Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 07, 2008 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
As poorly reasoned as Mr. Freddie Kissoon’s recent article (Communism, God and people, Kaieteur News, 5th July 2008) is, it affords us the opportunity to enter into a debate that is much needed in Guyana: the development debate, also known as the capitalism versus communism debate.
For many, the fall of the Soviet Union was all the evidence needed to rubbish communism and celebrate capitalism.
Unfortunately, that is where the debate usually begins and ends. Kissoon’s piece skips over that bit of history and, instead, calls up the ‘moral’ red herring – Communism preaches “equality among human beings and the complete rejection of the private accumulation of wealth” but look at communists, they are greedy materialists.
There are two outcomes of this reasoning. Either communism itself produces these hypocrites, or else these hypocrites — he offers Mr. Chavez and the PPP as examples — are themselves not true communists.
The other unspoken implication which results from understanding these as discreet ideologies seems to be that capitalism makes no bones about what it is: through inequality it will produce more inequality. Its practitioners are supposed to practice oppression; oppression itself might be a negative thing, but at least capitalists are honest about it.
In other words, capitalism is true to itself. Unlike communists, capitalists practice what they preach. And when they do not, i.e., when they do not practice oppression, it can only be a good thing, so we should not and cannot fault them either.
Now, in this great curfuffle of positions, what gets lost is what should most interest us about the capitalism versus communism debate: that they are also two models of development. They both propose to improve our lot and the lot of humanity on this planet. For those who have the health of society at heart, it serves no useful purpose to sing about the “moral failure” of communism or capitalism.
Food, clothing and the security of shelter should never be allowed to degenerate into questions of morality. Whether the actions of Mr. Chavez and the PPP are reasons enough to reject communism outright is to reduce a serious debate to the level of melodrama, when we should be focused on ensuring that the way we live creates a planet with a livable future.
Will it be capitalism, communism or is it some other ism? While trying to answer that question, as Mr. Kissoon is trying, it may be useful to bear in mind that the presence of flaws in one does not imply superiority of the other. In other words, while we busy ourselves with beating away the wolf, let’s be careful not to let the lion into the hearth.
Anil Persaud
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