Dear Editor,
It appears that the month of March has become, in Guyana, the period of debate as to the relevance of Marxism– Leninism in today’s world. That is because Cheddi Jagan was born and died in this month, and he was a very creative Marxist. I have had to talk to many on this matter on programmes and other places several times this month.
His detractors normally use this month to go after Marxism. Their main argument is that Marxism is no longer relevant. In his lifetime, Dr. Jagan had to deal with this issue over and over again. He was never tired of pointing out that Marxism is not a dogma, it is a science; it is more of a methodology to approach issues.
What distinguishes Marxism from other political theories is that it looks at issues from the position of the working masses. That is: workers, farmers, intellectuals, and other oppressed peoples.
The other argument used against Marxism–Leninism is that the socialist countries in Europe collapsed. This occurred because the bureaucracy began to use the state as a means of enrichment. That encouraged corruption, and the weakening of the state. That is among one of their strongest arguments to urge political parties and progressive persons to abandon Marxism.
What they fail to realise is that what collapsed in Eastern Europe was a model of socialism often described as the Commandist type of socialism. This is not dissimilar from many models of capitalism that failed.
Take Germany and Italy, for instance; their brand of capitalism failed dismally. It was known as fascism, and it led the world into a cruel war. Much later, we saw many Latin American brands of capitalism failing badly.
Recall Chile and Argentina in the 1970s, and Brazil in the 1960s. Those were all variations of capitalism which collapsed. Before they fell, they wreaked havoc in their respective countries.
Today, the most successful countries in the world economically are countries that have adopted Marxism– Leninism as their guide. Here reference is made to the People’s Republic of China and to Vietnam. These two countries are developing very rapidly. Moreover, China in particular has made great gains in every aspect of life. China is the only country in the world that has wiped out absolute poverty, and Vietnam is on the same course.
China was able to achieve the heights that it has because it abandoned the commandist model that the Soviet Union had adopted, because when the Soviet State came into existence, it faced a hostile capitalist world that was trying to strangle it in its cradle, to use Winston Churchill’s words.
China, using Marxism creatively, abandoned that model in the late 1970s. It began to take into consideration the world’s balance of forces and its own stage of development, and crafted policies to ensure rapid economic growth and improved social conditions. It has now become the second largest economy in the world when we use the nominal GDP measure, and the largest when the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) measure is applied.
The leaders of China have recognised that China’s tremendous progress was due to the correct application of Marxism. Here is how it was put by the Chinese Communist Part itself: “At this fundamental level, we owe the success of our party and socialism…to the fact that Marxism works…”
Cheddi Jagan had tremendous foresight. Almost all his predictions on our economy, politics and social developments were spot on. This was because of his scientific Marxist approach to the various issues he had to contend with.
Much of what happened to Marx’s words after his death is taking place with Jagan’s contributions. Like Marx, however, Jagan’s name and work will endure throughout the ages.
Sincerely,
Donald Ramotar
Former President
