Dear Louis Proyect I am an Iranian student, interested in socialist alternatives and the related debates. I have a question in mind that I think you can help me about it: What can you propose as a developement plan for the so called "under developed" countries? Now a days, the World Bank and the International Money Fund (IFM) have prepared a developement "Recipe" for the Third World which is widwspread despite its terrible consequences, but no serious alternative developement strategy has been proposed from the left. The contemporary Left literature on the third world, is full of slogans and curses against globalization of capitalism, IMF and world bank! but no socialist solution is proposed for the problem of Underdevelopement. The alternative socialist models are designed to deal with the problems of modern, fully developed and technologic societies but are far from what is going on in the real world around me. In the third world, some basic human needs are still unsatisfied, serious ethnic problems persist, the avarage education rate of the masses is low and the massive burden of the global capitalism exists. So I can not imagine the particapatory planning by the associated councils of workers or a fully computerized planning and rsouse allocation as a serious alternative for the third world. On the other hand, it is not acceptable for me to wait for an extraordinary happening (such as a revolution) in the developed countries to solve the problems of all of us! Some problems of the Third world are so urgent that it is not reasonable at all to pospone their solution untill a world revolution. Besides, the International Imperialist institutions are currently running thair favorite pro-capitalism program on the third world and benefit considerably from the lack of powerful Left rival programs. I will be grateful if could you inform me of any article, debate, link, etc. available on this issue. Bahman Besharat === I favor any development plan that favors working people and peasants. Within this broad framework, there are multiple approaches: 1. National bourgeois development of the Perónista, Nasserist or Kemalist variety. Perhaps the most successful of these experiments, the government of Juan Perón accomplished much: a. Taking advantage of government leniency if not outright support, trade unions were formed in every industry. b. Social security was made universal. c. Education was made free to all who qualified. d. Vast low-income housing projects were created. e. Paid vacations became standard. f. A working student was given one paid week before every major examination. g. All workers (including white-collar employees like bank tellers, etc.) were guaranteed free medical care and half of their vacation-trip expenses. h. A mother-to-be received 3 paid months off prior to and after giving birth. i. Workers recreation centers were constructed all over Argentina, including a vast resort in the lower Sierras that included 8 hotels, scores of cabins, movies, swimming pools and riding stables. This resort was available to workers for 15 days a year, at the cost of 15 cents per day, all services included. 2. Another approach is embodied in the kind of agrarian and egalitarian welfare state symbolized in "African Socialism" or Kerala in India. In an Atlantic Monthly article titled "Poor But Prosperous" at www.theatlantic.com/issues/98sep/kerala.htm, we learn: --Life expectancy in Kerala is seventy-two years, which is closer to the American average of seventy-six than to the Indian average of sixty-one. --The infant-mortality rate in Kerala is among the lowest in the developing world -- roughly half that in China, and lower than that in far richer countries such as Argentina and Bahrain. --Population, too, is under control in Kerala. The fertility rate is just 1.7 births per woman -- lower even than Sweden's or America's. --What is perhaps most impressive is that 90 percent of Keralites are literate -- a figure that puts the state in a league with Singapore and Spain. Children in Kerala are likely to beg for pens, not money. Schools -- their classrooms clean, well-maintained, and filled with students in brightly colored uniforms -- are found seemingly every few miles throughout the state. 3. Finally, we can look at the success of a planned socialist economy like Cuba's. Because it favored investment in schools and medical facilities, the Cuban life expectancy is on a par with industrial countries like Canada, while its work force is completely literate if not college-educated. So, as you can see, despite the fact that I am a Marxist, I favor a wide range of solutions that fall short of the Soviet model. I think your next statement points to the problem. You say: >Now a days, the World Bank and the International Money >Fund (IFM) have prepared a developement "Recipe" for >the Third World which is widwspread despite its >terrible consequences, but no serious alternative >developement strategy has been proposed from the left. In fact, the World Bank and the IMF are only one part of the problem. They generally have their way in weakened bodies, just as opportunistic diseases take advantage of immune systems degraded by HIV. The HIV in the case of nations is military intervention, disinformation, spying, subversion and diplomatic pressure by the countries who sponsor the World Bank and IMF. Take Chile, for example. Under Allende, modest steps were taken in the direction of a sort of nationalist bourgeois development model, rather falsely labeled "socialism" by Kissinger and Nixon. After the CIA and Chilean army joined hands to overthrow Allende, the IMF stepped in and forced an austerity regime that has lasted since the early 1970s. Apologists for this system claim that Chile is doing better than ever, but in reality life is very difficult for Chilean farmworkers, miners, etc. In essence, our problem is not a lack of good ideas. I think that I could accept and work to implement the development plan of a Peronista economist, or one from contemporary Kerala or Cuba. Alas, the problem is that as soon as they begin to be implemented, they will be crushed because the USA can't stand what Chomsky calls the "power of a positive example." I saw this with my own eyes in Nicaragua, where I worked with a nonprofit technical aid organization that sent programmers, engineers and other skilled personnel to assist a country choosing a mix of Cuban and Kerala type economic measures. Falsely accused of being a base for Soviet aggression, the country was bled to death by contra war and economic blockade. The USA simply can not tolerate a leftist success in Latin America because it would serve as a rallying point for similar movements in other countries. While I think it is useful to study models, I believe that our biggest task is to figure out ways to move our struggle forward on the political level. Once we have achieved power on a national scale, we will find any number of economic models that can serve egalitarian development. But unless we can defend them effectively with an armed and mobilized population, they will certainly be smashed by the enemies of justice who dwell on Wall Street and Washington, DC. Louis Proyect Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
