Man for whom ferry named

ROY MITCHELL

“HE WALKED with kings but kept the common touch.”

This was the measure of the man which captured my imagination as my recollection of Alphonso Philbert Theophilus James reverberated within my spirit – a personification exemplified in extraordinary terms by the renowned India-born English poet Rudyard Kipling.

My most cherished recollection of APT James dates back to that exciting evening when he was heading for the UK to present a petition to the then secretary of state for the colonies, Sir Arthur Creech Jones, pressing his case for self-government for the people of Tobago. This was in the late 1940s.

Jointly crafted with his mentor, my father, Ernest Mortimer Mitchell, the typing of the petition was being completed by my brother Nello, sitting in the back seat of the car speeding its way on the bumpy road to Piarco.

On arrival, APT and my father had just enough time to check the document, Nello to make the adjustments and off went APT hustling to board the flight to the UK to singlehandedly engage the might of the Colonial Office in search of self-government for Tobago – probably the first resolute official demand on record. I am subject to correction. Needless to say, the effort was in vain. It was sometime thereafter that I learnt that the secretary of state had advised APT that there can be no self-government for colonies where party politics was not fully entrenched.

APT was the name by which he was familiarly called by our parents. He became known to the Mitchells through my father’s active involvement both in politics and in the trade union movement. Contrary to what is published in some quarters, the Federated Workers Trade Union (FWTU) of which APT was a loyal and dedicated member was founded by my father. Among the original flag-bearers were Dudley Mohan, Quintin O’Connor and Albert Gomes.

If you did not find APT at the Port of Spain office of the Butler Party on Old St Joseph Road, you would find him at our home at 101 Charlotte Street, Port of Spain, where, in a little corner of our residence, the first office of the FWTU was located, gratis.

In those days political and labour leaders were virtually inseparable. They had one common enemy: the colonial establishment.

APT was irresistibly inspired by the lives of Capt AA Cipriani, founder of the Trinidad Labour Party of which my father was general secretary and by Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler, founder of the British Empire Home Rule Party. The resilience and steadfastness of their struggle and their unwavering vision for liberation of the working class knew no boundaries.

I vividly recall Chief Servant Butler being at a residence on Henry Street shortly following his release from prison. My father sent me to escort him to our home. APT was prominent among those who had gathered at our residence to greet and converse with him.

The records show that, in the fullness of time, APT became a force to be reckoned with. It was inevitable. The writing was on the wall. He engaged on equal terms with leading trade unionists of the calibre of John Rojas (OWTU), CP Alexander and Simeon Alexander (SWWTU), Sidney Dedier (Teachers Union), WW Sutton, who formed the Amalgamated and General Workers’ Trade Union (AGWTU), Nathaniel Crichlow, who formed the National Union of Government Employees (NUGE).

APT James challenged the establishment side by side with stalwarts of the ilk of John La Rose, Jim Barrat, Mc Donald Stanley and Mc Donald Moses, four of the staunchest Butlerites of unshakeable loyalty and commitment.

He stamped his authority at the height of the most intense era of political and trade union anti-colonial activism in TT.

At the legislative level, he matched strides with parliamentarians of the distinction of Aubrey James (Port of Spain South), Raymond Quevedo, aka Atilla the Hun (Laventille), Victor Templeton Bryan (Eastern Counties), Lionel Seukeran, (Naparima), Winston Mahabir (San Fernando East), Patrick Solomon (Port of Spain South), Gerard Montano (San Fernando West), Albert Gomes (Port of Spain North), Roy Joseph (San Fernando), Badhase Sagan Maraj (Tunapuna), Chanka Maharaj (San Juan/Barataria), CC Abidh, Ashford and Mitra Sinanan, Stephen Maharaj (Princes Town) and Ajodhasingh. He withstood the might of the PNM in 1956, retaining his seat against ANR Robinson.

At his own personal expense, with sweat and tears, and without ceasing, APT James was at the forefront of the fight for an improved standard of living for his compatriots of Tobago.

The arguments took place at our residence: heated, passionate and animated. Our home was like the gayelle, the assembly point immediately following sittings of the Legislative Council. It did not matter what side you were on; but the camaraderie was effortless. It was a gayelle with a difference: no bitterness, no rancour, no hatred, no vindictiveness, no venom, just healthy, constructive, objective and persuasive exchanges and, above all, mutual respect and regard for one another, interspersed of course with the normal variety of libations.

In all these encounters, APT stood firm and resolute. He was tall, dark and overpowering. He walked with grace, self-assurance and poise. He spoke with a sincerity of purpose: a passion for service to humanity and to countryman.

The mark of distinction of the quintessential Tobago parliamentary representative that APT has established for himself continues to be immortalised by yet another national gesture: honouring the new inter-island ferry with the name of such an illustrious son of our soil, a fitting tribute to a monumental, legendary and indelible legacy. Long sail the MV APT.