WPJ was a "critical ally" of the People's National Party (PNP) of Michael Manley.[2] With WPJ backing, the PNP government developed closer relations to Cuba, which irritated the United States.[3] However, in the late 1970s, the WPJ participated in Jamaican popular resistance to fiscal controls imposed on the country by the International Monetary Fund and accepted by Manley.[4] The 1980 elections resulted in a victory of the rightist Jamaica Labour Party. Manley's association with the communist WPJ may have contributed to his defeat.[3]