Forbes Burnham
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Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham (20 February 1923 – 6 August 1985) was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the
Co-operative Republic of Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
from 1964 to 1980 and then as its first
Executive President An executive president is the head of state who exercises authority over the governance of that state, and can be found in presidential, semi-presidential, and parliamentary systems. They contrast with figurehead presidents, common in most parli ...
from 1980 to 1985. He is often regarded as a
strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. Thes ...
who embraced his own version of
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
. Throughout his presidency, he encouraged Guyanese to produce and export more local goods, especially through the use of state-run corporations and agricultural cooperatives. Despite being widely regarded as one of the principal architects of the postcolonial Guyanese state, his presidency was nonetheless marred by repeated accusations of Afro-supremacy, state-sanctioned violence, economic collapse, electoral fraud and corruption.


Personal life and education

Burnham, an
Afro-Guyanese Afro-Guyanese are generally descended from the enslaved people brought to Guyana from the coast of West Africa to work on sugar plantations during the era of the Atlantic slave trade. Coming from a wide array of backgrounds and enduring condition ...
man, was born in Kitty, a suburb of Georgetown, East
Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state fro ...
in Guyana, as one of three children. He attended the prestigious secondary school, Queen's College. In 1942, he won the Guiana Scholarship as the colony's top student. Burnham received a law degree from the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...
in 1948. Burnham met many African and Caribbean students – including
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (December 1912 – 15 January 1966) was a Nigerian politician who served as the first and only Prime Minister of Nigeria upon independence. Early life Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was born in December 1912 in modern-day B ...
of Nigeria,
Seretse Khama Sir Seretse Goitsebeng Maphiri Khama, GCB, KBE (1 July 1921 – 13 July 1980) was a Motswana politician who served as the first President of Botswana, a post he held from 1966 to his death in 1980. Born into an influential royal fam ...
of Botswana and
Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...
of Ghana as well as
Michael Manley Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been d ...
of Jamaica and
Errol Barrow Errol Walton Barrow (21 January 1920 – 1 June 1987) was a Barbadian statesman and the first prime minister of Barbados. Born into a family of political and civic activists in the parish of Saint Lucy, he became a WWII aviator, combat vete ...
of Barbados – during his studies in London. He had three children, Roxane, Annabelle, and Francesca from his first marriage to Bernice Lataste.. In 1967 he married high school Latin teacher
Viola Burnham Viola Victorine Burnham (née Harper; 26 November 1930 – 10 October 2003) was a Guyanese politician from People's National Congress, and wife and widow of Forbes Burnham. Early life Burnham was born in New Amsterdam, Berbice, the youngest o ...
, who also became involved in politics. With Viola he had two daughters, Melanie and Ulele, and adopted a son, Kamana.


Early years: The People's Progressive Party (PPP)

Burnham was one of the founders of the People's Progressive Party (PPP), which was launched on 1 January 1950. The
Indo-Guyanese Indo-Guyanese or Indian-Guyanese, are people of Indian origin who are Guyanese nationals tracing their ancestry to India and the wider subcontinent. They are the descendants of indentured servants and settlers who migrated from India beginnin ...
labour leader
Cheddi Jagan Cheddi Berret Jagan (22 March 1918 – 6 March 1997) was a Guyanese politician and dentist who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964. He later served as President of Guyana from 199 ...
became Leader of the PPP and Burnham became its chairman. In 1952, Burnham became the president of the party's affiliated trade union, the British Guiana Labour Union. In 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.
In 1955, there was a split in the PPP between Burnham and Jagan. Jagan supported a
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
domestic policy, but Burnham believed that, given the geopolitical conditions of the era,
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
would be a better alternative. The UK and United States were falsely informed that Burnham was somewhat more moderate than Jagan. This
red scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...
tactic resulted in foreign support for Burnham, who went on to form the People's National Congress (PNC) in 1958 entering its first election under that name in 1961. Guyana obtained massive debts during Burnham's tenure, experienced stagflation, and suffered a massive rise in crime. Burnham's tenure was also marked by elections rigged by the PNC. The UK and USA would later formally apologize for this destabilization, albeit years later in the 2000s.


Leader of Guyana: The People's National Congress (PNC)

In the 1964 election Jagan's PPP won the highest percentage of the vote (46% to the PNC's 41%), but it did not win a majority. Burnham succeeded in forming a coalition with the United Force (TUF) (which had won the remaining 12% of the votes) and became premier of British Guiana on 14 December. On 26 May 1966, British Guiana became an independent country and was renamed "Guyana". Due to the
radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...
views of Cheddi Jagan (who leaned towards communism) and Jagan's alliances with the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, Burnham was supported by
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
nations. At first, Burhnam pursued moderate policies, but in one of his first acts upon independence, he had passed a sweeping "National Security Act" giving the police the power to search, seize and arrest anyone virtually at will. The PNC attained a majority government in the general elections of 1968 through electoral fraud, using an inflated "overseas vote" to skew the results in their favor. In 1970, he veered sharply to the left and established strong relations with
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
,
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
and other
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
countries. On 23 February of that year, he declared Guyana a "co-operative republic". Adopting a policy of
autarky Autarky is the characteristic of self-sufficiency, usually applied to societies, communities, states, and their economic systems. Autarky as an ideal or method has been embraced by a wide range of political ideologies and movements, especially ...
, he banned all forms of imports into the country, including flour and varieties of rice that had been integral to the diet of Guyanese. Burnham also nationalised the major industries that were foreign-owned and -controlled, reducing the private sector's share of the economy to 10 percent by 1979. Burnham, after attending the 1970 summit of the
Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath o ...
in
Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...
,
Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
, paid official visits to several African countries—Zambia,
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
,
Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...
,
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
and
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
—over the period 12–30 September 1970. The Guyanese government remained fully involved in the African liberation movement throughout the 1970s. Interestingly, although Guyana provided much-needed aid to African nations in their time of need – when Guyana was in its most dire times of need (the early 1990s and late 2010s), none of these African nations offered aid to Guyana. Burnham sent more than a hundred Guyanese public servants to various departments of the Zambian Government. Many Guyanese doctors, engineers, lawyers and secretaries worked in Southern African states throughout the 1970s. Current census data indicates that the majority of doctors, engineers, lawyers and secretaries currently working in Guyana originate from India, Sri Lanka, Cuba and China. In 1974, Burnham issued the
Declaration of Sophia Sophia is a ward of Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. It's a predominantly Afro-Guyanese community, and one of Georgetown's poorest neighborhoods. Sophia was where Forbes Burnham presented "Declaration of Sophia" at a  People's National Congre ...
where he stated that "the Party should assume unapologetically its paramountcy over the Government which is merely one of its executive arms." The Declaration also called for a transition to a socialist state, and a nationalisation of its economy. He won a 1978 referendum which made it much easier for the government to change the constitution. Anecdotal evidence from hundreds of Indo-Guyanese (and Afro-Guyanese who were PPP supporters) claims that PNC enforcers aggressively (and often violently) denied PPP supporters of the opportunity to vote. Most notably, official figures showed the referendum passing with an implausible 97 percent of the vote. In 1980 the constitution was changed to make the presidency an executive post (before this time, the post was held by
Arthur Chung Arthur Raymond Chung (10 January 1918 – 23 June 2008) was the 1st President of Guyana from 1970 to 1980.
in a ceremonial head-of-state role). Burnham won election as president that year. Burnham introduced
mass games Mass games or mass gymnastics are a form of performing arts or gymnastics in which large numbers of performers take part in a highly regimented performance that emphasizes group dynamics rather than individual prowess. North Korea Mass games a ...
to Guyana. They were first held in February 1980 to commemorate the founding of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. According to Dr.
Walter Rodney Walter Anthony Rodney (23 March 1942 – 13 June 1980) was a Guyanese historian, political activist and academic. His notable works include ''How Europe Underdeveloped Africa'', first published in 1972. Rodney was assassinated in Georgetow ...
, Burnham's "style of rule has many similarities with that of the late
Nicaraguan Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...
dictator, Anastasio Somoza" – who not only oppressed the working class, but those in the upper echelons of the society who refused to go along with his domination. In 2014,
Donald Ramotar Donald Rabindranauth Ramotar (born 22 October 1950) is a Guyanese politician who was President of Guyana from 2011 to 2015. He was also the General Secretary of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) from 1997 to 2013. Political career Ramotar jo ...
launched an inquiry into the murder of Rodney despite resistance from the PNC. In 2016, the Commission of Inquiry released findings that state that President Forbes Burnham, aided by the Guyana Defence Force and Guyana Police Force, was part of the conspiracy to assassinate Dr. Walter Rodney. Rodney was the leader of the Working People's Alliance which posed a threat to Burnham, for the WPA was bridging the gap between East Indian and African populations of Guyana. Rodney was killed in his car on June 13, 1980 by Gregory Smith, an operative of the GDF, with an explosive communication device. Smith escaped to
French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
with assistance from the Burnham government, changed his name and is thought to have died in 2002. Burnham remained President of Guyana until his death. He died on 6 August 1985 after undergoing throat surgery in Cuba.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnham, Forbes 1923 births 1985 deaths People from Georgetown, Guyana Alumni of the London School of Economics Presidents of Guyana Prime Ministers of Guyana Foreign ministers of Guyana Leaders of political parties Guyanese Methodists Afro-Guyanese people People's National Congress (Guyana) politicians Recipients of the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo Recipients of the Order of Excellence of Guyana Guyanese expatriates in the United Kingdom