On socialist thought and application

Abstract

Preface provided by author:

1. Statement of the problem: Since the attainment of political independence by most of the countries in the Third World, there has been an incessant flow of ideological pronouncements. More specifically, the concept of "socialism" has been one of the most vulgarised of socio-economic theories. Many a leader and theoretician in the Third World has proclaimed, with varying degrees of fanfare, his/her belief in socialism. But although the flow of socialist utterances has been heady, the relationship between such utterances and political practices has been found in scarce evidence. More often than not, the term socialism has been used by leaders in the Third World in a populistic attempt to rally support for policies which scarcely seek to promote the construction of a socialist society

Among the few states in the Third World which seem to indicate a fundamental commitment to the effort of relating the socialist ideological goals to political means, China and Tanzania figure rather prominently. In an attempt to make their socialist theories practical, these two states have adopted bold and novel experiments towards the construction of a socialist society. It is on the basis of these novel developmental experiments that China and Tanzania have been chosen for a close examination regarding the problems of socialist transformation in the agrarian societies of the Third World

In examining the relationship between ideology and policy undertaking in the two states, our inquiry will focus on two basic and salient antitheses of socialist construction. That is (a) the contradiction between society and the state; and (b) the gap between urban and rural life. Both phenomena tend to militate against the egalitarian vision of socialist ideology. Thus our primary concern is to see how the two countries are coping with these contradictions

Briefly summed up, the main purpose of this thesis is to attempt a comparative analysis of the nature and extent to which the relationship exists between the two states' socialist theories and policy undertakings. In searching for the evidence of such a relationship between theories and programs of action, we want to distinguish in both countries the theoretical claims which might be regarded as relevant guiding principles in the task of building a socialist society from those which may be regarded as dead letters

Ideology, therefore, is our independent variable and policy undertaking the dependent variable. The link or interaction between them is what we want to explain

2. Comparison as a Method : Our inquiry is a comparative study of those political phenomena which reflect an association between the two sets of variables mentioned above (ideologies and policy undertakings). On the face of it, comparing the Chinese socialist theory and policy undertakings with those of Tanzania may seem like trying to compare an apple with an orange. That is, it may be argued that the two political systems are vastly different in terms of size, social composition, political structure, stage of economic development, international status, and even in terms of the epistemic foundations of the states' respective socialist ideations

However, despite these seemingly obvious systemic discrepancies, both the Chinese and the Tanzanian leaders share a common commitment to the classless vision of societal order. This vision is the one philosophic underpinning which is common to both the Chinese and Tanzanian socialist ideologies. And despite the two states' different organizational principles, they share another ideological principle, i. e., the notion of self-reliance which is a function of their common anti-imperialist stance. China and Tanzania have respectively 80 and 90 percent of their populations engaged in agricultural economic activity. How each proposes or attempts to socialize and transform the life of these broad masses of people will provide insights about the general problem of socialist construction in rural environments

Moreover, our inquiry does not start from the premise that the Chinese, and the Tanzanian systems are entirely on an analytic par. Rather, the act of comparison is adopted to raise questions as to what aspects of the two countries' socialist theories and practices should be compared, how they may be compared, or whether they can be compared

It is by making such comparative examinations of more than one developing socialist country that our analyses of the problems of building socialism in the Third World can move beyond particular cases to the higher levels of generalization and thus advance our comprehnsion about such problems. Succinctly stated, this inquiry focuses on the association between the above given two sets of variables and posits that this association can best be comprehended when it is examined and assessed under varied conditions such as those of China and Tanzania

3. Conflict as a Theory of Politics : Our inquiry is predicated on the conflictual conception of political organization of society. The conflictual theory of politics postulates that group or class interests are the most fundamental and salient determinants of political activity. Proceeding from this basic premise, the theory pays explicit attention to the description and analysis of the genesis and history of political institutions and organizations from the sociological (class) perspective of the political process. That is, in contrast to the behavioral theory which tends to treat citizens as abstract bundles of attitudes, the conflictual theory conceives of men in society as categoric groups or classes. Such categoric strata or classes come into being as a result of contending social and economic interests, and group struggles on behalf of these interests play the most significant role in political process. Unlike A. F. Bentley's functionalist theory of "interest-groups" which vulgarizes the political process by picturing the state as an institution which merely settles the interrelationships among the groups rather than takes sides in such interrelationships, the conflictual theory asserts the class essence of political rule; since the value orientations of political leadership constitutes a key variable of decision-making, an analysis of the political process which avoids paying explicit attention to the class character of the political system is likely to produce a distorted conception of political reality

Moreover, since socialist ideologies and policy undertakings are measures of combatting social stratification, class analysis, the essence of the conflictual theory of politics, provides us with concepts which are appropriate for our inquiry