Bernard Crick in his book In Defense of Politics wrote, “Politics is… an activity… a complete activity, it is not simply grasping for an ideal, for then the ideals of others may be threatened; but it is not pure self-interest either simply because the more realistically one construes the more one is involved in relationships with others… The more one is involved in relationships with others, the more conflicts of interest, or of character and circumstance, will arise. These conflicts, when personal, create the activity we call “ethics”… and such conflicts, when public, create political activity.
There are two great enemies of politics: INDIFFERENCE TO HUMAN SUFFERING and the PASSIONATE QUEST FOR CERTAINTY IN MATTERS, WHICH ARE ESSENTIALLY POLITICAL. Indifference to human suffering discredits free regimes which are unable, or which fear, to extend the habits and possibility of freedom from the few to the many. The quest for certainty scorns the political virtues – of PRUDENCE, of CONCILIATION, of COMPROMISE, of VARIETY, of ADAPTABILITY, of LIVELINESS – in favour of pseudo-science of government, some absolute-sounding ethics, or some ideology, some world-picture in terms of either race or economics… A free government is one, which makes decisions politically , not ideologically."
The first substantial political party, in the Bahamas, was formed in 1953. The new party was dubbed the Progressive Liberal Party [PLP]. This party was formed to confront the unopposed political bloc that controlled the House of Assembly and by extension, the economy of the Bahamas. The government of the day (the Bay Street Boys), which was an oligarchy, was alarmed at the formation of the Progressive Liberal Party and as it grew due to the enthusiastic response of the people. The Bay Street Boys soon formed their party in 1956, which they called the United Bahamian Party [U. B. P.]. With the formation of the PLP and the UBP, party politics was established in The Bahamas. For many political observers, it was felt that democracy in The Bahamas via the two party system was well on its way.
By 1967 after fourteen years of arduous campaigning, the PLP became the first Majority Government in the history of The Bahamas. The PLP achievement was made possible by a coalition with Randol Fawkes (later Sir Randol) the lone Labour candidate who was elected to Parliament and Sir Alvin Braynen, who ran as an Independent candidate. Randol Fawkes became the Minister of Labour, and Sir Alvin became the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
The English playwright, William Shakespeare once observed the following through the character Lysander in the play A Summer Night’s Dream:
“Ay me, for aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run
smooth;....”
It is also true that in politics the course of true love never runs smooth. This was certainly the case within the PLP prior to and between 1969 and 1973. While there were many instances that indicated that all was not well in the PLP. There were two instances that confirmed that there was discontent within the should have had implications for the broadening and deepening of democracy, via party politics, in the Bahamas.
In the first instance, Progressive Liberal Party members Paul Adderley, Orville Turnquest [the former governor general] and Spurgeon Bethel left the Progressive Liberal Party in 1965 over their disagreement the events of Black Tuesday. As a consequence, Messrs. Adderley and Turnquest formed the National Democratic Party (NDP). In truth and fact, these were the dissidents and could be dubbed the Dissident Three.
The second significant instance occurred at the 1970 convention of the governing Progressive Liberal Party when Cecil Wallace-Whitfield resigned as a Cabinet Minister. Mr. Wallace-Whitfield’s resignation was followed by that of Dr. Curtis MacMillan, who was also a Cabinet Minister.
Messrs. Wallace-Whitfield and MacMillan were joined later by Warren Levarity and Arthur Foulkes, who were also Cabinet Ministers. Four backbenchers, namely Dr. Elmwood Donaldson, James Shepherd, George Thompson and Maurice Moore, later joined the four Ministers. Collectively, they became known as the Dissident Eight. These eight men would later form the nucleus of the Free Progressive Liberal Party (FPLP).
By this time, the Opposition forces, in addition to the UBP and the FPLP, consisted of the NDP, the Labour Party and the Vanguard National Socialist Party [VN.S.P.]. By this time, the Opposition forces, in and out of the House Assembly, were seen as splinter groups that could not match the machinery and popularity of the PLP.
After the General Strike of 1958, Randol Fawkes failed to convince the PLP to have the party’s name changed to the Progressive Labour Party. In the same year (1958), he left the PLP and formed the Labour Party. The Labour Party was a minor political party in the Bahamas. In the 1962 General Elections, it won a single seat, taken by Randol Fawkes. Fawkes retained his seat in the 1967 elections.
The Vanguard Nationalist and Socialist Party was founded in 1971 by a group belonging to the youth organization of Progressive Liberal Party, who was inspired by the Black Panther Party in the United States. John T. McCartney became party president in 1979, and while it improved its performance in the 1982 elections, with 18 candidates receiving 181 votes, it still failed to win a seat. The last election contested by the party was the by-election in St. Barnabas in 1987.
In 1972, Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, using all of the skills available to him, was able to pull the forces of the three parties together into what became known as the Free National Movement (FNM). With the formation of the Free National Movement, it was felt that the democratic system of government, which is one of the hallmarks of, was assured. It must be remembered, that by this time, the UBP was defunct and was no longer relevant far as frontline politics was concerned.
Due to a disagreement within the Free National Movement over the question of party nominations for the 1977 General Elections, the party was split into two factions. One faction formed a new party called the Bahamas Democratic Party (BDP) under the leadership of John Henry Bostwick. The other faction remained under the banner of the Free National Movement with Cecil Wallace-Whitfield.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) came into being in 1979. The party was formed after Messrs. Keith Duncombe, James Knowles, Michael Lightbourne and Norman Solomon Bahamas Democratic Party (BDP) members of parliament defected to the Social Democratic Party. As a result, the Social Democratic Party became the official Opposition under the leadership of Norman Solomon.
A later merger between the Free National Movement and the remnants of the Bahamas Democratic Party took place between 1979 and the 1982 General Elections. As a result of this merger, the Free National Democratic Movement (FNDM) came into being as a second opposition group consisting of John Henry Bostwick (leader), Maurice E. Moore and Garnet Levarity. By the time that the 1992 election was called, the FNDM had reverted to the FNM.
It is important to note that Mr. Ingraham served in the Cabinet of the late Sir Lynden Pindling (PLP) in the 1980s. Sir Lynden fired him because he took a stand against certain members of the Pindling Cabinet against whom drug trafficking charges were levied. In 1991, prior to the 1992 elections, Hubert Ingraham was invited by the later Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield (in his deathbed) to take over the leadership of the FNM.
The Free National Movement was in the political wilderness, for at least twenty years, following its formation in 1972 before winning the government in 1992. Some political observers did not believe that the victory of the Free National Movement was a serious mandate. In fact, the former Prime Minister [Sir Lynden O. Pindling] referred to the Free National Movement as an interim government. However, political history would prove him and others, of the same view, wrong.
The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) was formed in 2011 due to the frustrations of Branville McCartney, who served as a junior minister of Immigration in the Cabinet of former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Essentially, one can conclude that since the FNM came out of the “belly” of the PLP that by extension the DNA is a surrogate of the PLP.
There have been numerous parties formed in The Bahamas, but they were always on the fringes of mainstream frontline politics. Politics in The Bahamas has always been the domain of the two-party system. It is clear that post-1953, with the exception of the UBP, every political party in The Bahamas roots can be traced back to the PLP.
Find out more about Dr. McCartney here...
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The views expressed are those of the author, and not necessarily those of WeblogBahamas.com (which has no corporate view) or its Authors.
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