WHAT WERE THE IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOCIALISM IN THE SOVIET BLOC AND SOCIALISM IN THE THIRD WORLD?
To understand the differences between Socialism in the Soviet Union and in the third world, we first have to explain what Socialism in the Soviet and the third world context really mean. The phrase the 'the third world' is generally taken to include the Americas south of the United States; the whole of Africa; Asia apart from the Soviet Union, China and Japan; and the oceanic islands apart from Australia and New Zealand.1 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels theorised in general terms about the transition between Capitalism and Communism. They reasoned that between Capitalist and Communist society there would be 'the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other.' They also contended that the social order during this period would be "a communist society, not as it had developed on its own foundations, but on the contrary, as it has emerged from capitalist society." They referred to this transitional social order between capitalism and communism as the 'inf!erior stage of communism' and frequently as 'Socialism.' Alec Nove in his book 'Political, Economy and Soviet Socialism' comments that there is "Basic unclarity about the meaning both of 'socialism' and of the 'transition period'." Alan Abouchar says, "T
------------------------------------------------------------------------ It can be said therefore that the important difference between socialism in the soviet and socialism in the third world is that those countries who claimed to be socialist were actually, by strict definition to the soviet model, not socialist. Yes, they did share many things in common, for example; coercion and terror from 'above', a military dictatorship, a planned economy and state intervention. However the key significance was that the real power lay in different hands and the means of revolution were achieved through a different path. In addition, economic policy was more liberal in some cases and many countries who studied the Soviet model had realised that they required trade and a 'free market' to achieve their short and long term plans. Many countries have used models from different areas, combining fascist, communist, Marxist, socialist and capitalist theories to achieve their own goals. G Chalaind - Revolution in the third world (1977 Harvester Press) C Clapham - Third World Politics (1985 Kent) A Nove - Political Economy and Soviet Socialism (1979 London) ird world states have been able to acquire a degree of control over their economies which, though highly variable, disproves any simplistic notion of the state as merely the product and plaything of external economic forces. A Abouchar - Economic Evaluation of Soviet Socialism (1979)
Some common words found in the essay are:
Union Abouchar, Guinea Angola, Iraq Peru, Michael Manley, Third World, Soviet Union, Capitalist Communist, Marta Harnecker, According Bettelheim, Alan Abouchar, third world, transition socialism, soviet union, soviet socialism, means production, socialism soviet, internal international contradictions, construction socialism, class struggle, genuine transition, economy soviet, production world market, socialism third world, conjuncture internal international, third world governments,
Approximate Word count = 1584
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
