Ethnicity, Ideology, and Class Struggle in Guyanese Society

Throughout Guyanese colonial history, ruling-class policies of disproportionate allocation of economic benefits & burdens to different Wc ethnic groups, coupled with acceptance of ruling-class racial stereotypes of Indo-Guyanese, Afro-Guyanese, & Portuguese by Guyanese working people, have created & maintained ethnic boundaries & interethnic conflict within the Wc. It is argued that disproportionate allocation & racist ideology persist in contemporary Guyana, & are reflected in ethnic boundaries & conflict between Indo- & Afro-Guyanese working people. Specifically, it is argued that L. F. S. Burnham's Peoples National Congress party retains the support of its Afro-Guyanese constituents by allocating a disproportionately large amount of economic benefits to them, & that this is made possible, to a large extent, by US government support. It is shown that an understanding of these processes requires a concept of ethnicity as ideology. Evidence for these views is provided by an examination of the election of 1973 in East Coast Demerara. AA.