One can only speculate as to the immensity of the hurt which Leigh Richardson experienced, because he never said or wrote anything to inform and enlighten the people of British Honduras/Belize about his personal travails. This was a man whose commitment to his people and his country had been so serious that in 1951 he went to prison during British colonial rule. Prison was rough in those days – hard labor was hard labor.
He came out of prison to lead the revolutionary People’s United Party to its first thunderous national political victory in 1954. This was the first election held here under adult suffrage. And yet, two years later, he was overthrown as PUP Leader in a forceful and humiliating manner.
If one had to choose out of the two men – Richardson and Philip Goldson, both of whom went to jail in 1951 and were overthrown by George Price et al in 1956, which one of them would stay and fight, one would have chosen Leigh. He was always more physical than Philip, but, as it turned out, it was Goldson who fought to the bitter end. “Ingratitude … quite vanquished” Leigh Richardson, it appears. He left Belize in 1958 and, for all intents and purposes, never returned.
The power struggles in revolutionary parties are no joke. The French Revolution guillotined several of its leaders. In the twentieth century, perhaps the most famous power struggle in a revolutionary party took place between the brilliant Leon Trotsky and the brutal Josef Stalin in the Russian Communist Party. Stalin won, and Trotsky had to flee for his life. In 1940, Stalin sent a hit man all the way to Mexico City to murder Trotsky – with an ice axe!
In a figurative way, Leigh Richardson was murdered in Belize, because the political system made sure his name was never mentioned. In the 1950’s, the two major political parties were the PUP and the National Party (NP). All of you know about the PUP and its anti-colonial personality, but few of you know about the National Party. The National Party was the antithesis of the PUP: the NP was pro-British and pro-colonial.
After their ouster from the PUP, Richardson and Goldson formed the Honduran Independence Party (HIP) in 1957. When Richardson chose exile in 1958, Goldson took what was left of the HIP into an alliance with the NP, then led by Herbert Fuller. Thus was born the National Independence Party (NIP), and it was first led by Herbert Fuller.
It would seem that Philip moved cautiously in the new relationship, because he would have been mindful of the PUP “baggage” he was carrying into his new anti-PUP alliance. In fact, it is very interesting, and indeed very surprising, to note that when the first general election under a new constitution was held in 1961, Goldson did not offer himself as one of the NIP candidates for the 18 seats in the House of Representatives. The PUP won all 18 seats. They were probably at the height of their power and popularity then. Within a year or two, Herbert Fuller fell ill and died. Goldson succeeded him as NIP Leader.
It was important for Mr. Price to have the PUP institutionally forget Richardson, his immediate predecessor in leadership, whereas, on the other side of the political spectrum, there were people in the NIP who would not have wanted Goldson to reminisce too much about the revolutionary PUP days when he was running around with his close friend and sidekick, Leigh Richardson. So, everybody in Belize forgot about Leigh, and it was serious ingratitude, if you think about it.
I always wished for an opportunity to sit and speak with Mr. Leigh, but that never came. (I was close friends with his younger half-brother, Edgar X Richardson, who died last year.) I wanted to ask Leigh Richardson questions to which I believed I knew the answers. I wanted to ask him how it felt to give up everything, and then get kicked in your behind. I felt I would have gotten away with asking him that, because somewhat the same thing had happened to me. I believe, however, that Mr. Leigh would not have wanted anyone to ask him that question, and I believe that is why he made sure to stay away. He must have had a broken heart.
Many times in the world of romance, a man or a woman will get hurt early on in a cruel way, and it is often that such a man or a woman will become cold, so much so that it is those who become involved with them afterwards, who will feel the pain later on. A man or a woman can develop emotional scar tissue to protect him/her from a repeat of the pain.
The UDP should have attended to the Leigh Richardson matter, so to speak, from 1984. They chose to honor the man in September this year, when Mr. Leigh was already near to death. Surely it is better late than never, but one needs to point out, in explanation perhaps, that when the UDP finally came to power, it was not Goldson’s victory: it was Esquivel’s. And remember, Mr. Richardson’s glory years had been as a leader of the early, revolutionary PUP. There may have been a political and philosophical problem inside the UDP where Mr. Leigh was concerned. But, let’s just let that be.
For their part, the PUP went so far as to pretend that Leigh Richardson had never led their party. That was regrettable. I was a child of seven years in 1954 when the PUP won that great victory, but I have a memory of a PUP (victory?) march which crossed the Bolton Bridge near my home. The PUP were rough, Jack. The PUP were real. Leigh Richardson was rough. He was real. And then, he was sacrificed.
It was politics. This is just the way it is sometimes in politics. Afterwards, nobody cares about the losers. Everybody loves a winner. Still, there is something called foundation. There are people who are there at the beginning. As high as the Empire State Building towers in Manhattan, there are underground foundation beams on which it stands. Mr. Price achieved all the glory. Respect to him. But in the foundation time, there was a man called Richardson. He was a strong and brave Belizean. Rest in peace, Mr. Leigh. Rise in glory.