The Workers and Farmers Party was a

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. The party was organised by former Democratic Labour Party leader

Stephen Maharaj Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

C.L.R. James Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989),Fraser, C. Gerald, ''The New York Times'', 2 June 1989. who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist and Marxist. His works are in ...

George Weekes George Arthur Weekes (b Clifton, Bristol 5 September 1869; d Cambridge 23 June 1953) was a 20th-century British academic. Weekes was educated at Bristol Grammar School and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He became a Fellow of Sidney Sussex in 18 ...

(of the

Oilfields Workers Trade Union The Oilfields Workers' Trade Union or OWTU is one of the most powerful trade unions in Trinidad and Tobago. Currently led by Ancel Roget, the union was born out of the 1937 labour riots, the union was nominally led by the imprisoned TUB Butl ...

) and included the then little-known

Basdeo Panday Basdeo Panday (; born 25 May 1933) is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian lawyer, politician, trade unionist, economist, actor, and former civil servant who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001. He was the first ...

among its slate of candidates. It was succeeded by the

United Labour Front The United Labour Front (ULF) was a political party in Trinidad and Tobago and the main opposition party between 1976 and 1986. It was a successor to the Democratic Labour Party and the Workers and Farmers Party. History The party was establishe ...

led by Basdeo Panday. The party contested the 1966 General Elections. It secured 3.5% of the vote and failed to win any seats in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. None of its candidates secured the 12.5% of the vote in their constituency that was required to have their deposits refunded. The major political impact of the WFP was that it launched the political career of Basdeo Panday.

References

* * Defunct political parties in Trinidad and Tobago Communist parties in Trinidad and Tobago {{CP-stub