Ponies

VICTIM OF THE BURNHAM REGIME

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — Two years after the
assassination of noted Guyanese historian, Dr. Walter

Odney, his widow Patricia Rodney sits in the living
Toom of her small, coral stone bungalow in the Bridge-
town suburb of Bank Hall.

family’s six year stay in Tanzania where her husband
Was teaching and doing research for his book, How
Europe Underdeveloped Africa, before returning to
Guyana. Outside her three children Asha 11, Kanini 13,
a Shaka 16 play in the yard with the neighborhood
S.

; Reflecting on June 13, 1980, when a bomb exploded in
the car in which Dr. Rodney and his brother, David,
were riding in Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, Mrs. Rod-
Ney said: ‘‘I wasn’t shocked in the sense that I knew his
life was threatened for a long time. The shock wasn’t one
of horror. The horror was in the whole reaction to the
80vernment of Guyana in denying me the right to see his

y for a long time. Denying that he was the one who
Was assassinated. Denying the family the right to bury
the body decently. Those things were horrible”’.

The past two years have been hectic for the Rodney
family. Mrs. Rodney has been on a two year speaking
tour of North America and Europe on the situation in

uyana. This year, the Jamaican and British trained
Nurse will be taking a break: ‘‘I plan to spend this
anniversary (of Walter’s death) with my immediate fami-
ly. It will be for us a time talking with each other and
trying to sort out what we want to do,”’ she said.

: Murdered by Government Agents
It is now generally accepted at all levels of Caribbean
Society that Dr. Rodney, who was also leader of the
Small Working People’s Alliance party, was murdered
by agents of the ruling People’s National Congress re-
&ime of President Forbes Burnham.

“Said the July 1980 editorial of the Caribbean Contact
Newspaper, the main organ of the Caribbean Council of
Churches: ‘All who have continued to carry on normal
relations with this government (of Guyana) in the-face of
the onslaught against the fundamental rights of the

On the walls hang mahogany carvings — mementos of

Widow of noted Guyanese
historian rebuilds her life

From the
Caribbean

Norman
Faria

Guyanese people, will now be seen as accomplices in
Rodney’s death’’.

In June 1981, Dr. Phillip Potter, the Dominica-bormn
General Secretary of the World Council of Churches,
said in a cabled tribute: ‘‘His ‘How Europe Under-
developed Africa’ not only helped revitalize the teaching
of African history, but also to mobilize the will of the
African peoples to reclaim their own history and cul-
ture.”

According to Contact, Dr. Rodney died when.a bomb,
hidden ina walkie-talkie given to him by a member of the
Guyanese Defence Force exploded. His brother escaped
with minor injuries. The Burnham regime has so far
failed to put anyone on trial for Rodney’s murder or hold
an open and formal inquiry into the historian’s death.

Spreading Corruption

Some political observers argue the spineless corrup-
tion at the judiciary level especially affects other aspects
of Guyanese society. ~~

** _. as never before in the history of this country,
Guyanese workers face the greatest threat to all they
have fought for. They are hit by the wage freeze, whole-
sale dismissals, massive food shortages, zooming prices,
and the loss of gains in social services,’’ pointed out the
Mirror newspaper of the People’s Progressive Party, the
main opposition to Burnham’s rule, in its 1982 May Day
edition.

Mrs. Rodney said that were he alive today her hus-
band would still be in Guyana.

‘Walter never wanted to be in exile. He felt that he
had a contribution to make to the Guyanese people and
he would have been there in that struggle.”

PATRICIA RODNEY... “The horror was in the whole reac-
tion to the government of Guyana...”

Right: The late Dr. Walter
Rodney with his youngest
daughter Asha. —

Turning to her late husband’s relationship with the
revolution in Grenada, Mrs. Rodney reflected: **‘Walter
had a good relationship (with the PRG). But even before

they became a government, Walter's relationship (with .

the progressive movement in Grenada) goes back with
the New Jewel Movement. Were he alive today, his
relationship would still be a good one. He supported the
Revolution and the free people of Grenada.”

The stirring events over the past sev-
eral weeks demonstrate that the world
Movement to prevent world nuclear war
'S advancing by seven-league strides. It
gains in momentum, breadth and scope
with every passing day. From the shores
Of the Atlantic to the shores of the Paci-
fic, ever more Canadians are making
Peace their business in unison-with ordi-

ge

Marxism-Leninism Today

- | Alfred Dewhurst ,

Social consciousness — key to victory

main aim of this distortion of reality is to
convince the unwary into believing, as
gospel truth, that both these
‘““superpowers” are bad; and to forget
which one is on the side of working
people and which one is on the side of the
corporate monopolies.
* *

’ The two “‘superpowers’’ notion serves

to cover up the fact that the socialist

Nary people everywhere. In saluting this
‘Upsurge in peace activity, we caution
that the goal of nuclear disarmament will
Not be easy to achieve. But it can and will
done.
* * x

A characteristic feature of our times is
the dynamic force of social development

World, which testify to the maturity and
Intensity of the struggles of the working
_ People — their ideological development,
and their social activities to shape the
Political, material and social environ-
Ment in which they live and work.

is rising consciousness has brought

Movement, representing the most di-
Verse social strata. All across the West-
€m (Capitalist) world we are witnessing
Spontaneous mass demonstrations and
Protests under the banners of peace,
€conomic justice, democracy, unity and
Solidarity. From the oppressed countries

‘anners of national and social liberation.
€ witness mighty world assemblies for
Peace, actions for nuclear disarmament
small communities, and record-break-

a demonstrations in large urban

| Saad A massive, organized and con-

and swiftly changing situations in the

‘Masses of people into the socio-political .

and nations we witness the revolutionary _

scious movement has emerged with the
potential to prevent nuclear war and
compel nuclear disap Ament,

*

The prevention of world nuclear war is
the cardinal task facing mankind. Other-
wise all other goals, no matter how pre-
cious, will be buried in nuclear dust. To
prevent such a catastrophe means that
the people must know who and what
are responsible for the nuclear arms
build-up, and whose interests are being
served by the nuclear arms race.

The participants in the struggle for nu-
clear disarmament need to know if Us;
charges about a Soviet threat are real,
imaginary or a criminal hoax directed
against the peoples of the capitalist
world. Or is the Soviet “‘threat’’ but a
cover-up for expansionist goals _and
profit aims _ of the industrial-military
community. Clarity as to who is the in-
stigator of the nuclear arms race, or who
threatens who, will serve the cause of
nuclear disarmament and world peace —
for it will disclose who is the main threat
to peace and who is the foremost champ-
ion of world peace. :

The Soviet Union has gained the status

of being one of the two most advanced
industrial countries in the world, the
other being the United States. However,
any semblance of similarity ends here.
The U.S. is a capitalist state wherein
exist the most aggressive circles of im-
perialism. On the other hand, the Soviet
Union is the foremost land of socialism
— a workers’ state that cherishes peace
aS a prerequisite for building and
consolidating a mature socialist society.
The foreign policy of the Soviet Union is
based on peaceful co-existence and
peaceful competition between states
with different social systems. The for-
eign policy of the United States is based
on aggression against other peoples and
nations and on world domination by U.S.
imperialism.

Yet there are those who lump the So-

-viet Union and the USA together in a

conjured-up “‘world’’ of ‘“‘two super-
powers’’. This definition while exhibiting
scientific pretensions is meant to serve as
a propaganda weapon against the
‘*bigness’’ of the Soviet Union. It is akin
to the well-known theme of ‘“‘big busi-
ness’’ and ‘‘big labor’’ so assiduously
peddled by the mass media and other
apologists for monopoly capitalism. The

‘establish a just and stable world peace

Soviet Union is on the side of the oppres-
sed of the world who are struggling
against their oppressors, on the side of
national and social liberation; on the side
of genuine democracy for. the over-
whelming majority as against the
financial and economic dictatorship of
the corporate elite. But above all the So-
viet Union is on the side of world peace, —_}
détente, scientific and cultural coopera-
tion, peaceful co-existence and peaceful
competition. :

If it were not for the peace policy of the
Soviet Union and of the other socialist
countries, the world would have been
plunged into World War Three before
now. For such is the predatory nature of
imperialism.

cS * *

U.S. imperialism, striving for world
domination, is the main threat to world
peace. To contain this threat and to

with security for all countries — big and
small — communists cooperate with all
people, regardless of political belief or
ideological conviction, to secure a
relaxation of international tensions and
avert the nuclear catastrophe that
threatens mankind.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 2, 1982—Page 5