Trouble in Guyana

First published in 1966, Trouble in Guyana has shown the political development of the colony against the background of clashes between personalities and ideas. For many years it was the Marxist Premier Dr Cheddi Jagan and his American born wife who led the movement for independence in Guyana. Their ambition, it was suggested, was to make British Guiana the first Communist state in South America and the Caribbean. The author knew the Jagans and other political leaders.

British Guyana became independent on 26th May 1966. Demonstrations, strikes, and riots accompanied, or led, every political development and, in the unsettled state of affairs, the British Government was unwilling to relinquish its control. However, in 1964, the ever-increasing violence became close to civil war, and it seemed possible that the Guyanese people might be irrevocably split. This book looks beyond the immediate causes, to the deep-rooted feelings of the six peoples, many of whose ancestors were brought over as slaves or, what was almost the same, as indentured labourers. It also probes the connections between Guyanese problems and the worldwide struggle between the communist nations and the West. This is an important historical reference work for scholars and researchers of colonial history, Latin American history and Caribbean history.