This is the year that we celebrate the seventieth anniversary of a significant day in the story of the Jamaican people.  It was the day in September of 1938 when the enthusiasm of our founding fathers and mothers rocked the very foundations of the Ward Theatre with the launching of the great political movement that was named the People's National Party. . This movement, which united the working people, was energized with a fervour for nationalism that was to take our country into political independence.

The sobering thought that occupies my mind today is that a political party that has lasted for seventy years contains within it, the collective wisdom of all who have participated in its activities and functions.  This is the foundation that continues to sustain us, through fruitful days and tamarind seasons.  It is the reason for our resilience, and the source of our remarkable capacity for renewal and rebirth.

This year, we are called to reach down into history and touch roots again, as we remember our first Party President Norman Washington Manley and all the founders of our great Party.  It is a good time to refocus our minds on the vision of N. W.Manley, which was carried forward and translated into practical programmes by those who came after him.

There is a temptation to consider the various periods that the PNP held the reins of government as the only significant times in the history of our Party.   We were in office for thirty four (34) years and eight (8) months since 1944 and twenty-seven (27) of those years were after political independence.

It is true that each of those periods in office represented the achievement of our objective as a Party to gain and hold state power, in order to carry out our people programmes and advance Jamaica's development.     However, the triumphs of the PNP extend far beyond the confines of forming the government. In the first general elections, the PNP suffered a terrible defeat.  Norman Manley himself did not win his seat. But that did not stop the PNP from successfully agitating for and achieving two important objectives for our country; Universal Adult Suffrage - the right of all adults to vote - and self government 

In the General Elections of April 1962, which followed on the federation referendum, yes the PNP lost, but it was our Party, in the face of strong opposition, that had paved the way for political independence.

During this year, we will use the time to highlight the great moments in our history and the landmark developments along the way.  One such is Jamaica Welfare, which evolved into the Social Development Commission (SDC).  It is important that in assessing the last 70 years of the PNP, that we look closely at the organization that was to be the catalyst for community development - a major plank of the PNP's policies and programmes. As Sir Howard Cooke is fond of saying, no one can understand the early PNP without an appreciation of the significance of Jamaica Welfare.

The early PNP represented a coming together of several organizations, including the National Reform Association, founded by N.N. Nethersole, Ken Hill and others, the Jamaica Agricultural Society, and, for course, the Jamaica Progressive League of New York.  However, the essence of Norman Manley's vision, confirmed by many annual conferences, originated in Jamaica Welfare.

How did Jamaica Welfare come about?  After Emancipation, many farmers had turned to growing bananas because earnings from sugar cane were steadily declining.  Large numbers of those who had worked as slaves refused to go back to the plantations and the imported indentured labour could not fill the gap. Over the years, the banana industry grew in importance because cultivating bananas was not labour intensive and required less land space.

Local bananas were bought by United Fruit Company and Jamaica was the Company's only source of bananas. After plant disease wiped out the banana industry, Norman Manley, the lawyer for the Jamaica Banana Producers Co-operative, saw his opportunity to push for a long-cherished dream - a special endowment to help the banana farmers who were experience hardships.  An agreement was negotiated, and out of this Jamaica Welfare was born in 1937, with its focus on cottage industries and agricultural co-operatives.   And this was the genesis of the concept of people development that was at the heart of the early PNP. 

It was about bringing in the overwhelming majority of the people from the cold, the underclasses that development had bypassed.  It embraced cottage industries, and cooperative business and the concept extended to free education and free health care.

Today both major political parties are agreed that free health care and free education are ideals for which we must strive.  This part of Norman Manley's vision, for which he was sharply criticized during his lifetime. Despite the constraints and restraints, we have experienced at times, the PNP has never abandoned the people-centred vision of our founding fathers and mothers, which led to the successes of the Jamaica Welfare and remains with us today.

Our Party has been through times of change, times of crises, times of challenge and times when hard choices have been necessary, as well as times of celebration.  In this our seventieth year, all these states  converge and we must make it  a time of courage and confidence in our abilities based on our rich, proud history,  and renew  our commitment to serve the Jamaican people, according to the vision of our founders.

We must retrace our roots and go back to the core values of the PNP. Every great organization experiences times of reflection - time to consider its achievements and its missed opportunities and if and how it has strayed from the straight and narrow path. In September, this year there will be once again, a re-enactment of the beginning of the PNP.  It was done when we celebrated our 51^st anniversary in 1989 (Hurricane Gilbert forced us to cancel our big plans for 1988) and for our   60^th anniversary.  

We believe that bringing this historic moment of our birth to life again will motivate our comrades to dive deeply into the history of the PNP and come out refreshed, renewed and ready to recapture the energy and passion, which made our movement spring to life and service in 1938!   

Portia Simpson Miller
Party President
29th April 2008
PNP HQ

Telephone: (876) 978-1337
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