Party Organisation

A Glimpse into 1961

By Peter Ibbotson

It is very unfortunate for the political future of Mauritius that the Labour Party lacks a popular base throughout the country. There is no constituency organisation in every constituency, and no local Party in every town and village; but there ought to be. This sad lack of constituency and local Labour Party organisation leaves the rank-and-file Labour supporters, or would-be Labour supporters, or potential Labour supporters, at the mercy of any carpet-bagging demagogue or peripatetic windbag who stumps the country giving full rein aux araignées dans le plafond.

This unfortunate lack of constituency and local organisation can be remedied. It is by no means an insuperable lack; it is a lack which can perhaps be remedied by reference to the state of such organisations in other small colonies.

Jamaica

The Jamaican equivalent of the Maur.Lab.Party is the People’s National Party (PNP), founded in 1938 with the objective of achieving self-government. Two years later, the party officially declared itself “socialist” in an attempt to get the support of the organised labour movement. The success of any left-wing political party depended, the founders of the PNP realised, upon the qualities of its leadership and its success in establishing a trade union connection. Consequently, the leaders were originally, in the main, middle-class intellectuals (doctors, lawyers, etc.); rarely were they working class. But the working class were perfectly prepared to accept the leadership of the intellectuals; they recognised that the intellectuals could meet the well-educated plantocrats on level terms, educationally speaking, and would not have an initial educational handicap leading to a feeling of inferiority-to overcome.

A big difference between the PNP and its chief rival, the right-wing Jamaica Labour Party, is one of organisation. The JLP relies on whirlwind pre-election campaigns whereas the PNP has an active constituency network. By 1946 the PNP had, in fact, about 350 local and constituency groups; though of course the exact number of active groups varies from time to time. Members of the groups busy themselves with recruitment and party propaganda and pay party dues of three pence (say twenty cents) a month of which one penny (say, eight cents) goes to the central party organisation and the rest to the local group. Each 25 members of a group sends one delegate to the national party conference. A constituency which has at least 20 local groups has the right to select its own legislative council candidate at a locally-held selection meeting. Otherwise, the party leadership chooses candidates for the various constituencies. The local groups meet once a week and devote each meeting to a selected topic — local party business, a guest speaker, a social evening, or a discussion based on the Party’s News Letter.

Trinidad

The organisation of the PNP has been used as a pattern by Dr Eric Williams’ People’s National Movement. The PNM has right from the start emphasised the constituency group as the key organisation in keeping the rank and file alert and informed. The constituency groups hold frequent meetings to hear their officers or from their members who have been elected from the constituency to national bodies. PNM constituency groups hold conferences to select their legislative council candidates (subject to the approval of the national executive council). There is an annual party conference which elects the national officers and party chairman; the leader of the parliamentary party is, however, naturally chosen by the party delegation in the legislative council. There is a monthly meeting of the party’s national executive council; this council consists of the party officers, 25 members elected by the annual conference, and 2 members from each constituency chosen by the constituency annual conference.

The PNM executive council approves legislative council candidates, acts as the connecting link between the party and the parliamentary group, and controls the expenditure of party funds. Machinery exists to fend off old-time politicians who are attempting to jump on the bandwagon, and to discipline members who fail to toe the party line.

British Guiana

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) set great store by local organisation. As early as 1948 it had an energetic cadre of what is called ‘field representatives’ all over the country. These field representatives were volunteer enthusiasts who sold pamphlets at two (West Indian) cents each (that is, five Mauritian cents each and were reimbursed for their efforts by the money thus raised. They recruited new members for the PPP and drew commission on these new members’ party dues. Members paid a monthly subscription of five West Indian cents (approximately fifteen Mauritian cents) and received free the party newspaper ‘Thunder’. A chief organiser co-ordinated in each district the work of the field representatives and organised working committees in the villages.

In each village, a district committee was set up, each with a chairman (usually a local notable), a treasurer and a secretary. The last plays the key role and was selected for both ability and enthusiasm. He has to keep in touch with all local party activities as well as with the PPP Secretary-General who issues to every local secretary copy of the national committee’s directives and decisions.

The PPP is controlled by a General Council of 22 members, 15 are chosen by the annual Party Congress which consists of one delegate for every 12 members. The other seven are the Party’s National Executive — its Chairman, two Vice-Chairmen, General Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, and the Leader of the Parliamentary Group.

In all the three territories referred to, the countrywide network of constituency organisations has resulted in Legislative Council majorities and firm popular support for the three parties in question. The People’s National Movement in Trinidad, the National Party in Jamaica, and the People’s Progressive Party in British Guiana, all command solid majorities in the Legislative Council and Executive Council, as well as solid majorities in the country among the electorate. There is a lesson here for Mauritius — the lesson that party organisation is an essential pre-requisite of electoral victory.

Next week I hope to offer for popular consideration and discussion (and I shall welcome correspondence from anyone who is interested) a suggested draft constitution for a popularly-based Mauritius Labour Party intended to revivify the Labour Party’s fortunes which are, let us be frank, waning in certain quarters.

8th Year – No 345
Friday 14th April, 1961

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 25 September 2026