"U.S. intelligence concluded that Prime Minister Cheddi Jagan... is a communist, although not necessarily under the sway of Moscow. What prompted this classification? The Cold War and the decolonization of former colonies into new nations."
Are these a misquotes from Jagan?
"Karl Marx made me understand what makes the world go around. Our own heroes and Lenin, Gandhi and King taught me how to change Guyana and inspired me to struggle: Gandhi for independence, King for equality and against racism, Lenin for socialism."
"for the Presidency is only a means to an end, to attain the end is to attain a sane and safe world, to bring an end to exploitation, suffering and misery, to construct a New Global Human Order. The struggle will continue.", 1995"
"Every means must be good in itself no matter in what stage of struggle. Freedom is inseparable from struggle"
"I have always associated myself with the ideology of the working class, and I have led a very strong working-class party for the past 47 years...For me, Marxism neither was nor is dogma, but a scientific guide to action. It gave me strong ethical beliefs in social justice, particularly in helping the poor, the underprivileged and the exploited"
"It was a major tragedy for Guyana that a section of the working class was deluded into forging its own chains by directing its attack not, as previously, against the capitalists and landlords but against a national, pro-working class, socialist-oriented government"
Thank you for the comments. It was U.S. President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) who determined that Jagan was a threat to democracy. For decades it was hearsay and rumor. It was not until the declassified documents were released in 2020 that we learned definitely that this was the case. The quotes you have included sound like Jagan. I would have to review his speeches. Both himself and many people in the PPP never changed their opinions on a socialist government.
Maybe I'm missing something, but there's a difference between the U.S. gov stating that someone is a communist (plausibly true in the case of Jagan I think) and stating someone is a threat to democracy (questionable in the case of Jagan?). The second one I agree might be related to the Cold War and the decolonization of former colonies.
A Communist whether that person "is" or "is not" was considered a threat to democracy. Remember that this is the early 1960s and around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States was not going to allow another possible Cuba to exist in it's orbit. Jagan was considered a threat despite the British stating he was more of a school boy in love with the idea. Add that Jagan communicated with Castro. Once he met with JFK and professed his ideals it was a wrap. Shortly there after the C.I.A. is implementing their plans to dismantle the government.
If it were possible i would have attached a screen saver of the following declassified memo dated September 7th, 1961. Subject: British Guiana. I believe it will clear up the general sentiment of the U.S. government towards Jagan.
"I don't want to be come a bore about cables on British Guiana’ but I do not think that #1165, Eyes Only, to Bruce reflects Presidential policy as I understand it. I would have rephrased (1) to read: “We continue to have serious reservations about British assessment as set forth [etc]…In our view, we should keep in mind possibly Jagan will move to establish Castro-style regime upon independence.
Particularly ominous [etc]…Nevertheless we see no alternative at this point to testing whether situation salvageable by exploring policies designed to tie an independent British Guinea politically and economically to hemisphere.”
I would have omitted the bit about Jagan as a possible sleeper. Sleeper is a technical term meaning a disciplined agent who pretends to be one thing and then, at a given moment, tears off his mask and reveals himself as something entirely different. I have not heard this seriously suggested about Jagan, and I hope that David does not, on the basis of this cable, convey to the British the idea that our government seriously entertain this idea.
Jagan is probably something more dangerous than a sleeper - - - he is a muddlehead.
Confused idealists have caused the world more trouble than conspirators.
"U.S. intelligence concluded that Prime Minister Cheddi Jagan... is a communist, although not necessarily under the sway of Moscow. What prompted this classification? The Cold War and the decolonization of former colonies into new nations."
Are these a misquotes from Jagan?
"Karl Marx made me understand what makes the world go around. Our own heroes and Lenin, Gandhi and King taught me how to change Guyana and inspired me to struggle: Gandhi for independence, King for equality and against racism, Lenin for socialism."
"for the Presidency is only a means to an end, to attain the end is to attain a sane and safe world, to bring an end to exploitation, suffering and misery, to construct a New Global Human Order. The struggle will continue.", 1995"
"Every means must be good in itself no matter in what stage of struggle. Freedom is inseparable from struggle"
"I have always associated myself with the ideology of the working class, and I have led a very strong working-class party for the past 47 years...For me, Marxism neither was nor is dogma, but a scientific guide to action. It gave me strong ethical beliefs in social justice, particularly in helping the poor, the underprivileged and the exploited"
"It was a major tragedy for Guyana that a section of the working class was deluded into forging its own chains by directing its attack not, as previously, against the capitalists and landlords but against a national, pro-working class, socialist-oriented government"
He kind of sounds like...
Source for the quotes: https://jagan.org/Quotations/cj_quotations.html
Thank you for the comments. It was U.S. President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) who determined that Jagan was a threat to democracy. For decades it was hearsay and rumor. It was not until the declassified documents were released in 2020 that we learned definitely that this was the case. The quotes you have included sound like Jagan. I would have to review his speeches. Both himself and many people in the PPP never changed their opinions on a socialist government.
Maybe I'm missing something, but there's a difference between the U.S. gov stating that someone is a communist (plausibly true in the case of Jagan I think) and stating someone is a threat to democracy (questionable in the case of Jagan?). The second one I agree might be related to the Cold War and the decolonization of former colonies.
A Communist whether that person "is" or "is not" was considered a threat to democracy. Remember that this is the early 1960s and around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States was not going to allow another possible Cuba to exist in it's orbit. Jagan was considered a threat despite the British stating he was more of a school boy in love with the idea. Add that Jagan communicated with Castro. Once he met with JFK and professed his ideals it was a wrap. Shortly there after the C.I.A. is implementing their plans to dismantle the government.
If it were possible i would have attached a screen saver of the following declassified memo dated September 7th, 1961. Subject: British Guiana. I believe it will clear up the general sentiment of the U.S. government towards Jagan.
"I don't want to be come a bore about cables on British Guiana’ but I do not think that #1165, Eyes Only, to Bruce reflects Presidential policy as I understand it. I would have rephrased (1) to read: “We continue to have serious reservations about British assessment as set forth [etc]…In our view, we should keep in mind possibly Jagan will move to establish Castro-style regime upon independence.
Particularly ominous [etc]…Nevertheless we see no alternative at this point to testing whether situation salvageable by exploring policies designed to tie an independent British Guinea politically and economically to hemisphere.”
I would have omitted the bit about Jagan as a possible sleeper. Sleeper is a technical term meaning a disciplined agent who pretends to be one thing and then, at a given moment, tears off his mask and reveals himself as something entirely different. I have not heard this seriously suggested about Jagan, and I hope that David does not, on the basis of this cable, convey to the British the idea that our government seriously entertain this idea.
Jagan is probably something more dangerous than a sleeper - - - he is a muddlehead.
Confused idealists have caused the world more trouble than conspirators.
"I believe it will clear up the general sentiment of the U.S. government"
That's not what I asked about, but thanks.
Perhaps I missed something. You asked about Jagan's classification as both a communist and threat to Democracy, correct?