Proposal to the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, 'Help to the People’s Progressive Party of British Guiana'

Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
Top secret
3916/13
Help to the People’s Progressive Party of British Guiana

Member of the Central Committee of the People’s Progressive Party of British Guiana, comrade George David, handed in the recommendation letter from prime minister of British Guiana dr. Cheddi Jagan and he asked in his name for help.

There is attached the proposal for help to the People’s Progressive Party of British Guiana.

Prepared by: comrade V. Koucký
15 July 1964
Number of pages: 5

[Attachment]

Appendix I

Č.j. P3916/13

Resolution

Re: Help to the People’s Progressive Party of British Guiana (comrade V. Koucký)

RESOLUTION

1. We approved to give the People’s Progressive Party of British Guiana:

• 2 motorbikes Jawa 250 with trailer
• 6 loudspeakers for street agitation
• 12 short 16 mm films about Czechoslovakia
• A collection of political, economic and art literature in the English language

Financial cost for this help – 90,000 KČS [Czechoslovakian crowns] will be covered by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia as well as transport cost / about 300 US dollars

2. V. Koucký and J. Hendrych will be responsible for delivery of this help to British Guiana

[Attachment]

Appendix III

3916/13

On June 13, 1964 the member of the Central Committee of the People’s Progressive Party, Comrade George David, came to Prague as a special ambassador for the Prime Minister of British Guiana. He gave us a letter for the First Secretary of the Czechoslovakian Communist party Antonín Novotný from Dr. Cheddi Jagan empowering him to request assistance. Jagan also asked that the person who delivered this letter be given help.

In the conversation with the employees of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovakian Communist party this Comrade David said his party and Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s government are being attacked by two sides. The attacks by the British Colonial Office are complicated by the activities from the opposition parties and the yellow trade unions [trade unions allegedly controlled by the businesses that employed the workers], which are basically the servants of British and American imperialists. The activities of the parties and trade unions is to create disunity among the Guyanese people. And these colonialist attacks are more and more brutal and there is no day when the supporters of the People’s Progressive Party are not the object of these attacks.

Comrade George David tells us how the British and North American imperialists are creating pressure on the Guyanese people in the hope they will overthrow the government of Cheddi Jagan. In recent times, the British government has used local police, the court apparatus, and all the state’s power. The police commissioner is fully in the British service and as a British agent uses the police to destroy the workers’ movement. He brutally acts mostly during the strikes that the workers of the sugar plantations and sugar factories have participated in for more than three months. Out of 19,000 workers, 16,000 are on strike.

These reactionaries help create racial problems between the Indians and blacks. The owners of these sugar factories want to do everything to end the strike. They hire terrorist bands. This strike is only part of the struggle which British Guiana now faces. In recent times, there were several attacks by these terrorists and police at the workers’ villages. In a very short time 50 men and women were killed. The situation is getting worse. In the mining town Wilsmar [Wismar] these Fascist gangs that are supported by the British burned the houses of the supporters of the People’s Progressive Party and started the terror and for that reason 1,600 people left this town. The police commissioner refused the orders from the Minister of the Interior Mrs. Janet Jagan to send police forces to protect the workers. Mrs. Jagan resigned as a protest.

In the fall of this year the British imperialists want to organize elections in British Guiana under a new system of proportional representation. The aim of this election is to shake the position of Dr. Cheddi Jagan and the People’s Progressive Party. Because of this situation the leaders of the People’s Progressive Party and Dr. Cheddi Jagan decided to empower Comrade George David to ask the Central Committee of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party for help, that was presented at the beginning of this visit as 2 motorbikes Jawa 250 with trailer, 6 loudspeakers for street agitation, 12 short 16 mm films about Czechoslovakia and a collection of political, economical and art literature in the English language.

This help will cost:
2 motorbikes Jawa 250 with trailer 27,000 Kčs
6 loudspeakers for street agitation 31,200 Kčs
12 short 16 mm films 24,000 Kčs
Collection of literature 7,800 Kčs
Together 90,000 Kčs

These prices are only preliminary. It is necessary to add travel costs of about 300 USD for transport to Georgetown in British Guiana

Before his departure to Cuba, George David also asked for weapons, concretely a few pistols, ammunition, hand grenades, and a few small explosive materials.

The international division recommends to consider the first part of this request and to support it if possible. It does not recommend the second part of this request [the weapons] because the only means of transport which Comrade David recommends, is from one of the harbors in the German Democratic Republic with the delivery of Czechoslovak beer, which it considers risky and unrealistic.

From the point of view of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party, it is possible to inform Dr. Cheddi Jagan through the representative of the People’s Progressive Party of British Guiana through the Central Committee of the British Communist Party.