A Voice to Enlighten and Empower

By Jerome Teelucksingh

This book is a collection of academic and informal speeches that were presented by Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh in the Caribbean, North America and Central America. The speeches and remarks cover a wide range of topics including slavery, education, trade unionism, success in life, emancipation, Caribbean History, alcoholism, scouting and Indo-Trinidadian personalities. Segments of some of the speeches have been published in magazines, websites and newspapers. Undoubtedly, A Voice to Enlighten and Empower will be useful to persons desiring to be better speech writers and those seeking to learn more of Caribbean culture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477110942

Jerome Teelucksingh

Jerome Teelucksingh has made numerous presentations on various aspects of society. He is also a prolific writer and has published chapters, books, and articles on Caribbean personalities, culture, literature, politics, masculinity, migration, and indentureship. His most recent academic publication is Labour and the Decolonization Struggle in Trinidad and Tobago.

Book preview

A Voice

to Enlighten and Empower

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Jerome Teelucksingh

Copyright © 2012 by Jerome Teelucksingh.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4771-1093-5

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4771-1094-2

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

1   Defence of doctoral dissertation

2   Recovering, remembering and reviving the voiceless: Recording the Caribbean presence in Canada

3   Another Branch of the African Family Tree: Early Afro-West Indians in Canada

4   The Significance of Emancipation

5   The East Indian Presence in Trinidad and Tobago

6   Fete Societies and Rumshop Politicians: The Dangers of Ignoring Arthur Lewis and Globalization

7   Book review of The History of the Church of the Nazarene in Trinidad and Tobago

8   Book review of Doon Pandit: His Life and Times 1900-1958

9   Ursule an amazing heroine: Dionne Brand’s Literary representation of Caribbean women in slavery

10   Reflections on the Past

11   Searching for Significance

12   Festival of Lights

13   A lesson of life

14   From Periphery to Prominence: Caribbean History on the Global Stage

15   A medium for the message

16   Reflections on Indian Arrival Day

17   Welcome at launch of Caribbean Slave Revolts and the British Abolitionist Movement

18   Response at launch of Caribbean-Flavoured Presbyterianism: Education as a Prescription for Socio-Political Development, 1868-2008

19   Book review of God’s Servant from India

20   Importance of the Scouting movement

21   Overview of the Jahaajee Massacre

22   Comments as Master of Ceremonies

23   The Sky is within my Reach

24   Indian Arrival Day and the Presbyterian Church

25   Afraid of cutting the umbilical cord: Influence of British tertiary education on the Anglophone Caribbean

26   Black Massa or Liberator?: Eric Williams and the Labour Movement in Trinidad and Tobago, 1960-1980

27   An illustrious Hindu and son of Trinidad and Tobago

28   Feature Address at Curepe Presbyterian Primary School

29   Vote of Thanks at Black Power Conference

30   Vote of Thanks at Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies

31   A Youth Perspective of Male Health in Trinidad and Tobago

32   The Long Journey: Black Studies in the Anglophone Caribbean

33   Striving for Excellence

34   Feature Address at All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union

35   Vote of thanks at Pan African Conference

36   Unity in Trinidad & Tobago

37   Vote of Thanks at George Padmore Conference

38   Remarks at Excellence in Teaching Awards

39   Remarks at Course Development and Professionalism Workshop

40   Feature address at Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-Governmental Organizations

41   Feature address at Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teacher’s Association

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my parents for their regular input in crafting and proof-reading most of these speeches and informal presentations. Their emphasis on elocution and oratory made me more aware of the power of words. Also, I am grateful to those persons who have congratulated me after the presentations and those who encourage me to continue sharing my knowledge in the Caribbean and abroad.

Preface

This collection comprises some of my speeches and remarks delivered at special events such as Indian Arrival Day and Emancipation Day. These presentations were composed during 2004 to 2012. Some have been presented on more than one occasion. And, one speech ‘Searching for Significance’ was not delivered due to the funeral of my grandfather. I have not included references, endnotes or footnotes because these speeches were prepared for a listening audience and not intended for an academic publication.

Successful public speakers would understand the importance of delivery, emotion, diction and the choice of words and phrases. The art of speech-writing cannot be overlooked. Each speech demands hours of research, rehearsal and rewriting. Hopefully, this volume will encourage others to improve their speeches, inspire, nurture confidence and aim for excellence.

Jerome Teelucksingh

Trinidad & Tobago

West Indies.

1

Defence of doctoral dissertation

(Presented at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, 2004)

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Professor Brinsley Samaroo, head of the History Department and chairman for this Examination, Professor Kelvin Singh, thesis supervisor, members of staff, fellow students and guests.

Thank you for being here today to share with me in this significant exercise which focuses briefly on what was an arduous and demanding experience, but, one that certainly led me to appreciate the value of disciplined research at this level.

I hope that my wanderings through the dusty pages of various manuscripts, and through multiple aging publications and fading microfilms would have produced for me at least some measure of intellectual enlightenment and character enhancement.

Most of the research for me was full of excitement and surprise, but sometimes disappointment particularly when considering the vicious, oppressive forces in our colonial yesterday which created, controlled and exploited the Caribbean’s underclass, the long suffering masses with whom many of us have ancestral linkages.

My thesis examines The Contribution of Labour to the Social and Political Development of Trinidad and Tobago from 1897 to 1946. Permit me to make an important observation on research material for the period under review:

Although brochures and minute books of several working class organizations and trade unions have not been preserved, there are valuable copies of the Labour Leader, The People, Argos and the East Indian Weekly at the National Archives in Port-of-Spain; these and other newspapers are poorly preserved. In fact, the pages of certain journals are so fragile that researchers are not allowed use of them. There is need to have them microfilmed. In 2003, the University of California requested photocopies of certain editions of the Labour Leader and The People from our National Archives for their collection on Marcus Garvey.

Mr. Chairman, I was pleased to read George Lamming’s comments in January 2004 at the conference here in St. Augustine on Cross Culturalism and the Caribbean Canon when he said, labour constitutes the foundation of West Indian culture and history….and that the features of the West Indian landscape were fashioned by labour. Indeed, I concur with such primacy which is accorded to labour in the evolution of the West Indian community.

One of the distinctive features of my dissertation is the prominence given to working class initiatives which constituted the most effective single force in the struggle for liberation from imperial governance and capitalist domination. In the dialectic between the working class and the ruling class, between labour and capital, between the oppressed and the oppressor, Labour was the prime mover and dominant facilitator in the crusade for self-determination. It was the dynamism, persistence and resilience of the working class which paved the way for the emergence of subsequent-nationalist movements in the colony.

My dissertation incorporates an indepth analysis of the structure and operations of the colony’s first labour organization- the Trinidad Workingmen’s Association (TWA), from its embryonic stage in the pre-Cipriani era (1897-1920) to its expansion and consolidation in the 1920s, and its transition into the Trinidad Labour Party in 1934. Existing historiography has not focused on the actual organization of the TWA with its approximately 100 branches in Trinidad and Tobago, its consolidation and expansion under Captain Arthur A. Cipriani and William Howard-Bishop, and the Association’s pivotal role in working class mobilization as a social and political force in the colony. There is evidence that the Association had a well-organized Executive based in Port-of-Spain which co-ordinated its network of branches throughout the colony.

Even in its early years when membership consisted only of a few skilled African workers who were masons, carpenters, railway workers and store clerks, the fledgling TWA emerged as a political pressure group which challenged crown colony government, advocated self-determination and represented the interests of the working class. It was the TWA which condemned Indian indentureship as ‘semi-slavery’ and the Association was the only non-Indian organization which expressed concern for the deplorable conditions of labour for indentured workers. In its campaign for an end to Indian immigration, the Association denounced the capitalist class which used cheap immigrant labour to keep wages depressed much to the disadvantage of the African working class.

During the Cipriani-Howard-Bishop era (1920s and 1930s), the TWA made its most significant contribution in mobilizing the working class beyond Port-of-Spain. While the Labour Leader functioned as an effective agent in collaborating and strengthening the fraternity of branches and sections of the Association, the Executive organized rallies and public meetings creating working class assemblies for the first time in the colony. Occupational branches, whether of Chauffeurs, Stevedores, Railwaymen or Carpenters were supervised and guided by an efficiently organized Association. Relief schemes were devised to assist workers in the colony in times of sickness or unemployment; district labour conferences such as the Canefarmers conference in Chaguanas in 1924 prepared workers in their struggle with the employer class; the formation of a Penny Savings Bank provided credit facilities for the working class and encouraged savings among low income earners; and, several branches of the Association established a Burial Fund providing services similar to that of friendly societies. The establishment of the San Fernando branch of the TWA under Adrian Cola Rienzi, and the appointment of Sarran Teelucksingh as Vice-President of the Association, with Timothy Roodal and J.S. Dayanand Maharaj as Honorary Vice-Presidents, set the stage for the Indian presence in the labour movement in the colony.

Previous research virtually ignored the next stage in the evolution of the TWA particularly the post-1932 period when the Association functioned under a new name- the ‘Trinidad Labour Party.’ A major struggle between labour and colonial policy makers dictated this transition from the TWA to TLP, with the introduction of the Trade Union Ordinance (1932) which outlawed peaceful picketing and strike action by workers.

This period also produced significant changes in labour administration with signs of dissension and the fracturing of Cipriani’s TWA/TLP monolith, paving the way for other working class organizations. It was Tubal Uriah Butler, Rienzi and John Rojas who formed rival unions and therefore challenged the supremacy of Cipriani and ushered in another stage in trade union development in the colony.

Mr. Chairman, with regard to trade unions prior to 1937 and also the new trade unionism of the post-1937 era, there already exists substantial information on the two largest unions in the colony– the Oilfields Workers Trade Union and the All Trinidad Sugar Estates and Factories Workers Trade Union. Therefore the thesis investigates the work of certain small unions of which very little is published.

I found some valuable material at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick in England concerning two small unions: Charles Atkinson’s Amalgamated Building and Woodworkers’ Union which functioned in the St. Joseph area; and Helena Manuel’s Cocoa Planters and Labouring Classes Association later renamed The Trinidad and Tobago National Trade Union Centre which was based in San Juan.

I’ll name the collection at the University of Warwick - the Atkinson/Manuel Correspondence which illustrates the struggles of small labour organizations to gain recognition by the British Trade Union Congress (TUC) or the Amsterdam-based International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). More importantly, the various letters indicate the futile efforts of small labour movements in the colony to be recognized by Cipriani whose autocracy excluded parallel organizations. The general advice given by the British Labour Party (BLP), TUC or the IFTU, that Cipriani be consulted if any labour organization desired recognition, indicate that the Trinidad Workingmen’s Association was the only labour organization that international and British agencies were willing to recognize. Possibly these European agencies would have been cautious to recognize new Labour movements in the colony which may prove to be a potential threat to economic stability in the colony.

Any study of the new trade unionism of the post-1937 period in Trinidad and Tobago ought to incorporate the efforts of a number of unions which flourished in Port-of-Spain. These include the Seamen and Waterfront Workers Trade Union (SWWTU) and the Federated Workers Trade Union (FWTU) - the two largest unions in north Trinidad. Small occupational unions for which I have found some information include the Public Works Workers Trade Union, the Printers Industrial Union, the Trinidad and Tobago Union of Shop Assistants and Clerks and the Tailors Industrial Union. Gradually several unions became amalgamated, while members from small unions were absorbed into the more influential larger unions such as the FWTU.

Mr. Chairman, during the period of limited representative government from 1925 to 1946, Labour in the Legislative Council, though constitutionally disadvantaged, were in the forefront agitating for constitutional reform and campaigning for an end to colonial rule and the introduction of responsible government. In its participation in electoral politics, labour prepared the masses for subsequent political involvement as they campaigned for home rule. Indeed, it was labour which introduced democracy in local politics. Democracy was not a gift to the West Indian colonies bestowed by imperial Britain, neither was it granted out of good intentions. The dissertation suggests that whatever domestic problems Britain faced between the World Wars, it was the persistent demand by labour for self-determination in the West Indian colonies, and undoubtedly the labour-inspired aggression during 1919-1920 and 1937 which hastened Britain’s review of her relationship with Trinidad and Tobago, leading to constitutional reform.

This dissertation also gives prominence to labour’s leading role for social and economic reforms in the colony. The introduction of labour legislation contributed to the dismantling of a system in which the employer class unilaterally controlled labour. Labour law reform was to a large extent due to the agitation and resistance of the working class and not so much to the magnanimity of either the colonial government or the employer class. The recognition of trade unions, and the introduction of Arbitration units and Wage committees in the colony were initiated by sustained memorials and petitions to the government or through the radical protests of labour.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when there were comprehensive social reforms in England, the colonial government failed to introduce similar reforms in Trinidad. It was labour serving as the humanitarian conscience in the colony which led the campaign for social reform. Labour struggled for reforms, and welfare measures beneficial to the working class. Reforms included the recognition of workers’ rights in strikes or lockouts, abolition of child labour, safeguards against industrial accidents, the need for workmen’s compensation, agreement on minimum wage, unemployment insurance, family allowances and old age pensions.

Mr. Chairman, the dissertation gives credit to labour which first sought to dismantle colonial social stratification and its explicit promotion of a social order based on race. Labour paved the way for peaceful co-existence and tolerance among the racial groups, particularly the non-Whites who belonged to the most populous lower stratum. The efforts of labour under persons such as Rienzi to bring together African oil workers and Indian sugar labourers, contributed to the diminishing of tension and mistrust between the two races which originated with indentureship and was exploited by the White employer class to keep the working class divided, thereby facilitating manipulation of a wage structure which benefitted capitalist enterprise. In the struggle to dismantle the rigidly stratified social system, labour dared to expose and denounce colonial strategies which promoted White domination. Whether concerning White South African managers in the oilbelt, or British managers and overseers in the sugar estates, or whether there be institutionalized racism which blatantly reserved for English personnel, offices in the Civil Service, the lone voice of protest and appeal for social equity came from labour.

Another fascinating area of my study focuses on the spread of Garveyism in Trinidad and its influence on the labour movement. Hitherto this has been a virtually uncharted area of research, therefore I have examined the relationship between Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association groups and the TWA, and the influence of Garveyism on the socio-political development in the colony. The soil on which Garveyism flourished was already prepared by the few Port-of-Spain based African reformers in the late 19th century and the Pan-Africanism of Henry Sylvester Williams; and also through the efforts of the TWA as it sought to mobilize the African working class against oppressive economic and political institutions.

Garvey’s advocacy of the systematic mobilization of Africans served as an inspiration to the TWA in its struggle for liberation from an oppressive colonial system. Africans in the colony who struggled against adverse political, economic and social conditions, and who envisioned a day of self-determination, found hope and optimism in Garveyism. In fact, it was not difficult for Africans in the TWA to be members of Garveyite groups, for example, Howard -Bishop, General Secretary of the TWA and editor of the Labour Leader was also president of the main Garveyite group in Port-of-Spain.

Not only CLR James, but also Governor J.R Chancellor were inclined to think that the Garveyite influence was at work in the 1919 Longshoremen’s strike in Port-of-Spain. The Rhodes House Library at Oxford University in Britain contains correspondence from Governor Chancellor to Viscount Milner, Secretary of State for the Colonies, written at the time of the strike, in which he expressed his concern about the work of Garveyites in Trinidad. Then in 1937, Governor Murchison Fletcher expressed similar concern about the possible influence of Garveyism during the great strike

Cipriani supported the work of Garveyite groups in Trinidad and he identified with its philosophy of race consciousness, but he preferred that Africans think West Indian and therefore support the movement for self-government and an independent British West Indies, rather than focus on Garvey’s Back to Africa campaign.

The large number of East Indians in the working class population constituted a major problem for the TWA’s African leadership. The challenge was how to reconcile Garveyism’s race-based ideology with a labour movement whose guiding philosophy was class solidarity. The objective and vision of the TWA gradually became transethnic hence its appeal to both Africans and Indians.

Although Indians did not identify with Garveyism, they found it expedient to associate with the TWA, which though Afro-based, was the only organization which served the working class in the colony. Garveyite influence in the TWA was no threat to Indians since they had established for themselves, before the advent of Garveyism, cultural and social organizations which promoted some measure of ethnic consciousness and communal cohesion within the East Indian community.

Mr. Chairman, no history of labour in the 1930s is complete without some reference to Butler. Much of the historiography focused on his role in the 1937 labour disturbances. I have added an analysis of his messianic style, his charismatic leadership and egocentrism which dominated his political party: The British Empire Workers and Citizens Home Rule Party (BEW+CHRP), and later his trade union, The British Empire Workers, Peasants and Ratepayers Union (BEWP+RU). The thesis examines the strategies and recruitment efforts of both party and union, the organisation, the structure and activities of branches, particularly in the 1940s. By then there were more than 80 branches of his Union with elected officers and a central executive.