Gambia L,
As I was going through my letters a few minutes ago, I saw one e-mail
written to me in private, in which the writer - a Gambia L subscriber
studying political science - has asked me to help him tackle these two
questions - why has Socialism failed and whether it does have a future or
not - as part of his research.
Well, I do know that the writer is asking these questions in private and
would therefore want/expect my answers to be posted to him, also, in
private.
But I've decided to send my comments through the L, so that people who know
better might also help him in tackling these questions for the research he
is conducting. Someone rightly said the other day on the L that no one has a
monopoly of ideas.
"Why has Socialism failed? Does it have a future a future?", are the two
questions he asked. Well, because of lack of research as I write this piece,
I'll have to be briefed.
All the same, it is, of course, an open secret that Socialism has indeed
suffered reverses and not lived up to expectations. However, having said
that, it is also a fact that in human history, it is not unusual nor
unprecedented for ideas to suffer such reverses and bounced back with time
to fulfill their mission. Therefore, an idea rejected with bitterness today
may well emerge the wisdom of another time.
For instance, no one would have thought - or believed - that the sun will
ever rise for capitalism when its foundations crumbled in the 1930s, during
the dreary depression.
I am of the view that the failure of capitalism then and the failure of
Socialism today is but a failure in truthfully implementing an idea. They
say a brilliant idea in the wrong hands may prove a disaster.
The real problem of Socialism was the dogmatism and rigidity with which the
implementors went about their task. And needless to say that a good ideology
must be flexible and adaptive. Brother Saiks, please feel free to correct
me. Your input/thoughts would be most appreciated.
In m view, what must be acknowledged is the fact that many of the
implementors of Socialism were not genuine or sincere at all!! For example,
throughout the history of socialist rule, ever since the Bolsheviks
triumphed in 1917, it had been the maxim in socialist press theory that like
all institutions, the press must be under the firm control of the
proletariat, here translated to mean control by the communist party.
To achieve this control, censorship laws were resorted to. But I was taken
aback, or surprised, when I discovered - some time ago - what Marx himself,
father of Socialism, had said on the question of the press which the
implementors had buried/hidden as they killed Marxism on the altar of their
own political survival. This is why I have been emphasizing that this is an
era of endless reading.
Condemning press censorship and encouraging press freedom, Marx had written,
among other things, that..."The censored press has a demoralising effect. It
is a potentiated evil from which hypocrisy is inseparable, and from this
fundamental evil flow all its other weaknesses. The government hears only
its own voice, and yet fixes itself in the delusion it is hearing the voice
of the people and demands of the people that they, too, affix to this
delusion"...
It is unfortunate that as I write this piece, I do not have the whole
statement Marx had given, in relation to press freedom, but it is,
nonetheless, clear - based on these quotations - that there are indeed
enough guidelines in Marxism to support genuine democratic rights. The
problem of Socialism therefore had to do with its implementors' lack of
sincerity and also their lack of flexibility.
Capitalism, as seen by Marx and Engels, had also shown that rigidity as the
bourgeoisie became slaves to their greed. However, what saved capitalism was
the preparedness of modern capitalists to trim off the ugly edges by
introducing socialist recommendations, by giving it a human face, by
stressing the welfare component, which ultimately increase the profits for
the owners.
Therefore, the future of socialism, in my view, lies in adopting capitalist
methods or any other device that will enhance the attainment of a society
which guarantees that every citizen can have decent standard of living.
Where modern socialism went wrong was to plunge into the past and use
feudalist practices to achieve socialism.(Again I stand to be corrected)
Finally, it is interesting to observe that while America's capitalism claims
victory over socialism, thousands are homeless in the land of plenty, where
some people have 20-bedroom mansions. The US is bathing in a bloodbath;
crime and violence marks the skyline and what the books do not say is that
capitalism is what breeds the malaise.
Last night I was glued to my TV, watching CNN's live coverage of yet another
shooting, this time in Atlanta Georgia, in which 12 people were reportedly
killed and several others injured. It is indeed regrettable that while
cities in the USA should be in a race to find out who has done more for its
residents, the race is about crime statistics, about how many people have
been killed in a month.
Because of lack of research, I do not have the statistics of the current
killings in the US, but while I was there in 1995, thousands were slain in
the whole of the US for that particular year. Hundreds were slain in New
york alone.
At the time, homicide had outstripped other causes as the leading killer of
black males aged 14 to 25 and random killings had also soared. In fact,
there were cities which even set murder records.
Surely, America is an advanced/developed country, but it is also a fact that
it has shown retrogression in other aspects. Isn't it therefore ironic/funny
when you read in the newspapers that the US is sending so much aid to Africa
and other parts of the world, and yet thousands of its citizens are homeless
and begging on the streets?
Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK.
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