KENYA SOCIALIST DEMOCRATIC
ALLIANCE (KSDA)
Sunday 20th July 2003
REPLY TO JARED OLUOCH'S VIEWS ON SOCIALISM AND CAPITALISM
The Kenya Socialist Democratic
Alliance (KSDA) takes this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Jared Oluoch,
a young Kenyan student of Information Technology and self declared "budding
commentator" for his recent attempt
to analyze Socialism and Capitalism and the implications of the two ideologies
to “The Kenya we want”. Mr. Oluoch's piece was definitely well composed
while it also posed good challenges in the field of public debate. From our
view, the piece represented the growing interest of Kenyans (especially
the youth) in open discussions about the most suitable political ideology
that can solve the deep crisis that has been facing Kenya for the last four
decades.
In fact, some of Oluoch’s views especially those on the subject of Socialism
provided a rare glimpse into the extent to which Socialism as a political
alternative is still misunderstood by young Kenyans who are tired of living
under capitalist exploitation, a rotten system that continues to deliver
nothing but poverty, unemployment, homelessness and deprivation during these
difficult times of Neo-colonialism and imperialist domination in our country.
The doubts and analytical weaknesses exhibited by Mr. Oluoch were not
startling, given the spirited anti socialist campaigns and distortions
in Kenya soon after “Independence” and the systematic persecution of the
Kenyan Left during the Moi Dictatorship, a turbulent period that saw the
banning of Socialist books, prohibition of “Ideological parties” and a ban
on political Parties that did not profess “Parliamentary democracy”. These
moves deprived the reading public of Socialist literature as public curiosity
about Socialism was frustrated by State organs. Socialism was presented as
a monster while Kenyans who studied in the former Soviet Union or Eastern
block countries became pariahs in society. They were officially denied jobs
by the government or framed up and sent to prison. It must be remembered that
Kenya became an autocratic one party dictatorship in 1982 on the eve of the
launching of the Kenya Socialist Alliance because of the trepidation the
word "Socialism" created within KANU ruling class whose Vice president was
by then Mr. Mwai Kibaki, now President of the Republic. It is against this
background that Oluoch's distorted perception of Socialism may have been
natured.
Oluoch drew serious conclusions without analysis
We will treat Oluoch’s contribution as a welcome opportunity for KSDA
to clear clouds of misconceptions about Socialism that we have also bumped
into in the numerous private emails we continue to receive as young and
old Kenyans begin to seriously question a system that is only benefiting
the rich as the little gains of the colonial revolution are also rolled backwards
to give room for new modes of profit making capitalist projects by
a minority class of blood suckers in our country.
Although Oluoch stated in his preamble that his mission in composing
his piece was to respond to “pertinent issues raised in KSDA’s web site”
regarding the just concluded KCA Conference in the United States,
he remained mum on all the ten critical points we raised and which we said,
were missed at the KCA Conference.
These points included the mega question of landlessness in Kenya, rampant
privatizations, a million salaries for Kenyan MPs at a time of economic crisis,
the question of retrenched workers, IMF and World Bank’s retrogressive economic
activities in Kenya, the question of a minimum living wage for Kenyan workers
currently on starvation wages, the new Narc regime and the Capitalist system
of government among others.
Instead, Mr. Oluoch exploited the opportunity to respond to KSDA’s contribution
to draw some very serious conclusions about Socialism as a political ideology
without any analysis. Worse still, he did so after admitting that he is
uninformed about both Socialism and Capitalism, and after stating that on
these two subjects, he would prefer to sit on the fence because he does
not “purport to have complete grasp of Socialism and capitalism”. We wondered
how a budding commentator who appeared to have been disqualifying himself
from passing judgment on such a heavy ideological subject on grounds that
he was ill equipped could have proceeded to make very serious recommendations
that required a deeper insight into the subject matter he was handling.
Socialism and the individual
To begin with a misguided conclusion that was drawn by Mr. Oluoch, he
wrote that:
“a socialist system may experience problems with people's individuality
since the interest of society may not always be compatible with those of
the individual”.
We wish to correct this view because it is based on the assumption that
under a Socialist system, the interest of the individual is so much important
that if it is not met, the whole system may run into problems. In a Socialist
State where workers are in control of the State machine, the interest of
the whole society is dictated by the collective interest and will of the
Working people through democratic decisions. Individuals are part of society
and Socialism recognises individual idiosyncrasies. Under Socialism, individuals
have better opportunities of developing their potential through free access
to State services (including education). However, Socialism discourages
individuals from exploiting personal development for personal gain. Instead,
members of society are encouraged to utilize their potential in various
fields for the benefit of society. For example, a Doctor trained by the
State at the expense of the tax payer is discouraged from opening a private
clinic to exploit helpless patients through exobitant fees but encouraged
to work for society in public health institutions.
Top heavy bureaucratic elites and Socialism
Mr. Oluoch wrote: “The major problem of socialist theory is that there
will always be an elite: to govern the country and to manage factories”.
This is yet another twisted conclusion that needs to be straightened.
By talking about an “elite” to “govern” and “manage factories”, Mr. Oluoch
is unconsciously referring to the top heavy bureaucratic, privileged and
autocratic ruling elite which imposed itself on top of the working class
in the former Soviet Union and other Eastern block countries and who contributed
to the collapse of the deformed workers states in these regions. For the
International capitalist press, Imperialist agents and Capitalist apologists
around the world, the collapse of these bureaucracies were trumpeted as
“the collapse of Socialism”.
The processes that led to events in the former Soviet Union and Eastern
block countries together with the Stalinist character of regimes in these
regions prior to the celebrated “collapse of Socialism” within the
Capitalist camp are very familiar subjects to Socialists around the world.
We cannot get into the whole analysis here because of space. Stalinism is
a recognised tendency within the International Socialist Movement and which
is also well understood by the advanced layers within the Movement.
In a society where workers are aspiring to build Socialism, major wealth
producing institutions have to be managed by workers themselves under “Workers’
Committees” (not elites) answerable to a Workers’ Party which runs society
on the principles of a Workers’ democracy (as opposed to capitalist or bourgeoisie
democracy). In this arrangement, the whole productive process is managed
under a Planned economic system of government (as opposed to the exploitative
market system under capitalism). It is notable that Oluoch raised some very
important ideological questions that cannot be tackled adequately here without
a major deviation from other pending issues he touched.
The role of workers in a Socialist democracy
Oluoch wrote: “Socialism pleads for the education of the workers, but
once socialist leaders are in place, they would not want others to endanger
their positions, hence further personal development is not appreciated;
it would become a threat to the new Socialist ‘elite’”.
A basic concept of Socialism is not to build up individual leaders to
take over the running of Workers Parties, organizations or the State but
to try and build every worker to become a leader through ideological education
and involvement in practical revolutionary work aimed at transforming society.
Under a Socialist State, workers’ representatives are not supposed to earn
more salaries than the workers they represent thus the demand for a living
wage for all workers in any serious Socialist Program. Workers representatives
are also not supposed to have privileges that we witness under capitalism
and which puts leaders on top of their constituents.
Under a Socialist State, workers should be able to recall representatives
whom they think, are not working in the interest of the Party, the workers
themselves or society. This control is not possible under capitalism where
“People's Representatives (MPs)” abandon the electorate immediately after
elections. In a functioning Workers Party, democratic elections are mandatory
through well organised Party Congresses and if the internal party regime
is healthy, workers should be able to change leaderships depending on the
leaders they think are in the best positions to lead at any point in time.
When Mr. Oluoch writes about “Socialist leaders” feeling endangered or
“Socialist elites” feeling threatened, he is once again referring to Stalinism,
a system that was based on intimidation of workers by an elite that had
entrenched itself in power in the name of workers. It is an elite that used
secret police (KGB) to scare workers, lived in dachas (villas), killed workers’
morale, executed opponents, side-lined workers in the running of society
and stunted creativity of individuals.
This is not to say that nothing was achieved under Stalinism. Despite
the deformed nature of the Workers state in the former Soviet Union, the
country was transformed from a Third World peasant country to a superpower
with one of the highest technological developments in the world in less than
50 years! The incredible feats reached in the former Soviet Republics in
terms of technology and living standards under a distorted form of Socialism
(Stalinism) shows the potential of Socialism and underlines the need for
progressive individuals to study the system without prejudice planted by
agents of Capitalism working through the Capitalist media, institutions of
learning and other channels.
We have experienced several situations in which individuals dismiss Socialism
from positions of deep ignorance or on the basis of anti Socialist propaganda
spewed from Capitalist institutions. The collapse of Stalinism was a major
draw back to the International Working class Movement and some Comrades
who did not recover from the shock switched sides to work with Capitalists
from where they occasionally throw dirt at us.
Socialists recognise unique political situations in every liberation
struggle
Oluoch wrote: “Socialism and Capitalism worked because of specific characteristics
of the countries in which they were applied. Ancient feudal systems and
also the Industrial Revolution had resulted in Europe in modern slavery
that had to be countered (revolutions)”.
There can be no transplantation of Socialism from Karl Marx's text books
to Kenya. We have said before that Socialism is not a religious dogma to
be memorized by heart or chanted indiscriminately in the name of revolution.
Socialists recognise unique political situations in every liberation struggle.
In fact Socialism itself is an idea. The missing link in Oluoch’s statement
above is that after the industrial revolution, Feudalism had to give room
to Capitalism because the industrial revolution dictated that goods produced
had to be sold for profit by the emergent capitalist class that became the
new owners of the new means of producing wealth.
Slaves had to be freed to work in factories to earn money which they
could use to buy products from the emergent capitalist class as surplus
was exported. In other words, slaves became the new workers. According
to Socialist thinking, capitalism emerged out of feudalism, just like socialism
has to emerge out of capitalism on the basis of the development of the
productive forces whose potential becomes impossible to exploit fully in
the interest of society at a given stage under capitalism. To clear the
air, Communism is the highest stage of Socialism, just like Imperialism
is the highest stage of Capitalism. What Socialists are saying is that the
means of producing wealth in society under capitalism needs to be taken
over by Workers who produce the wealth because this remains the only way
through which wealth can be used to benefit the whole society.
Slavery ended because the industrial revolution made slavery irrelevant.
Today, the needs of mankind makes Capitalism irrelevant in the achievement
of these needs. While huge resources for the production of food exists
in terms of raw material and technology, millions are starving around the
world because the resources are controlled by greedy capitalists who have
enslaved majority of World population through economic, political and other
controls. The needs of mankind can only be met by putting an end to a system
where 10% of the population owns 90% of wealth produced by society. Socialists
believe that wealth produced by society should belong to society to be controlled
and distributed by society in the interest of every individual. This will
never happen under the profit system.
"Socialism for Kenya" should be left to Kenyans to decide
Mr. Oluoch declared that Socialism, an ideology he admits he does not
understand, cannot work in Kenya. Socialism is not a system that will be
imposed on Kenyans by some Kenyan exiles returning home to practice politics
or academics at public universities seeking for a solution to the crisis
in Kenya. Likewise, a Socialist government will not fall into place through
a web site in the Internet. As an individual, Mr. Oluoch and other "Socialism
cannot work" zealots can theorize endlessly about the unworkability of Socialism
in Kenya. But for revolutionary Kenyan Socialists who continue to study the
situation in our country scientifically from bases at home and abroad, the
big issue is when the "Red flag" will be raised so that the real dynamics
of the Socialist revolution in our country can begin. It will be up to Kenyan
workers and the exploited majority to decide on whether they want to continue
suffering under Capitalism or whether they want to experience the Socialist
revolution through a democratic overthrow of capitalism using available democratic
means.
If a Workers’ Party with a clear Socialist Program were to emerge in
Kenya, it would compete for political power, just like other political
parties. The party will have to be registered, recruit members, convince
Kenyans about the need for Socialism, present itself for elections, engage
in election campaigns and show why Capitalism is not the way forward. Why
should an individual writing in the Internet or the Capitalist Kenyan press
decide that Socialism is not good for Kenya when the Kenyan masses have not
even been exposed to the ideas of Socialism through organised political activity
that bases itself on the concept of a Socialist Revolution?
We are dealing with a situation where in the last 4 decades, Kenyan Socialists
have been unable to organise because of the East-West ideological battles
that raged during the cold war and the classification of Kenyan Socialists
as “Subversives” during Moi’s 24 years of dictatorship. We are not saying
that the Narc government should transform itself into a Socialist Party
and bring about the Socialist revolution because that will never happen.
We are calling for the establishment of a “Workers Party” as a first step
towards introducing Socialist politics on the ground in Kenya because Capitalism
in our country has reached a dead end and has to be overthrown.
KSDA encourages debate and dialogue on the question of Socialism
Reading through Mr. Oluoch’s piece, we got the impression that he may
have embarked on his amateurish and disastrous analysis of both Capitalism
and Socialism in order to try and introduce the idea of a “Third way”, which
he also recommended as a perfect system for Kenya. In passing, the “Third
Way” was supposed to be a concoction of Socialism and capitalism. One of
the most prominent proponents of the Third way has been Tonny Blaire. We
will leave the issue of the Third Way for another day. Likewise, we will
not comment on Oluoch's appreciation of WTO, the European Union and Imperialist
America which he recommended as suitable entities that could control "fair
International trade regulations".
KSDA will continue to respond to questions and issues raised by Kenyans
whenever possible. We encourage debate and dialogue on the question of Socialism
because the solution to the crisis in our country requires the input of
all Kenyans. Kenyans died to physically drive away British colonialists.
Democratic Movements defeated the one party state and the KANU party that
had been in power for 39 years. Our view is that after Narc take-over,
the next step will be to organise the kind of revolution that will overthrow
the system because we are convinced that the system is the problem.
Okoth Osewe
Secretary
Kenya Socialist democratic Alliance (KSDA)
Mr. Oluoch's
Article
KSDA is a revolutionary Socialist Alliance
which fights for Socialism in Kenya and the World. The Alliance believes
that the fundamental social, economic and political crisis facing Kenya today
requires a democratic Socialist revolution with Kenyan working class taking
a leading role in the struggle. The Alliance advocates for the formation
of a Workers' Party in Kenya and the abolition of capitalism in the country.
Contacts: KSDA Box 74, 123 22 Farsta, Sweden. website: http://www.kenyasocialist.org.
Tel: 00 46 736533068.