Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 15:57:23 -0500 (EST)
From: Louis N Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: Reform and revolution


On Sat, 17 Feb 1996 glevy-AT-acnet.pratt.edu wrote:

> Is Kerala not part of the world capitalist economy (or, if you prefer, is 
> it not a "mixed economy")? Is capitalism (with land reforms, literacy, 
> etc.) a "very *appropriate* model for third world development"? Is 
> socialism needed in all parts of the world today? Can you reform your way 
> into socialism by electing the Communist Party (or another workers party) 
> to power while still maintaining capitalist relations?
> 

Louis: My interest in Kerala is strictly on the basis of the way they 
have implemented pro-peasantry reforms. There is nothing more "socialist" 
about Kerala than Nicaragua. They are both mixed economies.

Unfortunately, the prospects for models like Kerala or Nicaragua are 
extremely limited because of the demise of the Soviet Union. Nicaragua 
relied on Soviet aid, and collapsed when that aid was withdrawn. Kerala 
represents a pocket of radical reform that exists only because of the 
power of the left in India historically and India's ability to play east 
against west.

Nationally-based models of socialism are fairly limited whether they are 
"market socialist", Soviet styled, Swedish welfare state or mixed 
economies. The approach encapsulated in the Communist Manifesto and in 
the original outlook of Lenin and Trotsky--a global one--is the only one 
that seems realistic today.


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