In 1950, Dr Cheddi Jagan began a campaign to transform British Guiana, South America, into a Marxist state, allied with the USSR in the growing Cold War. His failure and the flight of some 500,000 people to North America and Britain are almost forgotten tragedies even among that Diaspora. The Indelible Red Stain, a two-volume blockbuster by Guyanese doctor and political insider, Dr Mohan Ragbeer, tells the story in a masterly way and provides the key to understanding the ruin of Guiana, its bloody race war, and the massive exodus. Ram Jagessar, a Toronto historian, writes, Dr Mohan Ragbeer writes brilliantly in a style seldom seen from the Caribbean, with encyclopaedic knowledge of history, culture, medicine, forestry, sociology and more, coupled with an elephantine memory of events and discussions of the 1950s and 1960s. The background is a dangerous river trip in 1961 into remote forests by a multiracial forensic team to investigate a murder, by itself an intriguing tale, well worth the read. The perils mirror those of the country’s political journey to independence; witnesses sadly tell of the usurpation of a moderate political and economic agenda by Dr Jagan and his greedy and dictatorial comrade, Mr Forbes Burnham, when they lead the first self-rule government and lose by pursuing an unrealistic goal, against sage advice. They split and Mr Burnham courts the CIA, which ensures Dr Jagan’s defeat, shattering the dreams, hopes and lives of his followers, who believed his notion of deliverance. The historical facts and the roles of international agencies-MI5, CIA, KGB et al. are well-known, but this book corrects errors from intimate insider knowledge of the main characters and events; it exposes Jagan’s ineptness in government and his role in Burnham’s electoral victories that led to the ruin of Guyana and the sad fate of its people. Jagessar wrote, Dr Ragbeer gives us first-hand and witnessed accounts of new material, particularly discussions with businessmen and farmers-Jagan’s major financiers-whose sage and practical plans would have realised a land of plenty. He agreed privately but ignored and even lambasted them publicly as exploiters! He remained pro-USSR even as the CIA plotted his overthrow with Burnham to avoid another Cuba in the Americas. Far from being a martyr betrayed by racists and imperialists, a view that has become an industry, Jagan is shown as a failure without original ideas, a poor judge of people, who unwisely rejected economic help from Guyanese and swallowed Moscow’s fanciful promises, blindly believing in Soviet power and reach. The Indelible Red Stain forces us to ask tough questions: what did Jagan really achieve? How does he compare with his contemporaries? The answers will no doubt stain his hallowed reputation. The book is a brutally honest critique of Jagan’s place in history, and a caution that aspiring nations must be vigilant and critical of those who promise heaven. While personally honest, unlike most politicians, Jagan’s bungling of his many chances to lead a country to prosperity was the shock that uprooted half a million lives. The book will probably anger Jagan’s minions, but they must face the fact of his ineptness and misuse of his support that paved the way for Burnham, who duped the CIA to make him win amid the terrors of fire and blood. The book is long but easy to read and gracefully written, with anecdotes, life stories, facts and comments by friends and critics of the two men. It is a riveting read aimed to inform host nations, diasporal Guyanese, Caribbean peoples and all those who need to see how easy it is to destroy a nation while pretending to help it. It is fascinating and painful to see a land of promise destroyed, how a tropical paradise can become paradise lost. Mohan Ragbeer has put 50 years of his life into creating this book; it is well worth the wait. This second edition includes an Index and Bibliography.
