No Communism

From the Archives -Mauritius Times, 71 Years Ago

By Peter Ibbotson

Action on August 8 alleged that a clandestine network has been established here (un réseau clandestin a été constitué chez nous) and said: “Today the network counts convinced adherents. Trade union, civil service, and educational circles, as well as certain youth movements, have been infiltrated (Aujourd’hui le réseau compte des adeptes convaincus. Les milieux syndicaux, fonctionnaires et pédagogiques, ainsi que certains mouvements de jeunesse, sont noyautés).” Teachers, civil servants and trade unions generally are lumped together with “certain” youth movements as being tainted with Communism. If Action has evidence of the spread of Communism among the groups it has mentioned, let it produce that evidence. If the evidence is non-existent — and I believe that it is utterly non-existent, that it is a complete fabrication that Communism has rooted itself among the groups listed in Action — then Action should cease from filling its columns with scare stories, with fairy tales which will deceive no one but the most credulous.

The time is past when conditions were ripe for the successful introduction of Communism in Mauritius. Make no mistake, there was a time, and not so very long ago, when all the conditions were present for the emergence in Mauritius of a strong and widely based popular Communist movement; but those who have only just recently set up a Mauritius Communist Party have missed the boat. For Communism really to take root and flourish among the people as well as among the intellectuals, you must have a distressed country, ruled by a capitalist government, and lacking a strong popularly based Social Democratic (i.e. Labour Party).

For years we had in Mauritius a colonial government; although 1948 and 1953 brought majorities of elected Labour members to the Legislative Council, the provision of nominated members frustrated the people’s will. And in those years before the general election of 1959, we had capitalist government, with capitalism at the helm both politically and economically. There were widespread distress and misery and little effort or indeed apparent will to diminish its intensity. The Luce Report told for the first time in the cold bare prose with which statisticians are wont to surround their figures, the extent of human misery and degradation.

Mr Luce’s figures are related to March 1958. At that time, the population was 600,724. Only 336,618 of these were of working age; of these, only 205,821, or 61 per cent, were economically active. But of these 205,821 persons, no less than 31,000 — or 15.1 per cent — were unemployed. Of these, no less than 4,200 had never at any time had any work whatever. In addition, 10 per cent of the workers were underemployed and, what is more, half the unemployment was among young people aged 18 and under.

The average worker worked 23 days out of every 30; or in other words, 205,821 workers were available to work 23 days each to feed 600,724 people for 30 days. Only 4.75 million workdays to provide 18 million food-days! No wonder the unemployment position in Mauritius was described as among the worst in the world.

As for wages — Mr Luce found that daily paid men averaged only Rs 3.80 a day; monthly paid men averaged Rs 93 a month. Against this the most meagre existence for a man, his wife, and their two children called for Rs 171 a month — and remember that two children would be an almost unheard-of small family. No wonder that almost every labourer is born into debt and dies in debt.

The economic conditions laid bare in the Luce Report, the result of years of untrammelled capitalism in Mauritius, were conditions ideal for a flourishing Communist movement. Misery and distress were widespread. In addition, there was a capitalist government. And before 1948 (and to some extent up to 1953) there was not a really strongly entrenched Labour Party. Therefore, if Communism had come to Mauritius, it would have come before 1953 when the conditions for its successful indoctrination were at their optimum.

What has changed the whole thing is the emergence of the Labour Party as a strong dynamic ruling party under the 1958 constitution. What is more, the Labour Party (with its ally the CAM) is determined to make an all-out onslaught against the poverty and misery everywhere. There is the development plan well under way, designed to make the future Mauritius a prosperous country where everyone will have a tolerable standard of civilized living. The way will be hard, but it will be sure.

Communism in Mauritius has, therefore, missed the boat. Poverty has not gone, and it will not vanish with the wave of a magic wand. It cannot vanish with the wave of a magic wand. But as the Labour Government’s plans come to fruition, the degree of poverty and misery will inevitably lessen.

If, however, the old days return — if the Labour Party is defeated at the next general election and the capitalists come back to power, either on their own or in alliance with their infamous alliance — then we can, alas, look forward to a return to the squalid misery detailed by Mr Luce: low wages, unemployment, under-employment, debt all your life, lack of food and decent housing, and so on. Then, indeed, once again will Mauritius be ripe for the infiltration of Communism. But as long as there is a Labour Government, dedicated to the people’s welfare, moral as well as physical, the spectre of Communism will remain but a spectre, existing only in disordered imaginations.

7th Year – No 319
Friday 7th October, 1960

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