Africa: the past three decades - an evaluation

. / ^{· -~ 1 ~ stG}

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.AFRICA: THE PAST THREE DECADES - AN EVALUATION

BY

SAMIR AMIN

Drafted by:

CADMAN ATTA MILLS

-

JANUARY, 1976

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AFRICA: THE P.t.ST THREE DECJJ}CS ... ^·ill~ EV JJJUATION

. ^' . . ... ^~·

It is no. revelation that i;he past three decades ^1. development ex- perience i~ A.frica has. been a total failure. The euphoria tha:lï aocom- panied the granti:ng of forrual i!lù.ependence d~:i,ng the .latter ha4f of this period has given way to bitter disappointm~nts, recriminations and succ(;ls~ive coups d'état ·as more ·and more latter"'-day 'saviours'

(u1;3ually the. armed forces) present themselves to · ¹liberate ¹ the people frQrn underdevelopn;tent. They _promise much- and often ·choose their names accordi:ngly; Natic>nal Liberation Council, National··Redemption

Oouncil. etc. - but try- as they might, they usually end up as internal occupation· forces. There are few countries . in Af:rica: ^t·~.ay that can- rtot.' boast . o::6 a st3ries of rgovernments and/or develcipment plami, but all

the se not-vrithstanding, no ground

. Pas

be en gained even in the rather dubious avowed official policy of catching up with the industrialized west, not to mention the layirlg of the foundations for a .more· self'-centred

aut~nomous development. The recor.d of the. performancE:) of African econo- mies ()Ver the past fifteen ye~~ _ 0~:-~~ does in fact demonstrate this.

. .. . . .. . . : . : . . .:. : .1

Accordi:ng to the Economie Commission for Africa. "In the early 1970s. the over all e conomic. performance of the .. 41 ihdependent devel oping Africa.n countries. as me9-Sured by· the . output of. goods: and. services: continue ta give cause for concern₁

".(P.l}

-~for.. go!>ci roa.s.onl;,, ~In

..

197Q ^the.. overall rate of growth -vras only

5.4%

and an even poorer

4•ofo ·in 19'73.

In per ,:capita terms, the rate of growth for 1971-1972 was only 2.6%. What this

·'

.

^·'

f'igure hides, howcver,· is the fact that in fully sixteen countries) GDP pcr capi ta actually fell. These are the 16 countries which acco:rdi:ng to the E

.c •

.t.. "recorded. either negative rates or. rates nhich·,·were ·less .. than:the average rate of pppula.tion growth." (p .• 16) .· In feïet.most of

the growth rccorded in the overall .figures werc accounted. fdr by .only 10 countries. Considering the rather special circumstances that sur- rounded the 'miraculous' performance of these countries- i.e. the

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?age 2.

• \ 1 •·· .

. ^; . '

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^~ . ·.

'exceptions ¹ cons isting of countries such as J'Jigeria₉ Algeria₉ Libya., Tunisia, Ivory Coast and Gabon - can anyone doubt that Africa has yet 9

•

t o get off the ground? vTe can say this wi th a l ot of assurance especial ly when >-re note that in fact ₉ 1971-1972 was a very good ye-ar by African

st andards: the rëèord of the 1960- 1970'·-decade speaks for itself. ih th the except ion. of the East African sub-region ( 1-rhich record.eJ. aver age growth.r ates of

6 . Cf/o

for the 1960- 1970 decade as opposed to 3.9~;o for

1971-1972) in all subr~gions (East, North, Uest and Central according to the EC.A classification) the 1971-1972 rates of growth of expendi ture of GDP (at 1970 const ant market priees)· were definite improvements over

1 • ~ • ! '' .

the aver ages for the 1960-1970 decade. Over .. a11't'h~

s.4 } h

rate of gro"l\rth for 1971-1972 compares with an aver age of only 5~0 for the 1960-1970 decade.

(P.

31) Measu.red at 1970 constant factor costs, the dis cre pancy is even larger 6.1% for 197î-~972 ^{as opposed t o 4.7% for tne 1960-1970} decade. Fer comparison

~

^{over all r ates of}

g-r ~,,rth

^{( a:t .. 1970 constant factor}

costs) for 1970-1971, 1972-1973 vrere 3.9fo

ànd.

4.3~o respectively. We shall attempt to demonstrate (in a later

se c ·Ü ~h ) th·a~' \b.is

^extremely uneven

·performance (in terms of economie growth) both across countries wi thin

the regi on and over t ime, and fee ble r'ates of e conomic growth overall are not simply the resul t of 'bad economie management' lack of skÜled.

manpower etc; i.e. the usual bêtes noires but' the l ogical consequence of externally oriented, dependent development.

In ail earlier article-

w e

had. stressed that one of the manifest ations of the li~Üatiohs ^of extern~lly o~iê·ri1ïed ^growth (in addition to the obligatory correl at ion between the performance of the export sector

. . ·:·.l' ..

and recbrded incr:èa~es in tbe Gr oss Domes'tic l)rod.uct) is the dual struc-tural crisis of-public finance and the bal ance of payments. The crisis iri public finance far from being the 'brainchild' of the Afr ican

bureaucrat~ is the result of the necessary increases in public expendi~

ture arising from the infrastructu.ral and educational needs (as -vrel l as military needs in order to maintain internal 'law and' order l) ''br~ht about by integration int'o the world capital ist system. At the s^' ame

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timo, ~h~. i1:4tc~ration ;I..imits th;:3 CX:f>ans,~on of. the econom.y 's ... mat(;rial base ~s. ~he cçms istent)y po or performance of the economies of the .L.:f~ican

• • • • • • . • · · . 1 • ' . . . • . . .. .

countrios .amply testi:fies. There. is. also .an unavoid.able . t..enq.ency towards a deficit in th0 external trade f igures becauso with growi~~ ~xport

orientation and. .a na.rr,o.wing o~ goods ·dome:?tically :e~oduced for t}:J,e

- '" ) .

. . inter.nal market· 'there is e.t the same tinie =an expansion '6f the' iarigc of

goods.

,demàrui'e~g. a~,

^GDP 'incro.ascs .and/or

inc ~·me

ù.istrïbut:ion gets. more

~highly.skow~rd. The. past d0cade 's ·Afriean experience alsd provid.es

ampte data to

cbnf.~rin . th~

^{.existence of .. thiS}

d~~~

crisis: .. . . ..

In spi te of the large increase in the value of experts in 1.972 _·:.·

(about 181~ over all, and incidentally, the reason for the ;eiativo im- provement in the GDP growth fig-Ures for 1972),

~l

^{-in s'Pite of}

th~·

^..

important differenèe with respect to the expor·t

·p~ r:r'orina·~~e

of tho · pre vi ous ye ars ;

In previous years virtua~ly all incr~ase in export revenue

-waa a.ccounted for by a small group of countries prociucing

pei;roleum ^'6lld. othor minerals, .. where·as in 1972 e;arnïngs also increased in countries which expor-t a -u-ariety of agrj,.cultural

. cornmcidi ties ~

(:P ' .

1

44) . .

fully 28 out· of 41 African countries' rëc'orded substantiéü tradë dëfici ts.

This· in ·spitÔ. of· the~ dl:-·aconian mt.::asures· adopted in sb~ ~ouiltries · to

lag botwcen'the realizntion of export oarnings and their use to pur- . cliase' importod good's. ^Il. (P

.1 44)

In fact the ovorail

tr~e

•.

SUrpl~s o f

alm.ost 1_,soo million

$ u.S.

record.ed :for 1972 (as well as

mo:r::~ , mooô~ t

positive balànces· for previous years) is simply an illusion (croat~d by aggr-~gation tliat fails t~ hidû the fact that the large majority ?f liiHcan cbù~tt'ies hnd trade daf icits. in 1972 and ">·rith one or two ex- ceptions, the same countries also had trade deficits in earlier

ye ars " • ( P • 1 46)

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In the are a of public finance, it is su~rfluous to show that th0 budgets of the central governments of most African coüntries continue to exhibi t growth tendencics. More rel.::::vant is tho f r,ct that;

Loans and grants have constituted an important source of

revenue for most African countries. Nearly all tho French-spocicing African countries ^.de~end on budgetary support from France whilc Botswana, Lesotho, Sw·aziland and th.u Gru:nbia depend on budgotary support from the United Kingdom. In recent years a .few countrios, such as Niger in 1

973

and Cameroun in

1970,

have lilad to dr au on their foreign reserves in order to balance their budgets.

(P.188)

This is what wc moan by a crisis in public finance. Tho structure of central government expendi ture (both current and capital) would also

seem to confirm our the sis; the data shows that comi>ensation of elilployees ₅ expendi ture on education, infrastructure and (of la te) defense conti!}ue to be overwhelmingly dominant.

1-le do not -vrish to suggest ~ ho-vrever, that the major viotims of the past three decades' development experience have boen the conventional aggregatû'. û6onomic statis'tics; b~ they tho fee ble rates of growth re- .cord.ed, or the perennial deficits in central governrnent budgets (in- croasi:ngly made up by domostic, foreign borrovring and external grants) or the constant balru1ce of payments deficits. What the African situa- tion clearly underlines is that the .real victims of the past ^t~ee decades' colonial and post-colonial 'dovelopment~ charade has boen tho rural peasantry fully 60~ or more of tho populat~ons of most JSrican

countries - the urbru1 slum lumpenproletariat whoso numbers have been growing wi th D.Stounding speed, not to mention civil liberties ( especially in the last decade orso), as repression increasingly becomos tho ruling elites' preferred antidote to the various 'soci~l ills' identified by them.

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Alongside the growing affluence of~all segments of the population (the urban pet·i t -bourgeoisie and. an emergent agrarian capitalist

d1 cis s )

few would deny t.hat thore has been . s·tagriation and · in 'sorne cases deterio- ration in the· st._wclard of living of'. vàst segments· of the AfricéJ.ll. popu:...

lation over t:P:e past fbr'ee d.ecades. ·. And if.·. :r}ast. trends n.re él.llY ind:lca- tion at all; ·:the f't,ltuxe· prosp.ccts do not seem -particularly' br:i.g·ht. · Iri ·

f act, w~· are, c onyinced ths.t the re:cent .famines· in a numb0x

of

l irica..n

countrie s (suppospdly: caused by ¹ adverse ¹ wea.'thor concli t i ons) are·' sim:l?ly a d.ramatic forerunner t o the logical outcome of the past three d0cades deveJoprne'nt· strategies.

·;

For obvioup, reas ons (and by that , .. \·té· â!o not mean ¹lack of 2.doqu'a'te numbors of· statistical · -workors ^{1 )} statistical information on employmeht:;

unemplo;y-m,mt, ·nu tri ti on, mass povurty~ income ·distribution etc:. J..s 'ili.e · most difficult to come py. Still thore aro·sbme rudimentary statistics that ~e at loast suggestive of how uel l the popuiaticins are faring ~ For ex~ple, indices of per capita. food production (over n,1l Africa) revoal that per capita food." production in-1970 (a yéà:r which precedes the so7^{c~led, dro:ught) .was -clearly lo-vwr t.han. that.--of 1965. Sïnce then,} there has been a constant and consistent dowmvard trend. Result~ on the base of tli.e · 1961..:. . .'1965 ·aver age ,;, 100; per capi ta food production _{. i} in 1973 ·stood-o.t:97 c6mpared

' io

102, 101', ·101,

99

for ·1965,

197êr~ -1~J1:.;__:ii ici

^.·_:,•

1972 respectively.

...:

It. is clear that Afric.an countries are -increas;ingly he.~>obligeët' · ·

' !·

to malœ up this food-deficit (but .o,nly· i'n·.;phrt:tE) through food:' imports . But it is also .cle;:œ as to who are .. the main b'ertefic'iaries ·a:naJ·victims

of a situation .which according t.o ·thEl. ECA :"is· a cause for gre;

at

^{concerri'1·•}

In fo.ct the African situation is· one· that bo èomos rn-ore· and· more ahi.rriüng wi th . .each passing decade; wi th th8 increasing predominance. cif rural

:1: Tho structure of imports 1970-1972 for cxample suggests that irnports of food, bever~e and tobucco in 1970 was about 13~ of total All African imports. In terms of gro-.rth r atos, hovrevcr, with the cxcoption of im- ports of ¹ other manufactures' ( vrhich grew at 6

.1%)

imports of food

beveragos and tobacco grew at the slowest r ate (10.6%). The 'exception' moreover was simply indicative of tho trend in import substitution in- dustrilization, as imports of machinery and fuels grew at tho o.stounding r ates of 21.2% and 30.3% rospectively. It is this that leads us to suspect that the food deficits are boing made up only in part,

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poverty..;;strickén masses,. scandalous unemployment :va tes (even accorrlins to the grossly unù.erEistimated official rates) and. especially ·in the urban are as, increasing inequali t ies in income distribution~ ahd 'pre- carious ¹ (to b:o:t'ro·vr t};le ECA's terminology) health situations in spite .. of increasing expenditure on he al th facili ties. It · remains· for us to outline the characterisi;ics of dependent development in .Af'rica

and

to ùemonstrate that no other results oould have been expected~

Despite diversity in avoved official policy (strategies of develop- ment) the past threedeqades have witnessed the consol idation of peri- pheral capi talism in all Africàn .. oountries wi thout ·exception. The main characteristio is cle ar; derived ,development wi thin the context of the World Capitalist System. In thi:;; context, development in Africa.

be cames a· by-product of the development of the iiîdustrialized west, on whom the African countries have become increasingly more dependent, though the modality of depen~ence-subordination may superficially have changed in any one country from one poriod to another and may difi'er between countries in .the Africa..."l region at any specifie point in t ime.

But ,if we argue that the past three decades or so ·have wi tnessed the consolidation of peripheral capitalism-in Africa it.is precisely.be- cause we are aware that the recent past is only the culmination.qf a historical process; that of the· err:ergence and consolidation of the vrorld.

oapitàlist systerr.:~ This is hardly the occasion for an in-depth analysis

. ^-·~ .. . :· .. ^~ .

of the historical process of the implanfation of dèpendency structures i:i:l Af:dca and specifibally, its reil.at~on to different phases (modal i t ieb) of aocllitlulatïon of capital at .the ,centre of the w6rld sys,tein - a task. \78

have undertaken else;;.there. 3

. Our st,arting point, nevertheless will be this blatant historical fact; that "Modern Third lforld economies origin""': . ated as conque red eqonomies: the dependent struct.ures.~.,which c haracterize

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them today were initially imposed after actual or threatened armed conq_uest by Europe.

~

^{4 vfuat is notable} then is that beginning from the late sixteenth century (mercantilism, slavery) . ^. .. . . (.· . · . .through the period r

' :,.. .. .

of formal colonialü~atio:r.., Afriêa loses i ts p.u~q~omy, as henceforth

\. . . _. ~ ~ l. . . . . .

Africa is totally shaped by the needs of metropolitan economies and

soc ieties. ^{i .·: ,, .}

. :-:· _.:_ .... · ...

Under Pressure of the people of the, ... colonial countries and the development of national liberation movements in certain countries ·

(pêa~arit

révolta in Indochiria ~tc.·) the

Kenya, national_liberatio~ movemnets in Algeria,

·colonialis.ts were obliged to grant formal _{. . .. .. ~ . . .} p~liticaT _{. ' . '} indepehd~n~'e :ta' the 'Varioùs colonies - la te f ifties, early siX:ties

. .

in Africa.

We

note, however th'at at time of the granting of formai politioal

iriaepe~den~e

the transformation of the structures of the

African econorries was alread.y complete. The pattern of .the internat i:onal division of labour which.J:.equirès··cheap pr,imary commodities :'from the"

African periphery in exchà.nge for a few manufactured products was quite clear. African economies then - as they still are after more th~ a

decad~ and half of political independance - were what could. only b€, · described 'as fundamentally distorted. Abstracting from the massive surplus

transf~;s

(both direct 'and indirect - due to the operations

'.

of colonial policy, the· operations of metropoli tan concerna; banki:t:;Lg . . . institutions,' mines, import-export trading houses as well .as unequal

exchange) the characteristics of the ecoi:10mies could be SJ;l,mmariz~d, _. .... ,,_: , :· ..

as follows:- ,,

~ : .· ^.·.!

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^{. -~ ·.}

1) the lack of

symm~tr;y:

,betweèn the··

struct~~ of ~

production and the structure of consumption (a fact which leads to the rather anomalous. sit.uat-ion ·that: in spite of the African co.untries being predomin~tly 'agriculturai ¹ they are food-dëficit area:

the best .land:s, reSOUr.ces~ credit etc. bei.ng avai]Y~ble.~lOlllly fbr the, "cul.tivati·on. of agricuJit-ural explortables such as cdc<;>a, ._.

coffee, cotton~ grol,l.ndnuts.et:c: ); · _{:~; .'} ~, 2) the absence of a link betweeh capital formation a:p.d. ,the ma~s

, consumption goods sectqr ( c13;pital formation taking ,p],.ace only i:n the export sector, constru(Jtion and the few· ll.lXtir'y· :import sùbstitution industries to be found in the capital cities), as well as the absence of linkages between the v arious sec tors

of the economies;

3)

uneq_ual growth and development and marked disparity not just at the level of the continent (the land-locked countries being prac- tically neglected) but at the level of regions within the same country - the coastal are as and regions wi th good potential for the development of exportable being obviously favoured;

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Technological depend.ence; as in fact few Africem cou.ntrios have capital goods sectors as such, all equipment boing imported.

Thoso structural distortions, of course, constituto the essence of underdcvolopment - not ju.st poverty, 1:1hich may (but not oblig2.torily) be associated with these distortions •

. It beu.rs painting out· that this moù.el - that of pcriphcré1.l Cé1.pÙn.Ü sm does not . necossarily spell perpetual skgll!a.tion~ The Ivory Coast type of

'miracles' (cssentially a reproduction, sixty yeo.rs later, of whot happenod in Ghana undor British colonial rule, a.nd compaœ.blc to the expcrionce of Soncgal during tho latte:.r half of the 19th century); are prcdick .ble n.t the start of intensive and system:1-tic oxploi tation of tho terri tories for an extcrna.lly orient cd ¹devoloprüent ¹• Tho· ¹ spcctacular' performncos of tho economies of Ghc'1.na (during tho phase of the establishment of a cocoa pl8.n- ta.tion ~conoll\Y); Senegç_l ( wi th the implé~.ntation of a. groundnut ccononw) i Ma.nri tanin ( currcntly and thà.nks to tho extr2.ction or iron oro a.t liiferma), Nigeria , Libya and Algorin (based on oil) arc a.rilplo testimony to this.

Equally prodicta.ble, ho-vJever, is the st2.gnation, cesséition of gro1o1th and cri sis that incvi t<:1.bly follow· such distorted spoctacùlar performances. l.rJo have a.lrcady mde reference to the dual structural crisis in Public fim.nco and in the ba.lance of payments th2.t incvi tc.bly traiÏ .tb.o initLü stc.ges of

'development' euphoria of such spectacular porform3.nces·. · Equc:üly as impor- tc.nt is the fact that tho pa.th of devolopmont ccntoring IIlc.·ünly on :tho orien- tation of producors tow2rds primary comE!oditics or extra.ctivc industries for export is sevcroly limited (bo it only bocausc the growth of interna- tional dcr.nnd for such products cannat bo u.dequn.tely supportod for the onti re Third Horld, nor is i t in any ceso su.bject to Third. Horld po licy) • Tho

.Africa.n cxporionce also shows tha.t specta.culu.r performance of tho export sector is not nocessarily a.ccompa.niocl by similar performance in th::; other soctors of the econorey. On the contra.ry star;ne.tion a.nd even doclinc scoms- to be the gcnerai1 rule. This is easily cxplaincd by the .E_Orvorsc onclnvo

•

.. ,.···

char~ctor of tho export sector.

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T!'or in spi te of the nb.scnco of convcntion-:!.1 intorindustry linkages bctwoen th:i,.s ^... soctor and tho othcr scci;ors, .

.

^{' ' ' ' .} a.l?-d in spitc of tho fact tha.t tho export soctor typically cngagçs a very limitod numbor o·f tho vJork force

(5% ..

^: ~o ^.

7%)

i t nevertholcs:::; at tracts a C\.isprqpor-. ^{. .} tionn.tc; sharc of .crucial n.ccompa.pying rosourccs:

-·: ·.

CRpito.l,. the attention. of tho extension sorv.icos, bnd etc •• J?urt.p.or even .) the limi ted e~nploymcnt generation off oct:;; of this. soctor is hounc1 to d,oc.rcr;,so . . , ovor timo since compoti ti on dom."1.nds tho use of modern tcchniqu~s tllcsc

sectors ..

More ominO'\lf:!t hovrover, is the vc,ry close correlation b.ot~po,n tllo,se ·', arens v1hich do experience rapid spurts ' .. pf economie a.ct.i vi ty Q.:J.s.od on tho.

'

! .,··;. i

promotion of ~rieul t~:o..l e:x:ports o..ncl, t?q devolopmont of. a blp.çk rurnl bgur- gcoisio. The recent experiences of Nigeric. and .Algeria. would also soem to indicate thn.t such

a d.~v6 1oprrient .

is

~ot

lirrri. ted to ·be o.griculturnl export tr2.do bUt to the extrac.tivc irid.~si;ries as wall; wi tness the r<'.pid dovolop- ment o'f Nigcria's "oil milU6nairos¹¹ ru1d the dcvclopmônt of n burcaucr2.tic pctty-bourgeoisio in Jl.lgeria linder the acgis of 2 regime which is at bost 'non-a.lligncd' or'intcrmcdic.itc' (not

~0

rliention st<'te cnpitalist) and hnving as i ts oasis,

~:

class ·

~llianc6 · tbrn}~o'~6a ' 6i ^the pcasant~y

nnd tho unorgnnized mass proleta.riate undbr the sÙ·ohe

1Ci~ciershii)

of.thc potty

bourgo~x~·ie.

Th() doyete>pment,; <?f a ?1.?-ck rural ?ourgco~sio requiroE;L.~l;!.a.t.~:f?ur. condi-:

.

.

tions ~I"'mot. Th~ first of...~hcso conditions sccms to 'Qe tho. CJi:ister;J.Co of a tradi tional .society-, ... ~u~ficiqp~ly hiora;rc.hica~ .so tha~ certain kinds of.\;J·

horiditary chiofs pos$OSSClJO'U,gh socio..l power to appropriato for themsolvos ·

. ... .

'

^{.· ,. . ' . .}

important .wrccJ.à,,of tri.qal, lands. It is in thi$ wa.y that tracli tiom.l

·c

·.· ' . .. : . . .. .~.·.. . . : ... L. . . .

tri bal hGéj.d,s

qf.'

q~~a, So'\ltb.ern Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Uganda were able

·'·'' : . . ,. . ..

to crct.'..te,)ç> ^the~r profi.t, a plo.nt2.tion ocononw•

..

;:

.·. :::

·. ^,•

FTJ1/ 10 Page 10.

Tho second condition is an avcr~go populo. t i on densi ty of tho ordcr of ten to thirty inhebitants por square kilomct cr. ~ny lasser clcnsity

. . . ~

l!k"'tkcs privato a.pproprintion of lc,nds inoffcctivo and the po~ential ~upp~~ ·-.

of p<l-icl l0-bour ·insu:fficicnt. Tho moc:1o.nism of prolotarianiz2tion is con-:- sidom.bly facilatod whcn thore is a convoniont source of foreign lnbour,

1. • __ \ •

as is the c;:.so wi th the Vol taies and the Ivory Coast. At a second st.,.ge, tho ybun{;or m~cmbcrs and dcpondon.ts of t::c famili.:;s of th:; ori,:-;inal plan- tors c<::n :i.n turn be p'r~letari2nized. Dcnsitics tht1.t ;:,r e too grc.::.t , os in Rwanda n..hc1 on the Bamileke plat eau in Camoroon, rmko it difficult for the chiofs to seize control of sufficicnt lande

The third condition is the prcsonco of fertile soils, Hlc'l.king i t possiblo''v.Jitl1 vo;y little mochnniz[ction and, hcnce, i-Jith low rc> .. to of pro ....

ductivi ty in an agriculture which is still largely extensive, to produce,

.. '•

por ii}.1.n-o.cro

~

^{a.n ad6quat e surplus} from the v ory ste.rt of devclo:pmcnt.

li',in2..lly, the fou,rth condition roq'\liros that tho political c.tmosphcre be fav_?urn.blc to this typo of sponk.neous developmont. The relative c.:1s~

of privat o 2..ppropria.tion of land, the frocëtom of work, nnd tho crodit awardod ., to indiviclunl farmors ha.vo ovorywhoro pb.ycd an import<:.nt rolo in tho ..

cst~.::blishing ,o;f. this rur.9,.l bourgeoisie. V ory chcn.ractcristic 0f this VJa~

tho nbçlHion of forccd lt::bour .in tho Frcnc}i colonies in

1950.

Tho!typi ....

cally middlo-cla.

.

^. ss d:cmanO. for frccdom of work allowGd thG Ivory Coq.9t ,

plantors to profit from a. flood of immigrnnts unparalleled in strongth by the

' ... : • • o( • l'~ ~ t : :. ·'·' . ,.

numbot of workc~s- ~ecruited by force and, until then, a.s~ignod s?ioly to thd French plant ors._ It a.lso made it f)Ossible to orgonizo a grec.t poli ti"':"

cal battle in 'tho

c ount~y,

wi th the

poa~v

.. nt

victi~

of fore cd iabour backing

·ü10·

^{'native plantèrs~ On tho othor hand, in certain arcé',s, such}

e.s tho lowor Congo, tho Pc'1terrialism of tho Bdgian "pays2.~111ats" ~ndoubtoC:ly pla.yod a negative role iii bhockil1g the 't6ndoncy towards thè dovclopment of a bourgeoisie,. Is it not noteworthy that when tho'political

struct tir ~

of tho "paysannats" was swept él.1tJay eftcr indepcnclcnce such a bourgeoisie was able t o pcvo tho way for i ts own clevelopmont? In six ycors, from 1960 to 1966, commercial food production in the lowor Congo qundruplod. I t shoulC\_

.... ,.

FTM/10

Page 11. _{"' >.. . . .. ':; ·~}

also be noted · the.t for' t!).e .firs-t-t imc, on. a large·. sr.a.le;: t;h.o .course of capi tBlist dcvqlopme:nt htl.à -stCJmmGd not. from export gqodf:l _.but from :t:ood . produds· stimulatcd. by the q~mand from Kinsha.sn:. I t .sh.ould cqri;a.in:Ly also.-·

be noted. tha.t anothe:T condition in the lovwr Congo. - :t-.hc possi 1~i:li ty of.

Using foreign ·labour .,;,: WôS f)ina.lly met .in

1960,

thB,nkS to the rcfug~~S· :frqm .: : Angola/ · :Tho politics of apartheid and -"prcisorving AfricEtn trç,di tion~''-Y' ·•.··c

practisod i n ;South Africa. and Zimbabwe, arc. o.bv~ous·ly obstacles. tq the

progross of a black rural middle class. _:,< . ... ·.,

Wc d6 'ntit intend' ·to bcli ttlo tho d;Ynamism cf· this fo.rm of .~gr:orto:n

capi ~-li sm (based on srm.ll family proportü;od-but of ~ut:fi.çiorrf;. )ÜZ:G, ,:-: :; , . _,_ , ncvort:ho1css, to be abl0 to support a ct.'. pi t:alist. f:orm Q-f.' procluGt:hon;.

J•C!•-

rocourse to w2ge la.bO:u:r) ~ On tho contr:'lry, whonçv?.r ithc coqd~ t.t.ons for :. tho omorgcnco Ôf this form· of a.grr:.rinn ca.pi ta:J;tsr:n-é.1 rç:, f!!ei; ';""·· a11d JJ,nly unqer tho sc circumstnii6cs; as tho -African oxpor.ion<1e d<;lmcms,t.~~-tes _- ~ill· C0Cln9rlJ~C stimuli· ( improvemcnt in tho rüla.tivo p:ricos of f ?·Prn ;Pr-od.uo.ts_; .::bo :t.hoy: f;~,od or export pfudùcts) be effective. But tho trÇ!nJ:;forr~l1g_ 9f, tho-wo:r~4w~d_p , ' .. · structures of relative priees. from th0 contre. to~_.j;he. poriph~:rY , mo:ro-. , '. '·

pr::;cisely· th'rough·that cintorne.tionc.;L lllc..t.rkot which tho .. Per-rson Report, for GXt1.mplo ₁ so adamant ly deftmds - is cortninly. ai;.· t_ho, potto rn of the fai~J.l:rc,.

of tho ç,g~içult_u:r_a.l. food production stimuU. The d;y~--~~ating oo~petiti~n

of A,!p9r}cen "relief a.id". is cortc..inly to b~ n?tod horo. Bcc<:wso of the fnct;-thc::,t:-int ornat

io~~ l

^{priees a.ro imposod}

upo~-

^tho

Af:~ict:.n' p~·;~ph'6ry -;

^{'· ï}

.. ^·:~.-.. ~.":".~· ... -- . . . _.· .. ·. ··... . : ::·::~-.. ~~:_·; .. - .: .. :· .. ^{: .[··.:"~~: (:·_.. __ :·} .·.·::'::. ·_;-· · .. :

...

whero toda.y the inJerna.l rc:J.a.tionship bctw~en_ a.griculj;urs.l productivi ty . e..nd industrial

prod11ci;iv~~Y -

^{is' so}

~i fforcn.t fro-~ -~rha·t : :Ù is ·i~t ' _t h} '-~ 9rrt~ 0:, : - - -~

..•. , , ! ' . -· .:: _.

the f2.rmo.rs~ pre contintlally left wi th tho --~hart end of tho _stick~ I t is

. . ·.-. --·.·. ·· . . ·. . . ; '' this worl?-wido. tr<:P:sfcr:r~ng of priee .structures th121.t ciri6ri.ts--producors

toward ύpcrt

commoq_~

tic,s, thus limi t:ing 2!1Y pp.s,sihlo 12r:og;_oss prccis.oÎJ

.. . . . . ... ·.... . ... ·-.. . : . . . .

bocat+~o tho patth o.f p;rpgress_based on e..graz:ian ca.pi talism is na.rrowly

.. •• • : • • •• 1 • • ~ • • • : • : : . : • ) . • • : • • ~ •

lirqitod by_, i..r1tcgra.tion into tho _international ma.rk;et on '~-~J:~ch i₁t . de~on~s.

··'· . ^: '·

FTM/10

Page 12. · · ·

Tho nn.ttiro of peripher:a.l S'oci<:l systoms in fe.,ct allows the contrq: to _ appropria.to to itself, ·through tho bro2.kdown of exchango tcrms_, produc- tivi ty B"~ins made in agricul tu,.ro in tho poriphcry, whilo the p-~riphcry

is conccntr2.ting ori export-s. Tho dctorior8tion of thesc tcrms for pcri- phGré\.1 tr;:,do a.s a wholo has:: boqrt ovcr

10%

^sincc

^{1954• .}

^{For agricultur;-ü}

product_s;, thd 'percenta.gc · is even highor , I't!orcovcr the economie stimuli have haà. only limi tod offocts, -since thoy é\.ro of intorost to 2. minor fraction of the rural population.

It is thercforc the outward-oriontod na.turQ of the African econo- mies ( th<?ir links to foreign trade) which is at the basis of tho systoma- - tic bias-os in their devolopinont and distortions in their economie st ruc- tures: Tho biasos and distortions,t~king tho form of imbalanccs botwoon the production structures and the consumption structures: ffiétrkcd and accêntùcted sectoral dis pari ti es; incroasingly· unequal dif;ltri buticm of incarnes, tochnological dopendence ote~. For, it must be strqssod₁ out- ward looking growth is of· no.ccssi ty uncque.l,. chà.otic, and rcgularly blockcd; in Emm it is tao siowto a.void tho.continuous widening of the gap botvlCOJi the rich a.rtd tho pOOr nations ^t and i t is incapable of élVOiding

repfla.tod misfirii1gs of 2.ttompts to got off tho--ground.

Faccd 1rrith.two formidable t;,~ks; na.mcly tho national problem (of disongaging from the world ce.pi té' .. list ;~ystcm and neutrali~ing th~ domina- tion of' foreign ca.pi ta.i ·ospocially in ;the so-called modern sootors in all ·

.Africa~: ~oWltri c~ )

^{:and the} dovolopiriorit. problêm·,-{thc ;latter

do!!k~nding

^{- -}

ess.untial structu.ral

ohang~s a.~d

can

b ~' oirliy inw~ rd.:..lookin:g 'and~

so·lf ini tia.tod and socialist if such devclopment is . t'a lead. :ta arî oqui table and just s~ci~ty) ,,. most of tho currcnt .Africa.n regimes have boen content

- ' -

( under tho flag of economie 'liboralism'

r

^{to follow tho sa.me éolonial '}

and ncocolonial

po}.ici ~s ; '~hil e

othors, the so-callod ..

t ra.dic~ü '

or ·' pro- gre~sive' or 'intermodia.te' '~e:gimos content themsclves with half-me2sures. ·

,

F TH/10

Page

13.

The koy to undcrst2nding which l1f:tic2.n country takes the option; L o. economie Iib;ra.lÙm or the

so-c~l1cd

'now ca:PitÇJlist' optio!} to dovoloP"'"

ment~ i~ to ·be found in tho class nature of tho s,tat e a.s well as· tho histori- cal condi t Ùms for th~ ^{emergence of th;J class alliance whioh · coptrols tho}

' \.'

ste.to'~pparatùs. For countrios of tho first oatcgory; the oolon;ial and .

: \

noocolonia.l · sk.tos ( whia'h would includo a.ll ,Africa.n. states wi th tho cxcop~·

• , • , 0 • O .' ' : -~-: R 1 0 : : .

0

tion of Algoria, Ta.nza.nia, Congo Brazzaville and possibly Sd:>rnali2.₇ D2.homoy~

l. . ·. .... -. . .. - . . t . . : ' .-.. ~ .. _ !: ·. .

Madagasôar éind Ethiopi,a.₁ an~ Fgypt an4 ~igori;:; but .for distinctly differant roason:':i a:na'~xcluding é\.lso Mozq,rribique, GuinoaBissau and _Angolç it is olo2.r -'

that' tbc.pàlitioal struggie is hardly clovcl,opod becnuse thoir path is yct

to be' ddini to1y det0rinined; thus tho question of discngag8ment from the world dapi to..list system is not even put on tho agenda •.. Furtpor tho incligo...o. · nous bourgeoisie which nominally controls stato po"'10r is d,_ociaiedly too

weak to even pose th.:; question of its position Hith respect to the inter.:. , national division of l~hou~-e 'For such countries thon. !.developmont ¹ follOH;jl

. :' .-. . ··--· .... 1

tho cla.ssical pattern of· uneqlie.l intcrndiona.l division of la?o\lrt nmDely, expo;r-ts of rà.w ·m;;tteria.ls

( -1g ri~ul tur~ l

^{and miner21) in,}

excha~ e

^,for.

rnam~..,.

^_

factttred products. · 1rJhil8~tliis pattern doos not· cxcludo light me.nu:f.J.ctu,ring under import subst'i -aut:i:orî schemes t i t is typic;.Üy under t~e tot~.l ^control of multina:tioncü oo:f'por2t.ion~- with ail th:: open

arici

hiddcm -surplus tr.:1.n~

f:.:.rs implicd ·by:;it. • ThéÙ this 'model l82ds or11y to a. limitod devolQpmont

of a new "priV.ili3god l.:Ocal i'fr:Oi.ta;·

a;iLti{o~t

erit'iroly

of.

^{a.n admin.istra.t ive type,}

'I<Jhoso

pro sp C:rit/ . énd'-~po~er ·

^{depends to}

~a g ;.o2 . f ~xt ont .

^on

for

¹

e i g~

^,a.id b.nd sllov;P.

no ovidcnco of -eco·nonuc cl.Yna.nlisin;·

a~athy arnb ~g.t hc rm. ~:~- os ; . ~ :ù·ti~a.l· inst~1

^{. .;. .}

·. . . . \ .· .-' . . .- . · .. . l ,. ,. . . . . . ' .

bi l i ty as-diffbront ·p8rsoriâ.1Ùios · {alwa.ys among this. privilegcs stratum) strugglo to bccomè tho ci':lrèët·

roc epie.~ts

of.

'f ; rci-~n

a.id'; grea.t or ancl

. . . - . . !

great er dcpendoncO and tho· ààcntuation of uridcrdovcloP,fllent t . nceds. no·' __ . further elaborntiori~ :~ ^{y .. .}

'• ·.

l;Jo cxcludcicl Nigo~ia and 'mgypt from tho first category of tf-ric.an·;st<i-::t os: .,,:: :··

. . . . ··--··

•.' '. .. i t ..

beca.use

t liey

r:.rc · two countrios vJhich have ci thor cl.cveloped or arc in the procoss of dcvoloping the conditions that may possibly qua.lify them for the role of imporialist relays. These conclitions being adva.nced proletari- anization, nnd political, idcological and economie domination by e., well

FTI,:/10 page

14

dovclopod 'loc.:ü bourgeoisie poworful onough tci negotiat c wi th impcrialism and to ché:llcngc tho intorrlé:.tiona.l division of labour. T{.tlat thooo cotmtries could concoi vnbly demand (if they ciptod for tho rolc of impcrialist rol;:~ys) would be ^P.- rcstru.cturing of the world ca.pi t2list system but cloa.rly not for e. break vJi th i t. In this si tuatio.n the typo of dovclopmont that coulcl talee place :(undor a na:tionalist li bcr21 .c<:1pi t::ùist le.bcl) would in fact be ncvJ

' ~~-

in rcl a.ti<.>n to; th() cla.ssica.l neoco lonü\1 pat terni~ incÜ1ding, for. oxr:.mplo, ra.pid industrie.lization ~ export. That this path ma.y not, ho-v.Jovcr, load to any vori té:;.blc devolopment is amply dcmo:hstrntod by tho Brazili.:::m si tuat iono Tho major wcak:noss of such countrics beine thoir inc2.paci ty to solve noi ~l,lor

the agrH.rian p;~blem (in spi te of la.nd rcforms which might be undortakon), nor tW3 mnploymcnt problem •not t o mention t he problom of incomo and i ts oquit<:1blo distribution.

This thog leaves us wi th the so-celled "intormo_Q.iat e" regimes opting for a '¹non-:qapitalist" option to devolopmontj. !Jlgoria. and Tanzania boing tho most c2s~ly id,o:1tifiable prototypes >vi thin tho ;lfricpn contcxt • It is tompt- ing to w'ithh9ld judgcmont on tho se regimes precis ely bcoausc at .first glanee, it is not irnmcdie.tcly apparent <vl1:1.t they é~.ro quostioning; , i.e. 1r~hcthor tlwy are quest~_ontng tho structure of tho intornationa.l division of kbour or arc proposing' 0-, break wi th tho r!l'orld capi talist syst em. I t is olcq.r thnt the cla.~:;s nature of these. sté1.tos (basically_ a wor~<:o~pcase.nt _alliancG undor tho very strong loadership1 not to say hegmnony, of the potty pç:mrgeoisio)

obligGs thé'.t 'non-alli€,nrrtcnt•or 'non-capit2.1ist' optio.ps_be .put on tho agenda. In prqdli1so, howovor, this simply has mcant in t he .Afr~ca,n case, a pctty-

• • .~ • t • ·' •• - •

bourgeois dir8ctod ra.pid industrializ0-tion scher:1os, with_ tho s:ta.t c soctor occupying prop.ond'crant position; thanks to na.tiom':.lization (afton partia.l) of foreign .... ownod a::;sotè. This· industrializ<:,tion scheme'i. of I"O\).rsc, foods on massive imports of foreign capital and technology; witnoss tho .Algcrian

. .

case, and opens fartta.stic avènues for theS pctty-bo'urgeoisio, to wit; they

• •

•

• ^FTM/16

page

15.

becomo the direct ors of the nEttiona.lizcd companics ₁ tho dcputy dircctors , onginocrs ₁ inspGctors ote. ₁ and unquest ion;::bly tends _to consolid2.t o tho dominant position of this cla.ss. Production relat ions, even in the publ~c

sector, and: in SJ.)i~c ~f-~mimcrous oxporimcmts -wi th ¹1,.,rorkor-pn.rtioipa.tiun' and worko.r sclf.:..nnn2gç,m<?nt schomes' ,_rcm.:ün-b;::.sically ·indistinguisllablc.-from production r'cln.tions in puroly capi talist cntorpriGes.

In the ngricul tural soc tor, in spit c of agr:1ria~ roforms ( which m::.y . be

<N.~. :.t c

^-r(:(hce-1)

~nd. in

^.spito-of.

a.tt ~ mpts

^{at -}

't li~ ~6ù ~~hiÙd; i o n

^{0:f .:igriC?ul:s}

turc' (or porhaps boeL: use of i

t) -

^tho

probl ~r~s

^of

un e mpl oyme~t

^{and und.cr-}

employi!ÎÇ!_lt .. nover sccm to. be

so hr cd~

. It is thcsc f.oatu:rcs-thàt;

. -_l~~d_ -

to dcrr.and ' .·

-~·. . ... · . ·.· .... -·~·-. · ... -~.f·.. . .

moro profound changes from'' s~ch regimes and also load us to sê:riously quës_,- tion whothcr 2 pctty-bourgeois sté•tc_, no mnttcr how ¹radic,al ¹ anc~ prof,os;;:;eci.

anti-impcrialist, lvill bo capable· of carrying tho n2.tional liberation strugglc t o its very end₁ cr can set the st;::-[;'r.J f'o'r v!orÙablc

s.o éi a li s~

^-

transform.'t.tions of tho society.

If nothing elso, tho experiGncc of thG llfrican countrios ovor tho pe.st throc clocadGs doos demonstrrt o thn.t the developmont of tho Thircl ;,Torld is only possible \vi thin the fre.mcvNrk of sociéc.list systems org2nizcd ov~:œ

largo self-relin.nt regions. DGvelopment should be rege,.rd.Gd as a cont inua..,.

tion of tho politica.l strugglo for indopendcnco; tho orror of tho past thrco decades is that devolopmont has not beon viowocl sufficicntly in this light and tho record domonstr2tcs ite

F'I'M/10 Page 16.

;

F 0 0 T N 0 T E S

1. .lùl sto..tisticr:l inf6rrmtion usod in this articles is basod on tho Eéonomic Commi ssion for ilfrica's Survuy of Economie Conditions in

Afric<'- 1_

73

^{a.rt_!_) •. Uni tod} Nat~ôris~~;-

Y ork ... T 974·

1ih9r~_-nûoosso.ry such as J.n cases of dJ.roct quoto..tJ.ons) pa.go numbors ar·::: put J.n . · brackot s.

24. Seo Sp.mir Amin, Dcvelopmont ~ Structur2l Changes;....A_fric2.n ,g:e_orionco

IDEPjiŒPRODUCTION/373• (Dàkar, Doc. 1974J • ·

3. Soc S<'.mir Amin Undordovclo~o~ ~ ~E~~dcnco in Blac~ Afric~; Th~~~

rnsJ_s>Li.S'"I.l Jrigins a:nd Contoml?or_qr;t Forms. IDEP/REPRODUCTIOHj277 · __ Dakar 1971 •

4.-

Philip Ehrensa'ft, "Sonli-Industrio.l Capitalism in tho Thircl. Horld;

Implica.tion for Social Rcsoarch in Afric2-" hfrica Today (Denver) vol. 1ü No. 1 J2.rmary 1971, P•

54 •