Workers Party of Jamaica explained

The Workers Party of Jamaica (WPJ) was a Marxist-Leninist political party in Jamaica. WPJ was founded on 17 December 1978 by Trevor Munroe, along with Elean Thomas and others.^[1] Trevor Munroe, a Rhodes scholar from Oxford University, served as its general secretary. The forerunner of WPJ was the Workers Liberation League.^[2]

WPJ was a "critical ally" of the People's National Party (PNP) of Michael Manley. With WPJ backing, the PNP government developed closer relations to Cuba, which irritated the United States. However, in the late 1970s, the WPJ participated in Jamaican popular resistance to fiscal controls imposed on the country by the International Monetary Fund and accepted by Manley.^[3] The 1980 elections resulted in a victory of the rightist Jamaica Labour Party. Manley's association with the communist WPJ may have contributed to his defeat.^[4]

The WPJ youth organization, Young Communist League of WPJ, was a member of the World Federation of Democratic Youth.

By 1992, the WPJ was defunct.

Further reading

• Book: Gray, Obika. Demeaned but Empowered: The Social Power of the Urban Poor in Jamaica. 31 August 2011. 2004. University of the West Indies Press. 978-976-640-153-5.
• Book: Manning Marable. Manning Marable. Meeks, Brian . Brian Meeks. The Political Moment in Jamaica: The Dimensions of Hegemonic Dissolution . Dispatches from the Ebony Tower: Intellectuals Confront the African American Experience. 31 August 2011. 2000. Columbia University Press. 978-0-231-11476-9. 52–74.
• Struggle (Kingston, Jamaica), official organ of the Workers Liberation League - openly and freely available in the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC)

Notes and References

1. News: Elean Thomas: Writer with a message of human rights . . 31 July 2004 . Johnson, Buzz . Buzz Johnson. 31 August 2011.
2. Book: Alexander. Robert J.. Parker. Eldon M.. A History of Organized Labor in the English-Speaking West Indies. 31 August 2011. September 2004. Greenwood Publishing Group. 978-0-275-97743-6. 56–57.
3. Book: Nash. June C.. Fernández-Kelly. María Patricia. Women, Men, and the International Division of Labor . 31 August 2011. 1983. SUNY Press. 978-0-87395-683-3. 138.
4. Book: Austin-Broos, Diane J.. Urban Life in Kingston, Jamaica: The Culture and Class Ideology of Two Neighborhoods. 31 August 2011. 1 January 1984. Taylor & Francis US. 978-2-88124-006-5.