One of the nation’s late most honourable statesman and an esteemed former Party President emeritus, Michael Norman Manley,  in giving a flash back of the 1970s to comrades at the 47^th annual conference, said, “we have been committed to the building  and preservation of democracy in Jamaica but in 1985 under the rule of the JLP which gained power “evil men create violence in Jamaica so that they could destroy the tourist industry and blame it on the government.”

Mr. Manley reminded that in the ‘70s, "there was social mobility ...sons and daughters of the poor were moving forward for the first time to take their places in the ranks of management of this country."There were new levels of understanding. People for the first time began to understand the meaning of self-reliance. There was a feeling of self-worth. We are not ashamed of 1972 to 1980."

Now let us turn our camera to 1985, five years after the people made and important choice."The fraud and betrayal of 1983 stands as a terrible mark against the name of this country and our history, and the result is this joke, this farce, this object of comedy which Gordon House has become."KSAC where the hundreds of the Corporate Area should be able to find representatives to whom they can speak of their problems, is wiped out. I see a misery of unemployment, of lay-offs, workers treated as if they are so many creatures to be thrown on the dump heap of society. Workers go to work on a Friday to draw their pay and hear on Monday that they have no job, without mercy , without heart, without consideration."One of the proudest things of our times as a government was during those years we could watch some of the critical indicators of living standards like malnutrition, like anaemia in women and we could watch the figures fall and fall as we struggled to build some kind of life for the people of this country."

Now we find in the five years,(1980-1985), malnutrition is rising, is now at a dangerous proportion, Jamaica is in social retreat. Democracy is in retreat, education is in retreat, workers' security is in retreat, small farmers are in retreat."A study by the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of Representatives reports, "Narcotics reports, related corruption in the Government of Jamaica is pervasive. "Corruption", the report further states "is not limited to low level officials. This obviously affects implementation of effective narcotics control in Jamaica. Are these big shots' connected with the JLP? How is cocaine getting into Jamaica? Who is bringing the cocaine that is undermining the youth of this country? "I have faith in the people, they must begin by voting and beginning to take over political power."