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Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a politician, trade unionist and journalist who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1972 to 1980, and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist programme, and has been described as a populist, although many in the country feared he would turn Jamaica into a communist state. He remains one of Jamaica's most popular prime ministers.
After his father's retirement in 1969, Manley was elected leader of the People's National Party, defeating Vivian Blake. He then served as leader of the Opposition, until his party won in the general elections of 1972.
An anti-capitalist, Manley was an advocate of building a socialist system in Jamaica. Beaver County Times 13 Dec 1974 Jamaica Gives Up On Capitalism by Earl Copeland Jr. The Virgin Islands Daily News 15 Jul 1975 This reflected the ideology of his own People's National Party, with one study noting that
Under Manley, Jamaica established a minimum wage for all workers, including domestic workers.
In 1974, Manley proposed free education from primary school to university. The introduction of universally free secondary education was a major step in removing the institutional barriers to private sector and preferred government jobs that required secondary diplomas.Walters, Ewart (2014), We Come From Jamaica, Ottawa: Boyd McRubie, p. 198. The PNP government in 1974 also formed the Jamaica Movement for the Advancement of Literacy (JAMAL), which administered adult education programs with the goal of involving 100,000 adults a year.
Land reform expanded under his administration. Historically, land tenure in Jamaica has been rather inequitable. Project Land Lease (introduced in 1973), attempted an integrated rural development approach, providing tens of thousands of small farmers with land, technical advice, inputs such as fertilizers, and access to credit.Walters, p. 198.
The minimum voting age was lowered to 18 years, while equal pay for women was introduced. Insight Guide: Jamaica, Insight Guides, APA Publications, 2009. Maternity leave was also introduced, while the government outlawed the stigma of illegitimacy. The Masters and Servants Act was abolished, and a Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act provided workers and their trade unions with enhanced rights. The National Housing Trust was established, providing "the means for most employed people to own their own homes," and greatly stimulated housing construction, with more than 40,000 houses built between 1974 and 1980.
Subsidised meals, transportation and uniforms for schoolchildren from disadvantaged backgrounds were introduced, together with free education at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.Stewart, Chuck, The Greenwood Encyclopaedia of LGBT Issues Worldwide, Volume 1. Special employment programmes were also launched,Kari Levitt, Reclaiming Development: independent thought and Caribbean community. together with programmes designed to combat illiteracy. Increases in pensions and poor relief were carried out,Michael Kaufman, Jamaica under Manley: dilemmas of socialism and democracy. along with a reform of local government taxation, an increase in youth training, an expansion of day care centres, and an upgrading of hospitals.Rose, Euclid A., Dependency and Socialism in the Modern Caribbean: Superpower Intervention in Guyana, Jamaica and Grenada, 1970–1985.
A worker's participation programme was introduced,Panton, David, Jamaica's Michael Manley: The Great Transformation (1972–92). together with a new mental health lawLevi, Darrell E., Michael Manley: the making of a leader. and the family court. Free health care for all Jamaicans was introduced, while health clinics and a paramedical system in rural areas were established. Various clinics were also set up to facilitate access to medical drugs. Spending on education was significantly increased, while the number of doctors and dentists in the country rose. Project Lend Lease, an agricultural programme designed to provide rural labourers and smallholders with more land through tenancy, was introduced, together with a National Youth Service Programme for high school graduates to teach in schools, vocational training, and the literacy programme, comprehensive rent and price controls, protection for workers against unfair dismissal, subsidies (in 1973) on basic food items, and the automatic recognition of unions in the workplace.
Manley was the first Jamaican prime minister to support Jamaican republicanism (the replacement of the constitutional monarchy with a republic). In 1975, his government established a commission into constitutional reform, which recommended that Jamaica become a republic. In July 1977, after a march to commemorate the Morant Bay rebellion, Manley announced that Jamaica would become a republic by 1981. This did not occur, however.Burke, Michael (21 April 2016), "Queen, emperor and republican status" , The Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
In December 1977, Manley visited President Jimmy Carter at the White House to remedy the situation, and relations improved somewhat. Details of the meeting, however, were never disclosed.
In a speech given at the 1979 meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, Manley strongly pressed for the development of an alliance between the Non-Aligned movement and the Soviet Union to battle imperialism: "All anti-imperialists know that the balance of forces in the world shifted irrevocably in 1917 when there was a movement and a man in the October Revolution, and Lenin was the man."Hall, Anthony Livingston, The Ipinions Journals, Commentaries on Current Events, Vol. II (Lincoln, 2007), p. 240. Despite some international opposition — especially from the US and the OAS —, Manley deepened and strengthened Jamaica's ties with Cuba, maintaining friendly relations with Fidel Castro, and paying an official visit to the country in 1975.
In response to a wave of killings in 1974, Manley oversaw the passage of the Gun Court Act and the Suppression of Crime Act, giving the police and the army new powers to seal off and disarm high-violence neighborhoods. The Gun Court imposed a mandatory sentence of indefinite imprisonment with hard labour for all firearms offences, and ordinarily tried cases in camera, without a jury. Manley declared that "There is no place in this society for the gun, now or ever."
Violence flared in January 1976 in anticipation of elections. A state of emergency was declared by Manley's party the PNP in June and 500 people, including some prominent members of the JLP, were accused of trying to overthrow the government and were detained, without charges, in the South Camp Prison at the Up-Park Camp military headquarters. The Daily Gleaner, Monday, 6 July 1986, p. 14. During the emergency, according to a report published on 2 November 1977, by investigative reporters Ernest Volkman and John Cummings of the New York newspaper Newsday, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plotted Manley's assassination, with attempts that "were supposed to have taken place" on 14 July 1976 in Jamaica, and during a visit later in the year to Toronto. Manley's response to the report was "I can confirm not a shot was fired." "Plots by CIA to Kill Jamaican Claimed", Los Angeles Times, November 4, 1977, p.I-24
Elections were held on 15 December in the 1976 Jamaican general election, while the state of emergency was still in effect. The PNP was returned to office, winning 47 seats to the JLP's 13. The turnout was a very high 85 percent.Nohlen, Dieter (2005), Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p. 430. The state of emergency continued into the next year. Extraordinary powers granted the police by the Suppression of Crime Act of 1974 continued to the end of the 1990s.
Violence continued to blight political life in the 1970s. Gangs armed by both parties fought for control of urban constituencies. In the election year of 1980 over 800 Jamaicans were killed.
In the 1980 Jamaican general election, Seaga became Prime Minister after JLP won 51 of the 60 seats.
In 1980, Manley gave a series of public lectures at Columbia University in New York.
Seaga's failure to deliver on his promises to the US and foreign investors, as well as complaints of governmental incompetence in the wake Hurricane Gilbert's devastation in 1988, contributed to his defeat in the 1989 elections. The PNP won 45 seats to the JLP's 15.
Manley's second term focused on liberalizing Jamaica's economy, with the pursuit of a programme that stood in marked contrast to the more social democratic economic policies pursued by Manley's first government. Various measures were, however, undertaken to cushion the negative effects of austerity and structural adjustment. A Social Support Programme was introduced to provide welfare assistance for poor Jamaicans. In addition, the programme focused on creating direct employment, training, and credit for much of the population.
The government also announced a 50% increase in the amount of nutritional assistance for the most vulnerable groups (including pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children). A small number of community councils were also created. In addition, a limited land reform programme was carried out that leased and sold land to small farmers, and land plots were granted to hundreds of farmers. The government had an admirable record in housing provision, while measures were also taken to protect consumers from illegal and unfair business practices.
In 1992, citing health reasons, Manley stepped down as Prime Minister and PNP leader. His former Deputy Prime Minister, P. J. Patterson, assumed both offices.
Manley had five children from his five marriages: Rachel Manley, Joseph Manley, Sarah Manley, Natasha Manley, and David Manley.
On 6 March 1997, Michael Manley died of prostate cancer, the same day as another Caribbean politician, Cheddi Jagan of Guyana. He was honoured with a state funeral on 16 March with religious services held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, attended by Cuban President Fidel Castro, Trinidadian Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, and Haitian President René Préval, as well as other various leaders and delegates from the Caribbean. He is interred at the National Heroes Park, where his father Norman Manley is also interred. Photographer Maria LaYacona's portrait of Manley appears on the Jamaican dollar alongside a portrait of Edward Seaga.
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