Dear Editor,
Elected left wing (socialist and or communist) governments in traditional democracies were known to provide good governance during the cold war era. They were generally honest and efficient and many academics considered them as role models for governments worldwide. But more recently, left wing governments have shown to be corrupt and inefficient not dissimilar from the way many bourgeois right wing governments (including in Guyana) functioned.
When I took a graduate course on West European Politics in the mid-1980s, my Professor (Bogdan Denitch who was from Slovenia, part of the former Yugoslavia), an expert on global socialist movements, used to relate personal stories of the honesty of Italian and French communists when they ran local governments. The communists did not come into national government in Italy until the late 1990s. In France, the Communists joined the Socialists in a coalition (with Francois Mitterand as President) during the 1990s. As Prof. Denitch told students, the Socialists, while less corrupt than the right in France and Italy, were not exactly role models in governance. It is well known that in Italy, the various Christian Right parties were extremely corrupt and the rights in France have had a history of corruption.
When I was in Italy as a visiting student in 1985 and again as a tourist in 1990, I was impressed with the performance of Communists in their delivery of service – the towns they governed were clean and virtually crime free and there was hardly any evidence of homelessness or of hunger. The communist government took care of the needs of the people. The same was true of my experience in visiting small towns run by left wingers in France. But when the Communists came to power twice over the last decade in coalitions in the national government in Italy, they governed poorly and quickly lost power. In recent months, they failed miserably to deliver service, pick up garbage, etc. In France, the Socialist government was found to be corrupt. Workers called several strikes against the Socialists. The Communists eventually withdrew their support from the late President Francois Mitterand paving the way for the defeat of the Socialists by rightist Jacques Chirac.
In Guyana, the Socialist PPP ran a very honest government from 1957 to 1964. I had numerous chats with former Attorney General Dr. Fenton Ramsahoye who told me that the British told him that the PPP administration was the only government in the world where Ministers or its officials did not steal. Indeed Dr. Jagan ran an honest government and no one can point a finger at him for stealing a penny from the state’s coffers. But stories were told to me that corruption among a few of his Ministers was one of the factors that triggered his massive heart attack. And since Jagan’s passing, there have been numerous complaints of corruption. Having visited Guyana so many times since the restoration of democracy in 1992, I won’t describe Guyana, under its left wing regime exactly as a role model for good governance or efficient delivery of service. There is a left wing M.P I used to admire just for his honesty and willingness to help the poor but stories I heard about him turned my stomach. I stopped seeing him when I am in Guyana.
I have been a regular visitor to India since 1985 going almost annually and am most disappointed in recent years with the behavior of some left wing politicians and their administrations. India’s communists (not including the Socialist Congress governments) have always been known for their honesty in state governments. But in recent visits to states controlled by the Communists, people complained that corruption is rampant not dissimilar to Guyana. I am familiar with the sudden wealth of a few communist M.Ps, moving from the ranks of the lower class to being millionaires, who are backing the minority Congress government to prevent it from collapsing. Their corrupt behavior turned my stomach. While they talked of serving the poor, they actually serve themselves.
I was also in China a couple of times and stories told to me about corruption and bad governance are incredible. Chairman Mao Tse Tung must be turning in the beautiful mausoleum that stores his frozen body. China under communism was poor but virtually crime and corruption free. There are regular reports of the government executing officials found to be corrupt and seizing their ill-gotten wealth. The country is growing by leaps and bounds but the wealth is not being spread among the poor. The New York Times ran a report this week on how poor rural dwellers are being bypassed by the economic growth in China. A similar report was published about India in the Times last month.
There are many more experiences on ill-governance among left-wing rulers (in Trinidad, Jamaica, Senegal, South Africa, Ghana, Fiji, Chile, Argentina, etc.) in my travels. But the trend is the same in virtually all of them. Left wingers are great advocates for good governance and for serving the poor but in reality most of them are out to enrich themselves at the expense of the lower classes. In addition, they are not efficient administrators.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
