dr. Eric Williams. The genesis of the
"politics of race" was a natural reaction of the black intellectuals
to the absurdity of colonial prejudice which, more than anything else, insulted
the intelligence of thinking people.
The
East Indians of Trinidad, arriving from 1845 to 1917, had an entirely different
political genesis. Living on the vast cane estates after the emancipation of
the slaves, they escaped the emasculation and degradation of slavery and the
violence of the plantations worked by slave labour to some extent. Old roles of
leadership did not apply in the indentureship system. The mere crossing of the
ocean had been enough to break that spell.
Conditions
on the estates were also a great leveler. Leaders emerged from different
quarters as necessitated by the managers' requirements. "Surdars",
drivers and foremen and shopkeepers of all and every condition and caste,
assumed leadership roles in estate yard and village life.
The
earliest Indian organisation in this island came into existence in 1897, to
organise a campaign to protest an ordinance, No. 12 of 1897, which contained
several sections which infringed on the rights of the East Indians. This was
the East Indian National Organisation. This body was to out live its original
purpose, however its efforts after 1898 served to increase East Indian
self-awareness.
Also
in 1897, a group of East Indians submitted a memorandum to the West Indian
Commission in which they requested for the first time direct representation by
an East Indian member in the Legislative Council. This was unsuccessful. But as
Dr. Bridget Brereton observes:
"The
request highlighted a growing political awareness; it indicated that Indians
were beginning to consider themselves as an identifiable group with its own
interests, different and separate from those of other groups and with demands
to be articulated."
By
and large, East Indian politics was 50 years behind the Reformist Movement of
the Creoles. Leaders like Sir Henry,
Maxwell Philip Q.C., Kenneth Vincent Brown K.C., for example, were
already practiced speakers on the nominated benches of the Legislative Council
in the 1880s and '90s. It was out of the organisation of labour that East
Indians were to assume leadership roles that were larger than the estate yard
or village life. This process commenced with lowering of wages and the increase
of task work. Professor Kusha
Harraksingh states:
"This
was a recurring planter strategy which the nature of the task system itself
conveniently accommodated."
Many
factors contributed to the unionisation of sugar workers that eventually
occurred in 1937, not the least of which was the end of indentureship in 1917
and the switch over to free, unindentured labour. Professor Harracksingh also
notes that the "concentration of ownership of the sugar industry was in a
few hands ... the growth of a peasant sector of small and middle-sized cane
farms without their own processing facilities; the development of party
politics ... and the identification of sugar workers with a particular ethnic
and cultural group."
The
East Indian National Association in Princes Town was joined by another
organisation called the Indian National Congress centered in Couva. The aim of
these bodies was to encourage Indians to takes an active and intelligent part
in both community life and in the broader scheme of things. The Trinidad
Citizens League formed be Cola Rienzi (Krishna Deonarine) was a party which
mainly appealed to sugar workers. This was branded as Communists by the
colonial government.
In
1942, almost a century after East Indians had settled here, the right of adult
franchise was granted by the colonial authority, hard won and hard fought for
by the 19th century reformists and the trade unions, produced from their ranks,
in the strikes of the 1920s and 30s and in the killing fields of Apex and
Fyzabad.
For
the East Indians, it created a great political impasse. The ordinance demanded
that the voter could cast a vote only if he was qualified in the English
language. The majority of the East Indians were illiterate and very few of them
had a command of English. As V.M. Vidyarthi wrote in his article "Indian
to Trinidadian":
"The
language test therefore would have almost exclusively and adversely affected
the Indian Community in the exercise of its votes, should it be allowed to
function."
It
was perceived as the most notorious element in the political setup and called
for a united force to fight it. It tended to unite the East Indians, and their
organisations finally succeeded in removing the test. Thus, equal opportunity
for all races to participate fully in the political process was achieved,
albeit within the structure of colonial Trinidad. The small steps taken by the
Indian community in contributing to the creation of the nations political life
was to be conveniently forgotten.
The
first election with universal adult suffrage was held in 1946. A large number
of independents and various political groupings contested the election. Men of
Indian descent obtained four out of the nine elected seats. At this point, East
Indians formed 35% of the islands population. It is thus very significant that
they actually captured 44% of the elected seats.
In
1950, the second election was held under a new constitution. The entire colony
was divided into 18 constituencies with an almost equal population. Fifty-one
candidates were put up by five different political groups, and ninety
independents contested. Five independents and 13 party candidates were elected.
Among these seven were East Indians - four Hindus and three Christians. This
represented 39% of the total elected seats. In his article Vidyarthi writes:
"A
constitutional Reform Committee under the chairmanship of Ashford S. Sinanan, a
member of the Legislative Council, was appointed in 1955. This committee
recommended the creation of a British type of cabinet government under an
elected Chief Minister. After minor modifications, the recommendations were
implemented and the introduction of these reforms were hailed as a significant
political advance. It gave rise to Party Politics."
In
1956, the elections were held under the new constitution, in which 8 parties
put up 89 candidates to contest 24 seats. Among these, the Trinidad Labour
Party and Uriah Butler's Party were the oldest. The Trinidad Labour Party was
founded by Captain A.A. Cipriani and advocated self government.
The
East Indian leadership at this point was divided into two groups. Leaders like
Sarran Teelucksingh, Timothy Roodal and Adrian Kola Rienzi formed an
association with Cipriani and the T.L.P. and had the support of East Indian
organisations. The other party in the race was the People's Democratic Party,
formed by Bhadase Sagan Maraj. For many years he reigned supreme as one of the
top East Indian leaders in Trinidad.
Bhadase
was a man of wide influence and dynamic personality, who advanced the status of
the entire East Indian community. First elected as an independent to the
Legislative Council in 1950, in '53 he founded the Peoples Democratic Party and
in the same year became the leader of the Sugar Worker's and Cane Farmer's
Union.
The
year 1956 saw the formation of the People's National Movement under the
leadership of Dr. Eric Williams. The P.N.M. entered the election campaign with
a clear-cut program. It declared that the people of Trinidad had 6 years of
corruption, mismanagement and party acrobatics in public affairs. It presented
a multiracial slate of candidates and based its appeal on West Indian
nationalism. It commanded black professional, black labour and black urban support. It also commenced an
educational program at Woodford Square in an atmosphere that may only be
described as messianic.
Under
pressure from the P.N.M., the leadership of the P.D.P. tried to modify its
purely East Indian character and promoted multi-racialism and secularism from
its platforms. It lent its support to the Party of Political Progress Groups,
headed by Albert Gomes, the most significant person in the political scene
after Captain A.A. Cipriani. The P.D.P. also supported the Butler Party and the
Trinidad Labour Party as well as several independents.
From
the results of the 1956 election, in which the P.N.M. secured the majority of
seats and formed the government, it was clear that the time of the independents
was over. The P.N.M. victory was the result of better organisation and
leadership. It was also the result of the assertion of Negro self respect and
self confidence, all supported by a strong black middle class, with its roots
firmly placed in the 19th century colonial reform movements buttressed by West
Indian immigration that had struggled against colonial dominance for close to
150 years.
On
July 18th, 1957, at a special meeting of the representatives of the P.D.P., the
F.L.P. and the P.O.P.P.G., a decision was taken to dissolve their parties and
form the Democratic Labour Party. On January 8th, 1958, Badhase Sagan Maraj,
the former head of the P.D.P. and the president general of the Sanatan Dharma
Maha Sabha, the largest Hindu religious body in Trinidad, was elected Leader of
the parliamentary wing of the D.L.P., which by this time was recognised as the
official opposition party in the Legislative Council.
With
this development, the two-party system came into being. Between the P.N.M.,
with its "African" support and the D.L.P. with its "Indian"
base. The D.L.P. was successful in the Federal Elections. However times were
changing as Vidyarthi notes:
"But
despite Bhadase's popularity and his influence on the East Indian masses, the
younger generation of educated and enlightened groups found him to be an
embarrassing leader. He was uneducated and no match for Dr. Eric
Williams."
They
thought his manners crude and his methods suspicious. To match the intellectual
glamour of Dr. Williams, a section of the D.L.P. looked for leadership
elsewhere, as the old "chief" had become less effective and
increasingly unwell. The D.L.P. was divided upon itself during this period and
A.P.T. James of Tobago took the helm.
He
too was no match either for the brilliance or eloquence of Dr. Eric Williams.
During this period, there were many defections to the P.N.M., as both Christian
and Muslim intellectuals crossed over to the winning side. The D.L.P.
leadership passed to Rudarnath Capildeo, a "staunch Sanatanist
Hindu." Dr. Capildeo, like Dr. Williams, was an island scholarship winner.
He had earned his Ph.D. from London University. He was now an acknowledged
mathematician and physicist. It was felt that if Dr. Capildeo headed the
D.L.P., he would be able together East Indian intellectuals and professionals
and at the same time exert enough influence on the rural masses. He would also
provide non-Indians alienated from the P.N.M. with the intellectual capacity
they wanted.
Despite
fierce factional fighting between the Bhadase supporters and the young
intellectuals, concern of another P.N.M. victory eventually forced the closing
of the ranks behind the new leader. But Dr. Capildeo was no politician. Unlike
Dr. Williams, he had not created a political party of his own, but was rather
placed at the head of a party by a group of shrewd and experienced politicians
who wanted to use him and his academic achievements for getting votes. Dr.
Kenneth Lalla comments on the 1961 elections and quotes Dr. Selwyn Ryan:
"As
a forerunner to the 1961 general elections, the P.N.M. government announced its
intention not only to re-draw the electoral boundaries but also to compile a
new voters' registration and to introduce voting machines.
The
Indians' reaction to those proposals was that they pointed out that these new
voting arrangements were calculated to curtail the voting strength of the
Indians, which had been demonstrated against the P.N.M. in the 1958 Federal
elections. They further argued that the replacement of the ballot box by voting
machines was also designed to frustrate illiterate Indians. Did the P.N.M.
manipulate the distribution of the voting population on a racial basis so as to
give more seats to the P.N.M.? On this issue Dr. Selwyn Ryan commented:
“The
P.N.M. took no chances even in Port of Spain, where the boundaries were
redrafted, to make sure that all potential D.L.P. areas, i.e. the upper class
and upper middle-class residential areas, were attached to working class areas
where the P.N.M. had been consistently strong. The D.L.P. was not given an
outside chance to gain a seat in the capital city as they had done in the 1958
and 1959 municipal elections . In the countryside there was strong evidence to
substantiate the D.L.P. claim that the P.N.M. had herded as many Indian voters
as was possible into constituencies which they could not possibly win, and had
extracted from such areas large blocks of Negro voters who were then recombined
into the other constituencies.” (from “Race and Nationalism” 1961 pp.
144-45)"
Dr.
Capildeo as Prime Minister! This was the dream of many and perhaps it was his
dream as well, an Indian Prime Minister, just imagine!
Under
his leadership the D.L.P. captured ten out of thirty seats. The highest voter
turnout was in St. Augustine, where he was the candidate. The D.L.P. candidates
were returned from the rural areas, mainly the sugar belt. Out of the ten seats
gained, eight were East Indians and two were Negroes.
The
eight East Indians consisted of three Hindu, one Muslim and four Christians. Among these Ashford
Sinanan, Simboonath Capildeo, Lionel
Frank Seukeran and Stephen Maharaj were elected to the Legislative
Council. The other six members, new to the political arena, were Dr. Capildeo,
political leader, Tajmool Hosein, Vernon Jamada, Balgobin Ramdeen, M. Forrester
and Peter Farauhar.
In
1962, Trinidad and Tobago achieved full independence. Many of the opposition's
demands were rejected. Dr. Capildeo had failed at the Marlborough House talks
in London, and in many quarters it was felt that their cause had been betrayed.
This led to an all around dissension among party members and resulted in the
expulsion of many. Dr. Capildeo himself grew weary and was disgusted with
politics. He eventually relinquished leadership of the D.L.P. and returned to
London where he died in 1970.