"Populism" and Totalitarianism in the Emergent Nations (The Third World, by Peter Worsley)
McCord, William R.
THE THIRD WoRtn, by Peter Worsley. University of Chicago Press, 317 pp. $5.50. Peter Worsley, who holds the chair of sociology at Manchester, has written an admirable socialdemocratic...
...It is exactly this refreshing quality which distinguishes his book from the usual scholarly literature on the "third world...
...Surely, this generalization holds true for, say, the Dutch in Indonesia...
...Worsley believes that "populism" is the political formula best fitted to the needs of developing nations (or, more generally, suited to an agrarian society where class divisions have not yet strongly appeared...
...Senegal, for example, has appropriated 10 million francs to build a palace for a regional legislature in the town of Tambacounda...
...In a somewhat contradictory fashion, Worsley admits that " 'Glory' has certainly been an independent variable of major significance in recent colonial history...
...He must not only be allowed to live without any restriction on his personal freedom...
...While Worsley concedes that "populist" rule may turn into a regime of terror, he nonetheless holds out a cautious hope that "populism" may still, under some conditions, retain the most important protections for individual freedom...
...He recognizes, as few social scientists do, the complexity of society, the stubbornly idiosyncratic nature of man, and the indeterminancy of human destiny...
...He describes, among other relevant illustrations, the lunatic extravagances which a populist one-party rule has occasioned in parts of ex-French Africa...
...He notes that even Nazism (one variety of "populism...
...And he proposes two constructive ways to promote economic growth in developing nations: by increasing the degree of economic cooperation between the emer gent countries themselves (somewhat unlikely, he concedes) and by expand ing the role of world organizations in international development...
...Peter Worsley has not tried to outguess history...
...but he must be able to contribute to his society through his work and ideas...
...Yet it is hard to reconcile this view with certain other facts: the French spent more money on their colonies than ever returned to the "Metropolitan" ruler...
...Though Worsley is a leader of England's "New Left" and I adhere to more conventional liberal principles, we arrive at essentially the same convictions concerning the emerging nations...
...He apparently believes that ethnic and other divisions will prevent emerging countries from developing pure "monocentric" states...
...University of Chicago Press, 317 pp...
...missionaries, abolitionists, military strategists, and simple adventurers played as important a role in English expansion as did capitalists...
...Perhaps we are witnessing the spontaneous growth of a new school of thought on this matter: an approach which, while recognizing the multitude of obstacles, stresses that democracy in some form can flourish in the "Third World" and that economic growth need not require a stringent autocracy...
...On a more important level, I am worried that Worsley may underestimate the potential for totalitarianism inherent in "populism...
...Worsley ends his important book by condemning the use of Western power in defense of dictatorships such as South Viet Nam's: "future historians may well conclude that while Stalin successfully kept the Communists out of power in Afro-Asia, the State Department put them in...
...Worsley describes the manifestations of this doctrine in North America and its various forms in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East...
...Overwhelming social unity has its dangers," Nyerere carefully warned, at the moment when he fostered a oneparty regime...
...Despite its internal disunities, Nazism did succeed in massacring millions of its opponents...
...As Worsley points out, men like Nyerere wish to preserve the principles of liberal democracy while abandoning specific institutions which they regard as unworkable in their societies...
...and Germany's flirtation with colonies was far more a flexing of nationalist muscles than a profit-oriented activity...
...It is by the existence of a place for the 'odd man out' that a newly independent country can be judged to be fully democratic...
...If one destroys the institutional base for democracy, what guarantee (other than the good will of a very mortal man like Nyerere) can an emerging country have that the principles of freedom will be maintained...
...Worsley begins by pointing out that "until our day, human society has never existed...
...I find it difficult, for example, to accept Worsley's assertion that, "the prime content of colonial political rule was economic exploitation...
...For there are no 'inevitable trends.' Quite simply, we can choose...
...Imperialism brought into being its own 'gravedigger', not merely by revolutionizing production and creating new social classes, but by transforming the total conditions of life even of the peasantry, that mass which ultimately might otherwise have remained an outside spectator...
...Yet, does this caveat about the supposedly monolithic nature of Nazi Germany really matter...
...was subject to fights between contending groups and could hardly be considered a truly unified state...
...The issue is the same now as it was in Russia: "Does 'modernization'.., inevitably entail rigid mobilization and 'forced marches' for the development of heavy industry...
...Most importantly, peasants have been shaken from their traditional patterns and molded into a revolutionary force...
...The new populism could become the source of a revived humanist internationalism," Worsley says, but "it could just as easily disappear, just as Russian populism gave way to Bolshevism...
...Peter Worsley, who holds the chair of sociology at Manchester, has written an admirable socialdemocratic manifesto for underdeveloped countries...
...Having just tried my own hand at dealing with this topic—a survey of the "Third World" and the prescription of new policies— I know well the problems which he faced...
...Until recently, only Mao Tse-tung, by turning Marx on his head, recognized this most fundamental change in 20th century life...
...For him, in fact, totalitarianism is a "logical impossibility...
...He notes, too, that "populism" may take on a rightist coloration (as in Peronism) or may be oriented to the left (as in Ghana...
...Clearly, many "populist" states, such as Ghana and Egypt, simply mask or surpress basic conflicts within the society which will, as in Indonesia at the moment, eventually come to the surface...
...And he demonstrates why the Western varieties of Marxism, Social Democracy, and classical liberalism failed to offer relevant solutions to nationalists aspiring for independence...
...Arthur Lewis, the doyen of "development economists," Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, and K. A. Busia, formerly head of the opposition in Ghana, have in their recent writings also come to the defense of democratic principles in the emerging countries...
...Yet, only 8 million francs were devoted in the same year to the development of production in the entire nation...
...Worsley recognizes many of the dangers inherent in "populism...
...The "populist" is one who asserts that there are no irreparable divisions in his society and that an organic, undifferentiated society requires only a single political organization...
...Particularly in Africa, indigenous democratic conditions may forbid the creation of a truly totalitarian state...
...From our analysis," he modestly concludes, "we have not projected any 'inevitable trends' into the future...
...Drawing on the experience of areas as diverse as Egypt and Nigeria, Indonesia and Senegal, Worsley traces the forces which brought the "European interlude" to its end...
...And, like Worsley, they have undermined the arguments presented by both imperialists and certain social scientists that non-Western man is incapable of developing a free soci ety...
...Worsley cites, to good effect, the opinions of Julius Nyerere who, despite his profound understanding of Western democracy and his unquestioned commitment to individual freedom, has still felt compelled to foster the emergence of a one-party state in Tanzania...
...One result of Western intervention in the Third World was to create a common world civilization: "Imperialism brought about the consolidation of the world as a single social system...
...Like Wors ley, they reject the prevalent opinion that totalitarianism is the only political form appropriate for developing nations...
...The danger lies in "the possible exclusion of the eccentric, the one who does not conform to the social mores...
...I have nothing but admiration for this fine book, although in regard to a complex subject there are bound to be disagreements...
...Is it not, then, wiser to follow India and Nigeria's example and attempt to build a set of institutions which will channel these conflicts peacefully, rather than trying to achieve that "organically unified society" which "populism" postulates...
Vol. 13 • January 1966 • No. 1
