Politics & Society

Rethinking socialism in the Third World

28.04.2008

This article discusses the various aspects of socialism in Third World countries. The common characteristics identified as constituting socialism are the abolition, or sharp limitation, of private property, the nationalisation of industry and in some cases the more important sectors of agriculture, the collectivisation of agriculture, the state control of the distribution of goods and services, the establishment of a planning bureaucracy and the elaboration of a state system based on a single party and uniform ideology. In the Third World, revolutions have been fought and won not to build socialism but to dispose of a colonial power or a despot. Socialism has come later, almost as a by-product of the revolutions. As a consequence, the constellation of forces committed to socialism is decidedly less than socialist theory suggests as a requisite.
Article excerpt:

Revolution, though an important political phenomenon historically, seemingly
remains so only in the Third World. Contemporary cases of revolution are all in
poor, developing countries (Cuba, Cambodia, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-
Bissau, Ethiopia, Iran and Nicaragua). With the exception of Iran, the leadership
of these revolutions has attempted to replace the old order with socialism. The
relative success of socialism in these cases is of consequence to those countries,
to other Third World countries where intellectuals and political actors consider
it a potential course, and, more broadly, to all concemed with the welfare of the
Third Worid.
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