Workers Party of Jamaica

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jamaica
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Jamaica

Queen Elizabeth II Governor-General Kenneth Hall Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller Opposition Bruce Golding Parliament Senate House of Representatives Political parties Elections: 2007 Parishes and Counties Foreign relations Jamaican diplomatic missions
Other countries · Politics Portal view • talk • edit

Workers Party of Jamaica, a marxist political party in Jamaica. WPJ was founded on December 17, 1978 by Trevor Munroe. Munroe, a Rhodes scholar from Oxford University, served as its general secretary.

The forerunner of WPJ was the Workers Liberation League.

WPJ was an ally of the People's National Party. With WPJ backing the PNP government developed closer relations to Cuba, which irritated the United States. Ahead of the 1980 elections the U.S. had pushed through a destablization campaign.^{[citation needed]} The elections resulted in a victory of the rightist Jamaica Labour Party. After the elections armed insurgencies started in WPJ strongholds Arnett Gardens and Greenwich Town districts. The violence ended after an appeal from the PNP leader.

WPJ used to have a youth organization, Young Communist League of WPJ. The youth organization was a member of the World Federation of Democratic Youth.

WPJ is today defunct, and Munroe has renounced marxism.