Progressive Youth Organisation of Guyana explained

The Progressive Youth Organisation of Guyana is a youth organisation in Guyana, the youth wing of the People's Progressive Party.^[1] The membership of Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) is predominantly Indo-Guyanese, like its mother party.^[2]

History

The organisation was established in 1952, through a decision at the second party congress of PPP.^[3] The name of the organisation at the time of its founding was the Pioneer Youth League of British Guiana.^[4] Brindley Benn was the secretary of the organisation.^[5] In February 1953, the Pioneer Youth League became an affiliate of the World Federation of Democratic Youth.^[6] The Pioneer Youth League was banned by the British colonial authorities on December 15, 1953.^{[7] [8]}

In the early 1960s a split emerged in the PPP as Benn and others from the PYO led a black leftist revolt against the party leadership.^{[9] [10]} The young ideologues of PYO resisted the increasing Indo-Guyanese dominance of the party.^[11] During the 1960s PYO developed a self-defence structure, as Guyanese politics became more violent. At the same time the Indo-Guyanese sector of PYO became more dominant within the organisation.^[12] In 1964, during the four-month-long strike by the Guyana Agricultural Workers Union (the PPP-aligned sugarcane workers' union) the PYO repeatedly clashed with the rival Young Socialist Movement.^[13] Neville Annibourne was the PYO secretary at the time.^[14] By 1962, 87.1% of PYO members were Indo-Guyanese. As of 1963, PYO had 92 branches with 813 members. Moreover the organisation had around 3,000 sympathizers.^[15]

PYO organised different sporting and cultural activities, and built up libraries in many communities.^[15]

The Student Council of the Progressive Youth Organisation was previously a member organisation of the International Union of Students.^[16] Through the PYO, scholarships for Guyanese students for studies in the Socialist Bloc were distributed.^[15]

Notes and References

1. Kruijf, Johannes Gerrit de. Guyana Junction Globalisation, Localisation, and the Production of East Indianness. [Amsterdam]: [Dutch university press], 2006. p. 96
2. Torres, Arlene. Eastern South America and the Caribbean. Bloomington [u.a.]: Indiana Univ. Press, 1998. p. 171
3. World Marxist Review. Toronto: Progress Books, 1986. p. 114
4. International Communist Affairs. Yearbook on international communist affairs: 1983. Stanford, Calif: Hoover Inst. Pr, 1983. p. 103 (Yearbook on International Communist Affairs)
5. Jagan, Cheddi. The West on Trial: The Fight for Guyana's Freedom. Berlin: Seven Seas, 1980. p. 151
6. Palmer, Colin A. Cheddi Jagan and the Politics of Power: British Guiana's Struggle for Independence. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010. pp. 27–28
7. Jagan, Cheddi. The West on Trial: The Fight for Guyana's Freedom. Berlin: Seven Seas, 1980. p. 153
8. Chase, Ashton. A History of Trade Unionism in Guyana, 1900 to 1961, with an Epilogue to 1964. Ruimveldt, Demerara: New Guyana Co, 1966. p. 211
9. Mars, Perry, and Alma H. Young. Caribbean Labor and Politics: Legacies of Cheddi Jagan and Michael Manley. Detroit, Mich: Wayne State University Press, 2004. p. 152
10. Mars, Perry. Ideology and Change: The Transformation of the Caribbean Left. Kingston, Jam: The Press Univ. of the West Indies, 1998. p. 109
11. Horowitz, Donald L. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. p. 335
12. Mars, Perry, and Alma H. Young. Caribbean Labor and Politics: Legacies of Cheddi Jagan and Michael Manley. Detroit, Mich: Wayne State University Press, 2004. p. 156
13. Premdas, Ralph R. Party Politics and Racial Division in Guyana. Denver: University of Denver, 1973. p. 23
14. Canadian Institute of International Affairs, and Canadian International Council. International Journal. [Toronto]: Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 1964. p. 537
15. Palmer, Colin A. Cheddi Jagan and the Politics of Power: British Guiana's Struggle for Independence. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010. p. 237
16. [International Union of Students]