Michael Manley, Former Prime Minister of Jamaica

Michael Manley – (December 10, 1944 – March 6, 1997)

The Most Honorable Michael Manley was one of the most outstanding political figures in the post-colonial history of the Caribbean. As a politician, labor leader, author and intellectual, Mr Manley made a seminal contribution to Jamaican, Caribbean and international politics.

His pioneering legislative program of social reforms in the 1970s and his role in the formation of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and later the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) guarantees him a prominent place in modern Caribbean history. His advocacy of a New International Economic Order (NIEO), his defense of sovereignty for ex-colonial countries, and his leading role among world statesmen in confronting racial oppression, especially in southern Africa, make him an international figure of enormous consequence for world politics during the decade of the 1970s.

A rounded man, he was an aficionado of sports and the arts, and in his twilight years earned distinction as a coffee-farmer and horticulturist, winning several awards for his roses.

Michael Manley was driven by a passionate concern for equality and justice. Writing in 1975, he stated that in Jamaica "class relations were stark in their intolerance. There was no subtlety and little mobility because a man's class was stamped upon his skin as much as upon his clothes. To middle-class eyes, the working classes were an opaque mass, without individuality and without rights --because they were without humanity." Michael Manley's public life was dedicated to the reversal of this feature of Jamaican society.

Early Life

Michael Norman Manley was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on December 10, 1924. He was the second son of the Right Excellent Norman Washington Manley, a National Hero of Jamaica, and Edna Manley, a renowned sculptor and patron/facilitator of Jamaican arts and culture.

Educated at Jamaica College between 1935 and 1943, Michael Manley, upon graduation, went to serve the Royal Canadian Air Force. In 1945 he entered the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) and began a career in activism. A member of the West Indian Students' Union
and Caribbean Labor Congress, Manley campaigned against racial discrimination in London and supported the struggle for a West Indies Federation and political independence for the Caribbean.

All three issues were to remain central elements of his political thought throughout his public life. After graduation from LSE, Manley worked as a broadcast journalist with the External Services of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), then returned to Jamaica in 1951. The following year, he became associate editor of the nationalist weekly newspaper Public Opinion. He wrote a regular column "Root of the Matter" which contained the seeds of much of his emerging political thought.

In April 1952 he joined the People's National Party (PNP) and began to work with the newly formed National Workers Union (NWU). Between 1955 and 1972 Manley was the chief negotiator for the NWU. His contribution to the Jamaican labor movement was outstanding. He established a modern labor contract for bauxite/alumina workers and modernized labor negotiation practices in the sugar industry. He founded the Caribbean Mine & Metal Workers Federation and was its President for 13 years.

Political Career

In 1962 Michael Manley was appointed to the Jamaica Senate. Five years later he was elected Member of Parliament for Central Kingston. He was elected Vice President of the PNP in 1967 and President in 1969. Following his attainment of the presidency, he was appointed Leader of the Opposition.

Michael Manley served as Prime Minister of Jamaica for 11 years. He led the PNP to victory in three general elections (1972, 1976 and 1989) but lost the 1980 general election. His tenure as the country's political leader was noted for its array of social and legislative reforms. These included the establishment of a national minimum wage, maternity leave with pay, the right of workers to join trade unions, the repeal of the Masters and Servants Act, the establishment of a National Housing Trust and the introduction of a bauxite levy, a land reform program, a national literacy program, and a Status of Children Act which ended discrimination against children born out of wedlock. He vigorously promoted education at all levels, cooperative development, worker participation, and national and community self-reliance.

At the international level, his was a highly respected voice, especially in such bodies as the Commonwealth of Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Countries, the Group of 77, and the Socialist International. He was a leading advocate of South-South cooperation and was in the vanguard of world statesmen who applied international pressure to assist in the dismantling of apartheid and of minority rule in southern Africa.

In 1977, because of his consistent advocacy of a New International Economic Order with a more equitable deal for developing countries, Manley was elected Vice President of Socialist International. As a distinguished leader of the organization, he chaired the Socialist International Economic Committee. The findings of that committee were later published in 1985 as Manley's fifth book, Global Challenge: From Crisis to Cooperation: Breaking the North-South Stalemate. The Socialist International made him its honorary President in 1992, a position he held until his death on March 6, 1997.

Awards

Michael Manley received eight major Awards. These include:

• Jamaica's Order of Merit (OM)

• Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC)

• UN Gold Medal for "significant contribution in cooperation with the United
Nations and in solidarity with the South African liberation movement in the
international campaign against apartheid"

• World Peace Council's Juliot Curie Peace Award for "contribution to the
struggle of the Jamaican people and all people of the non-aligned world
fighting for economic independence"

• Socialist International's citation for "contribution to the world economic
debate on the New International Economic Order and for contribution to
the deepening of democracy in Jamaica and the Caribbean".

In June 2004 he was a posthumous recipient of South Africa's Order of the Companions of Oliver Tambo in the rank of Supreme Companion (Gold Award) for promoting the interests and aspirations of the Republic of South Africa "at the higher levels through excellent cooperation and active expression of solidarity and support". He also received several Honorary Doctorates from universities, including the University of the West Indies, Howard University, Morehouse College, and the University of Hartford. He was a distinguished visiting professor at six universities.

See you in Jamaica.