It was against this backdrop then that Michael Manley became aware that to continue the old colonial political system would not provide
the transformation he so dearly wanted for Jamaica. This awareness was the catalyst for his motivation to pursue radical policies never
before encountered. To accomplish this, he had to turn for help from non-traditional sources, like Cuba, with its well-established communist regime. It appeared that he was also prepared to get help from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), as evidenced by his visit there in 1979.
Fortunately, or unfortunately for Jamaica, fate stepped in and interfered with Michael Manley’s radical changes. The USSR which bankrolled Cuba, collapsed, and the individual countries which made up that super-
state regained their individual national borders and became their own countries as they had once been. This left Russia alone, as the
major communist country of the former USSR, but without the global power and financial resources that the old USSR had in bundance. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the steady funding of Cuba stopped. Castro was therefore, no longer able to help Jamaica.
Under his leadership, Michael Manley would set the stage for implementing revolutionary changes under his avowed philosophy of
“democratic socialism.” Those changes included the Gun Court, imposing the Bauxite Levy, forming a close relationship with Cuba’s
Fidel Castro and imposing austerity measures. Because such dramatic
policies were implemented together with strong anti-imperialistic rhetoric and a good measure of authoritarianism, they led to political instability and economic decline, which was augmented by developed countries, like neighbouring USA, withdrawing their economic support and in turn, a steep decline in tourism.
Manley’s democratic socialism was aimed at reversing the British colonial legacy that put black Jamaicans at a disadvantage and gave
people of light-skinned complexions their usual opportunities and privileges. Michael Manley was very aware of this scenario, as he
stated in his book:
The fact is that people with light complexions enjoy a psychological advantage and consciously or unconsciously have assumed an additional ‘weight’ in the society. In the case of people of dark complexions, the reverse has been the case. To an even greater extent people born to middle class families
enjoy both practical and psychological advantages of a substantial nature.
