NONCAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT: THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ANTECEDENTS OF THE NATIONALIZATION OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN GUYANA.
Item
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Title
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NONCAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT: THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ANTECEDENTS OF THE NATIONALIZATION OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN GUYANA.
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Identifier
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AAI8222972
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identifier
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8222972
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Creator
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PIERCE, PAULETTE DIANE.
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Contributor
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Bogdan Denitch
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Date
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1982
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies
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Abstract
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The topic of this dissertation is the radicalization of the development strategy of the postcolonial state in Guyana culminating in the nationalization of the property of Booker McConnel Limited, the country's largest expatriate owner. Our purpose is (1) to analyze the external and internal factors which facilitated this radicalization and (2) to determine if the takeover of sugar represented either part of a transition to socialism or a Third World variant of state capitalism. In the early 1950s, the PPP united East Indians and Blacks into Guyana's first, mass-based, independence movement under the banner of Marxism-Leninism. Naturally, the British and Americans opposed the party and helped a Black splinter group, the PNC, come to power in 1964. But the PNC's neocolonial development strategy failed and the party drifted toward the left. In 1970, Guyana became a Co-Operative Socialist Republic; in 1971, the Government nationalized Alcan's bauxite subsidiary after the company made a mockery of its request for joint-venture; in 1975, it took over Reynold's property for refusal to pay an export levy. The PPP, supported by the East Indian population, gave its complete support to the PNC's radicalization.;Nevertheless, the PNC clung to its neocolonial allies, especially Bookers. Bookers was operating the most profitable sugar industry in the Caribbean and served as a convenient buffer between the Black ruling party and the GAWU, the PPP's unrecognized but powerful union in the industry. To take sugar, the PNC had to be willing to deal directly with its major opposition. Domestic economic crisis and a fantastic increase in sugar prices, set the stage for a rapprochement. In 1976, the PNC and the PPP joined together to resist imperialism and to celebrate Bookers' nationalization. The unity and euphoria were short-lived. Today the working class remains divided along racial lines. Marxism-Leninism is reduced to an empty rhetoric and the PNC maintains its rule through repression, corruption and racial ploys. The state owns eighty percent of an economy plagued by a politically induced productivity crisis and rapidly expanding foreign debt.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Sociology
