Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham (20 February 1923 – 6 August 1985) was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Premier of British Guiana from 1964 to 1966, Prime Minister of Guyana from 1964 to 1980 and then as the first executive president of Guyana (2nd president overall) from 1980 to 1985. He is often regarded as a strongman who embraced his own version of socialism.
Educated as a lawyer, Burnham was instrumental in the foundation of two political parties (the People's National Congress and the People's Progressive Party) that would come to dominate the politics of Guyana. During his time as head of government, Guyana moved from being a British colony to being a republic with no constitutional ties to the United Kingdom. His premiership was characterized by the nationalisation of foreign-owned private industries, membership of the Non-Aligned Movement and authoritarian domestic policy. Despite being widely regarded as having a significant role in the political, social, and economic development of Guyana, his presidency was marred by accusations of Afrocentrism, state-sanctioned violence, corruption, and electoral fraud.
Early life and education
Burnham was born in Kitty, a suburb of Georgetown, Demerara County, British Guiana, as one of three or four (Olga, Freddie, Jessie, and Flora) children. His parents were James Ethelbert Burnham, a schoolmaster, and Rachel Abigail Sampson, and he grew up in an Afro-Guyanese, Methodist household. Burnham's father had his roots in a slave family from Barbados, and his family name came from the surname of the plantation owner. On the abolition of slavery, Burnham's ancestor migrated to British Guiana.
According to Burnham's sister Jessie, the family grew up on 4 Pike Street, Kitty. Jessie also attests that their father was the headteacher at Kitty Methodist School for 37 years, and sat on the Village Council. Forbes Burnham attended Kitty Methodist School and Central High School before attending the prestigious secondary school, Queen's College, where he met future political rival Cheddi Jagan. His sister said that Burnham was ambitious from a young age, and that he was bullied at Central High School for his small stature and academic prowess. At Queen's College, Burnham excelled academically, receiving the Centenary Exhibition (1936), the Government Junior (1937), and the Percival Exhibition (1938).
In 1942, he won the British Guiana Scholarship to study at the University of London, as the top student in British Guiana. Burnham was unable to travel to the United Kingdom due to World War II, instead working as an assistant master at Queen's college and completing a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of London through external examinations. After he was allowed to travel to London, Burnham received a law degree from the London School of Economics, at the time a constituent college of the University of London, in 1947 or 1948 and was the president of the West Indian Student Union at the university for the year 1947–1948 He went on to pass the bar in 1948, and became a member of Gray's Inn. Burnham met many African and Caribbean students – including Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of Nigeria, Seretse Khama of Botswana and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana as well as Michael Manley of Jamaica and Errol Barrow of Barbados – during his studies in London.
In London, Burnham won the Best Speaker's Cup, awarded by the Faculty of Law. He also attended the Student's Congresses in Prague and Paris, and was a member of the League of Coloured Peoples.
He left the United Kingdom to return to British Guiana on 20 December 1948, departing Liverpool on the Empress of France bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, and arrived in Georgetown in 1949.
1949–1955: The People's Progressive Party (PPP)
Founding the People's Progressive Party In 1949, after returning from his studies in the United Kingdom, Burnham entered the private law chambers of Cameron and Shepherd before setting up his own private law practice, Clarke and Martin. Also in 1949, Burnham became the leader of the British Guiana Labour Party (BGLP), which had been formed in 1946. In the 1947 elections the Labour Party had won 5 of 14 seats in the Legislative Council, making them the largest party.The 1947 parliamentary elections in colonial British Guiana Stabroek News, 6 May 2010
Less than a year after his return from the United Kingdom, Burnham was one of the founders of the People's Progressive Party (PPP), which was launched on 1 January 1950. The Indo-Guyanese labour leader Cheddi Jagan became Leader of the PPP, Jagan's wife Janet Jagan became the secretary and Burnham became the first party chairman. Jagan had been the leader of the Political Affairs Committee, which merged with the BGLP to form the PPP.History of the PPP, PPP website. Burnham chose the name of the new party.
Minister of Education In 1952, Burnham became the president of the party's affiliated trade union, the British Guiana Labour Union, and was elected to Georgetown City Council in 1953. In the 1953 British Guiana general election on 27 April 1953, the PPP won 18 of 24 seats in the first election with universal suffrage in Guyana, with both Burnham and his sister Jessie elected to the House of Assembly. In the short-lived PPP government that followed, Burnham served as Minister of Education.Biographies of former presidents , GINA. Burnham initially threatened to split the party if he were not made sole leader of the PPP, but a compromise was reached by which Burnham and his allies in the party received ministerial appointments. The newly formed government began to dissent against colonial rule, refusing to send a delegation to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, urging strike action and repealing several laws which the Colonial Office wanted in place. This dissent took place during the Red Scare, and British statesmen were worried about a possible communist revolution in Guyana; Winston Churchill remarked that "(W)e ought surely to get American support in doing all we can to break the Communist teeth in British Guiana … (P)erhaps they would even send Senator McCarthy down there."
On 9 October 1953, the British administration suspended the Constitution of British Guiana and sent in armed troops after the PPP government passed the Labour Relations Act (modelled on the Wagner Act) the day before, marking the end of the PPP government. Burnham and Jagan would travel to London to unsuccessfully protest the decision, where they were subject to secret surveillance by British intelligence services. Following this, Burnham and Jagan travelled to India in an unsuccessful attempt to find support for their cause against the British. The interim government appointed by the British would last until 1957.
During the suspension of the constitution, the interim government gave Burnham fewer restrictions than other senior members of the party, he was not imprisoned while the other senior members were, and he was given tacit encouragement to begin a breakaway faction within the party, which he would do two years later.
1955–1964: Leader of the People's National Congress (PNC)
Origins of the People's National Congress At a conference at the Metropole Cinema in Georgetown on 12–13 February 1955, the PPP split into two factions, one led by Burnham ("Burnhamite") and the other by Jagan ("Jaganite"). Jagan supported a socialist domestic policy,The Guyana story, from prehistory to independenceCheddi Jagan's 'the West on trial but Burnham's faction was more moderate. The two also had personality differences. After the 1957 election, where Jagan's faction won 9 seats and Burnham's won only 3, Burnham went on to form the People's National Congress (PNC) in 1957, becoming leader of the opposition. The PNC entered its first election under that name in 1961.http://www.guyana.org/features/guyanastory/chapter133.html (see also: Forbidden Freedom by Cheddi Jagan) Also in 1957, Burnham became President of the Guyana Bar Association, a position he would hold until 1964. In 1959, Burnham was elected Mayor of Georgetown, a position he would hold until 1964 when he was re-elected until 1966. The United Democratic Party merged with the PNC in 1959.The organisation of the PNC Guyana.org
The political split deepened the racial division between Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese. Guyanese politics continues to largely follow racial lines, with PPP support mainly of a [Indian] background and PNC support mostly of African descent. This would follow the rural-urban divide as well, Afro-Guyanese tending to live in urban-coastal areas and Indo-Guyanese tending to live in rural-interior areas. After the split, Jagan's PPP and Burnham's PNC largely became the political expressions of the Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese aspirations respectively, and advocated for their supporter's interests.
1961 general election
In the 1961 election, Burnham's PNC party won 11 seats in the Legislative Assembly with 41% of the vote. Despite only winning 1.64% more of the vote than the PNC, the PPP won 20 seats, nearly double the number of seats won by the PNC. This led to mass demonstrations, racial tensions and a general strike. The Governor declared a state of emergency and British troops were deployed.
The Kaldor Budget and Black Friday On 31 January 1962 the PPP government announced what would later be known as the "Kaldor Budget", advised by economist Nicholas Kaldor, including an increase in tax and import duty, which was opposed by opposition parties, who started taking action against the government, including mass demonstrations led by the PNC. According to the Wynn Parry Commission, on 12 February, Burnham gave the following speech: "Comrades, the fight starts now. Tomorrow at 2 o'clock in the afternoon there is a demonstration organized by the Trade Union Congress, a demonstration against the harsh proposals of the budget, which make life unbearable. No doubt the Riot Squad will be there. Do you still want to go? Comrades, remember that tomorrow Jagan's army is coming down from Cane Grove and Windsor Forest. Do you still want to go?" the mass action would culminate 16 February 1962, later called "Black Friday". 56 businesses were destroyed, 87 damaged by fire and 66 were looted. One Police Superintendent was killed and 39 injured, while four looters were fatally shot and 41 injured. The rioters also attacked the Electricity Plant, the Water Works, Parliament, and Jagan's residence. The riots were responded to by HMS Troubridge (R00) and HMS Wizard (R72). Black smoke covered Georgetown and a large fire was evident.
International intervention in British Guiana According to declassified documents, in the early 1960s the United States Government led by John F. Kennedy became increasingly convinced that Jagan's PPP government had communist ideals. Due to the radical views of Cheddi Jagan (who leaned towards communism) and Jagan's alliances with the Soviet Union and Cuba, Burnham was supported by Western nations.Jagan, C. 1994. Forgotten Freedom. Hansib Publications Limited. Guyana. 3rd edition. In May 1962 Kennedy held direct talks with British prime minister Harold Macmillan, and Burnham visited Washington D.C.. Senior officials in the United States decided that Burnham's proposed socialism was preferable to Jagan's ideology, but also concluded that Jagan would become Head of Government of an independent Guyana without US intervention. Burnham readily agreed to US action against Jagan. In 1962, Kennedy approved intervention against Jagan's government. Independence was delayed by British officials, allowing time for a covert operation by the Central Intelligence Agency. Both Peter D'Aguiar (leader of the third largest party, The United Force) and Burnham pledged to support the notion of proportional representation (opposed by Jagan), and Burnham began to receive financial aid from the CIA.