The bogeyman of the leftward lurch

There is a big hole of Kimberley-size proportions in what passes for economic debate in South Africa. Out here for three weeks on vacation, and making a strenuous effort not to follow current events too closely, I started to get the feeling of a strange vacuum in the newspapers through which I occasionally leafed.

Where was the concept of "social democracy"? What made the political commentators and economic analysts I was reading unable or unwilling to mention the word "redistribution"? Why did no-one on the editorial pages show any awareness of the fact that modern capitalist economies can run efficiently on Keynesian lines and not just according to the neo-liberal methods that were instituted by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher way back in the 1980s?

In the United States and Europe a massive economic re-think has been underway for the last twelve months. Neo-liberalism is on the defensive, and rightly so. People realise that the current global recession was sparked by the neo-liberals' mistakes in de-regulating financial markets and encouraging bankers and pension fund managers to rush into short-term profit-making and a greedy bonus culture that led to pyramid schemes built up on shaky but impenetrable derivatives.

None of this shift in thinking seems to be reflected in South Africa. Political commentary is stuck in juvenile tram-lines and a repetitive cycle of speculative newspaper and magazine headlines which one day announce that the government may "lurch to the left" and the next day gleefully report that there will be no such lurch. At regular intervals readers are warned that Cosatu and the South African Communist Party are planning to force Jacob Zuma's government to adopt "socialist" policies.

Then comes the jubilant news that they will not succeed. Articles about Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's briefing to the media shortly before making his interim budget statement concentrate on the inane issue of whether he was still a secret member of the SACP. The fact that the SACP long ago abandoned socialist policies and that for at least the last ten years Cosatu has not articulated a radical leftwing programme is ignored.

It is true that Cosatu bangs on about the need to tackle unemployment and improve service delivery as the government's top priorities. But these are goals. What about methods? What concrete programmes has Cosatu offered to reach these goals, other than those which the government is already following? It is also true that the ANC Youth League and its leader Julius Malema talk of nationalising South Africa's mines at some vague point in the future.

But has the ANCYL done any technical analysis or feasibility studies about which mines to start with, and what costs or benefits would flow from taking the mines under state control? Until it does, the talk of nationalisation is rhetoric and not worth taking seriously, especially as it comes from a man who lives a high life of flashy consumption that reflects nothing of the sacrifice and modesty which most South Africans have to put up with.

The sad fact is that, with very few exceptions, South Africa's mainstream commentators, editorialists, reporters, and headline-writers espouse rightwing pro-business views. Some have bought unthinkingly into the neo-liberals' Tina line - "There is no Alternative" - initially popularised by Thatcher. Others peddle it deliberately. The bogeyman of "leftward lurches", given flimsy substance by the ANCYL's mine-nationalisation waffle, is used deliberately to tell us that we must all knuckle under to neo-liberal economic management and the harsh reality that Tina is right.

What rubbish. The economic debate, now going on in Europe and the United States, is between centre-right and centre-left, between conservatism and social democracy. In order to extract the economy from recession should governments cut spending or raise it? How high can public sector debt be allowed to climb before the economy's re-expansion replenishes the Treasury's intake from taxes? In the short-term, given the mess into which bankers' greed has got almost every Western economy, why should their bonuses not to be capped? In a time of national austerity, shouldn't middle- and upper-income earners bear a greater share of the pain, in part through redistributive taxes?

South Africa's economy is not the same as those of the developed north. It is a hybrid of the First and Third Worlds. Even on a visit as short as three weeks the country's glaring inequalities stare one in the face. Nowhere else in the world are they so extreme. But that only heightens the urgency of getting a sensible debate going here. There is a whole host of policy options that deserve to be discussed, both within government as well as in parliament, the media, and civil society. Bury Tina. Cut the crap about "socialist threats", and start an adult dialogue on what policies are likely to work best.

Jonathan Steele is a commentator, writing mainly for the Guardian in London

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter

Services Subscribe to newsletters News feeds Share this article Facebook Google Laaik.it Yahoo! Digg del.icio.us

 

The sad fact is that, with very few exceptions, South Africa's mainstream commentators, editorialists, reporters, and headline-writers espouse rightwing pro-business views. Some have bought unthinkingly into the neo-liberals' Tina line - 'There is no Alternative' - initially popularised by Thatcher."

Jonathan Steele

 

Comments

 

responses to this article

Policy, Shmolicy Le combat ou la mort; la lutte sanguinaire ou le neant. C'est ainsi que la question est invinciblement posee. by Domza on November 04 2009, 23:03 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Domza's fight Domza, your inceasingly militant threats are not necessary and worrisome. If you are planning a war, you should know that it will not lead to an increased share of the wealth, but the destruction of all wealth. People like Domza will not be happy until SA . .more is a dustbowl like the rest of Africa, begging bowl in hand, living on handouts from Europe and America. Who wins then, Domza? Rest assured, though, if you want a war, you'll get it. I'm just not sure if you'll like the outcome, though. . .less by K25 on November 05 2009, 00:19 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

This is Sodom My old mother always said it; I vowed to never say it - NOW I say it too - "the good days of good people have gone. " Its Sodom & Gomorrah ! by old,female, paleface on November 05 2009, 06:15 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

economics Som,ewhere in here is an interesting article trying to get out. It is prevented by the writer's own descent into labelling and kneejerk reactions - a very South African trait, ironically enough. by witbooi on November 05 2009, 06:59 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

SA's future Jonathan has hit the nail on the head. The South African press do very little to build a positive South African future with constructive, intelligent debate. We, the citizens, lurch from rumour to rumour, half hoping the ANC will screw it up to prove . .more ourselves right, but dearly hoping that a leader, any leader, from business, society or the ANC will stand up and work for South Africa and not their own enrichment. Jonathan - please move here and start the debate - come on, our weather's much better and we play rugby properly. Domza - French? . .less by Stephen Rogers on November 05 2009, 07:14 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

K9 of War, not K25, my previous is a quote from George Sand, given by Karl Marx at the end of his 1847 book "The Poverty of Philosophy", which Lenin in "The State and Revolution" called "the first mature work of Marxism". Revolution is not war. Or rather let us . .more say in the context of Jonathan Steele's half-cocked argument above: If revolution is war, then policy is also war. My point is that when the distinguished Steele starts to waffle about "a whole host of policy options that deserve to be discussed" he has become eclectic. His argument soaks away into inchoate sand, boundless and bare. More generally, this word "policy" has become a nothing-word. It has poisoned the discussion of central planning in SA, by the way. George Sand was a better model of a writer than Jonathan Steele in this regard. She refused to take cover behind words that meant nothing. Steele is guilty of the thing he accuses us of. He offers us a big hole, covered over with a flimsy nothing-word called "policy". . .less by Domza on November 05 2009, 07:17 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

French @Domza I put your comment into Word translator and got this: "The fight or death; the bloodthirsty fight or the nil.This is the question invinciblement is put." Doesn't make sense but doesn't sound like a positive contribution to the . .more problems we face. @Old female paleface: Likewise. . .less by Stephen Rogers on November 05 2009, 07:21 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@K25 A classic response to the need for redistribution of the wealth which is so obscenely and grossly concentrated in a handful of hands to make us the most unequal country in the world.K25 wants to exterminate the poor because he sees that getting them to . .more contro; their "breeding" is not working. Yes, we need to debate socialist policies outside of the compromising SACP. In march a conference of left-wing groupings and civic organisations is being organised and could emerge as a coalition that can stand up to the ruling party and offer the electorate a reasonable alternative. Otherwise the unrest will continue as the police do more shooting to kill. . .less by Costa Gazi on November 05 2009, 09:12 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

We are not all idiots yet, thanks Jonathan. Oh yes Jonathan. You're right. there's nothing to worry about. Go back to bed SA. There are no plans to convert us to a communist state (by military force). MK threatening to bring down the country if Zuma goes to trial is normal. Nothing to worry about . .more at all. Go to bed all you dumb people. (just look at Domza's comment. Ironic that his name starts with "Dom") Thanks Jonathan. Your cheque is ready. You can go to any SACP office's subversion department, where they will make it out for you. Alternatively you can collect it at any Chinese communist party office, or any office of MIH. The SACP isn't "planning" on forcing Zuma to adopt socialist policies. They are already doing it. And they don't have to "force" him either. He is a Marxist himself. They got him elected through COSATU, and the Chinese Communist Party are funding their operations in SA. The only economic restrictions, should be on banks! And investment and commercial banks should be separated. . .less by aquahelix on November 05 2009, 09:17 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

TINA The alternative has been tested under communism. Which do you think people prefer? by Ambrose Bierce on November 05 2009, 09:22 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@the policy of the West we are desperately trying to emulate the lifestyle and mindset of the west. until all old world cultures have been exterminated in SA we have no hope of moving forward. embrace education, focus, commitment, planning, frugality, and maybe SA will make . .more it....we cannot be hindered by old world cultures in SA. they will drag us backwards forever.. . .less by Super Duper on November 05 2009, 09:27 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Joy the World, the hammer Jonathan Steele will be pleased that the dumbest of all Communist parrots, Ebrahim Patel, is now in charge of the SA economy. Viva the Soviet revolution! by Siegfried Hannig on November 05 2009, 09:32 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Tha fact is that... SA is still a frontier state, with all the attendant dramatic highs and lows. you lot live vicariously as if disaster looms around the corner. Steele is right onthe money, "cut the C***...and start an adult dialogue". Incidentally, this should . .more be read in conjunction with Steven Friedman's article in the Business Day yesterday: http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=85922 . .less by Jean Racine on November 05 2009, 10:12 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Inexorable "Combat or Death: bloody struggle or extinction. It is thus that the question is inexorably put." - George Sand, from the novel Jean Siska Karl Marx quotes this at the end of the last chapter of "The Poverty of Philosophy", which was a . .more counter-blast to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Proudhon is commonly described as an anarchist, but as Lenin points out in "The State and Revolution" the anarchists and the "opportunists" (i.e. reformists; social democrats) are essentially "twins". At any rate, Proudhon had been advancing a kind of politics that was made up of what Proudhon thought were a bunch of wizard policies, but which Marx showed were a lot of bosh (Proudhon never spoke to Marx again). To a communist, one reformist is the same as another. What is the difference between Costa Gazi's policies, Trevor Manuel's policies, and Jonathan Steele's "host" of policies? All of them are reformist. In the end, none of them can be good enough. This is what Lenin picks up from Marx, in "The State and Revolution", a work which was interrupted by the October 1917 Russian proletarian revolution and never finished (on paper that is). Steele and Gazi both know all this. Who are they trying to kid? . .less by Domza on November 05 2009, 10:12 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

DELAREY . by DELAREY on November 05 2009, 10:14 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

The mind boggles It's the year 2009 and some on the Left are still rehashing Marx versus Proudhon! by Jean Racine on November 05 2009, 10:52 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Those who claim to know the ANC, dont know it! @ Domza, well said my brother/sister. It seems that you and Realist are just about the only people with capacity and brains to think logically (plus without emotitons) on this site because others just spew drivel and they curse plus swear racist rants . .more which come to naught though. Keep it up qabane, "united we stand, divided we fall". Phambili ngeNDR & MDM. The ANC is an organisation of the left and this was confirmed by Zuma, the only politician to date who has set in the ANC's top 6 for 18 years. Zuma knows the ANC more than anyone else alive, not even Mandela or Asmal can rival him in this respect because for starters Kader never even served in the exco as an official therefore he is not best placed to tell us about the workings of the ANC. Zuma on the otherhand started serving in the NEC in 1977 and after 30 years he became its president. As for Asmal what key roles did he assume (be it in exile or back home) other than being a minister? Zuma because deputy president of the ANC for 10 years and of the country for 6 years. He is now the president of both and we who have brains can assure you that he will serve a full 10 years on each. So, then who should we listen to, Asmal or Zuma? You be the judge readers . .less by Masaro on November 05 2009, 11:02 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Meaningless The state is withering away (though not in the sense that Domza would like), incapable of providing even the most basic services to its citizenry. Lurch to the left, lurch to the right --- it won't make a bit of difference. @M. Racine: don't get . .more Dom started --- when he gets warmed up the Lenin quotes really start flying. . .less by Gus Gosling on November 05 2009, 11:29 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Domza SA wont become communist but will split as predicated by the Royal Dutch Shell think tank specialists in 1992. by Mike on November 05 2009, 11:36 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Riddle-me-ree Please yourself, Racine, but would you mind then explaining what you think a "policy" is? Would you mind please explaining how it is that the idea of planning South Africa's future (or what Jonathan Steele's British social-democrat friends used . .more to call "joined-up government") has come to grief for the benefit of a sacred right of Ministers to make "policy"? Can you please explain to me what that means? By all means use the Bible, Beatrix Potter, Alice in Wonderland or any other literature to assist you. I won't be snobby about your choice of references. . .less by Domza on November 05 2009, 11:53 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Breathtaking Boy, but you have to be some shade of arrogant to come over here for three weeks and think you not only know what's being discussed but also have the solution for the grateful natives. And the financial crisis was all the free market's fault, . .more was it? What about state interference by lefty governments that put financial institutions under pressure to lend money to people who couldn't afford to pay it off? Yes, people like you were just as complicit, Mr Steele. . .less by Moss on November 05 2009, 12:23 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Jonathan, the reason people comment with there feet well of the ground is... well obvious. They do not live in real RSA. They live somewhere in a virtual castle situated on some imaginary cloud. Unlimited by reality, we can argue along any line that starts with "what we should be doing is...." This handy narrative style . .more avoids having to face and report on facts and crystalised plans. It used to be called cloud cuckooland. . .less by Free the Rest on November 05 2009, 12:25 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

To what extend were the financial bubble caused by very low interest rates by government? by GH on November 05 2009, 12:31 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Domza Gosh! I shall be spared the mighty Comrade Dominic's snobbery! The point, old chap, was that rehashing old arguments against "reformism"/evolutionary socialism, whichever you prefer - simply imprisons you in a time-warp, and limits your ability to provide . .more Left solutions that are grounded in today's world. And here's a bit of literature you may appreciate: [Everybody knows that] 'scientific socialism never painted any prospects for the future as such: it confined itself to analysing the present bourgeois regime...and that is all'. (Lenin (1893), 'What the "Friends of the People" are and how the fight the Social Democrats', Collected Works 1) So I ask you again, what use is rehashing Marx versus Proudhon, except some iexplicable and somewhat pretentious need to display one's reading habits as a cover for an inability to provide original thought, grounded in "analysing the present"? . .less by Jean Racine on November 05 2009, 13:51 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

ALTERNATIVES As soon as you reduce the options to two extremes the debates are over. It is about work; not left wing/right wing or neoliberal capitalism vs communism. The question is what makes for good work/industry/companies etc? Part of the answer, based on . .more evidence, is in The New Economics (Deming), World Economy (Steiner) and Porfit beyond Measure (Tom Johnson). The work is designed within a "whole" system to meet a genuine need, economically, in an atmosphere, as Khalil Gibran says, love and kindly justice. The workers are not paid for their ability or productivity; but sufficient for their needs. Modern organisation thinking, spurred on by hapless business schools, has made the workplace a prison for managers and workers alike, and one of the biggest architects of the prison are those who believe in bonuses, payment by results etc. Get real, please. . .less by John Kalala on November 05 2009, 14:07 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

The problem with Steele... ... is that he mistakens himself for Danile Steele, a novel writer who is bid on intrigue, suspense and romance in his novel. Mr Steele forgets that on his part, he is mere a scribe (of course you can give him a fancy title and call him a journalist). Me . .more thinks, he doesn't cut it as a true journo - you see, there are two types of journos as was once perfectly described by that former Independent newspaper journalist. One who can capability and the other is fed what to say of which Steele falls in the latter category. . .less by Realist on November 05 2009, 14:18 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Policy Racine's off on a trip. Please, will somebody tell me what "policy" is supposed to mean? Mr Steele, are you there? What is "policy" when it's at home? by Domza on November 05 2009, 14:32 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

The bogeyman of the leftward lurch ... So Mr. Steele ... after you guys converted the UK in a paradies for immigrants and slackers ( like almost every other country in Europe I should mention ) you would like to screw up SA as well. Just as a side note, the banking sector in the US and Europe . .more is regulated like no other sector of the economy and it wasnt Reagan or Thatcher who removed the Glass Steagal Act which prevented Banksters from speculating with their depositor´s money, no it was Democrat Robert Rubin, Treasury Secretary under Clinton and Alan Greenspan ( latter is imho to blame most for this crisis ) Before you give SAcans advice may I suggest to clean up the UK first, which is one the road to a banana republic Zim style ! . .less by Reinhard on November 05 2009, 14:53 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Oh dear! Domza, it simply won't do to show-off here by dredging Marx and Proudhon, and when challenged, simply ignore that and fixate on "policy". Of what relevance was that particular reference to what Steele was arguing? There is, of course, the . .more too-clever-by-half natural impulse to beat up on social democrats! Be that as it may, the definition I like best is that the word "policy" simply denotes a course of actions -amongst other alternatives - under given conditions, to determine present or future decisions. Maybe I'm thick, but what's that got to do with Steele's article? . .less by Jean Racine on November 05 2009, 16:04 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Reinhard Well said.Also remind Mr Steele that France being the poor man of Europe is directly related to the shortest working hour week in Europe and the longest gazetted annual holiday, probably in the world. by Mike on November 05 2009, 16:36 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Ms Racine, Domza is a follower of Lenin, crazed with tertiary syphilis Ms Racine... Domza is a follower of Lenin, a man whose most important works were penned while he suffered from tertiary syphilis. Now I would claim this is plain (I mean the tertiary syphilis). Lenin is indeed limited to the past. An . .more archaic forgotten debate that destroyed countless human lives. Far more important than Lenin... and indeed far more important than the "Scientific Socialism" of Marxists, is the life of William Stanton, and obituary appeared in the Times Online yesterday.... http://timesonline.typepad.com/environment/2009/11/peak-oil-and-population-control.html You see, Stanton had a much firmer grip and understanding of the human predicament than Marx and Lenin (even without the Syphilitic Handicap) combined. This is, expanding populations require expanding resources, and so there will be conflict. Scientific Socialism, and all other brands of socialism (Democratic Socialism, National Socialism, Fabianism, Trade Unionism, Fascistic Socialism as practiced by Franco and Mussollini, etc etc) cannot solve this problem. The awful reality is that people like Domza are intellectually still living in the 1800s. Steam Engines, Mechanical Arms, an Economy which has the qualities of a classical mechanical contraption with pernicious knobs and levers that can be pulled to tune societies, that is their world. . .less by JVR on November 05 2009, 17:29 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Plato, shmato Racine, look at the very first Comment above, and then at the one headed "K9 of war, not". Whichever way I dressed it up, my question was always about policy, policy, policy. Look at Steele's last para, re the "whole host of policy options that . .more deserve to be discussed", as if these are things to make and do on a rainy afternoon. This is banal, and the banality seeps out from the nothing-word: policy. Now, if "policy" is as you say "a course of actions - amongst other alternatives - under given conditions, to determine present or future decisions," then what is the difference between a "policy" and a plan? Because what Steele doesn't seem to realise is that he was here in the time after the Green Paper on National Strategic Planning when a lot of people are simply not talking. Some of us are aghast at the way that the huge effort, that has gone on for years past to get some sort of sense of direction for SA, has been tipped into the gutter for no better reason than to preserve Ministers' "right" to make "policy"; while those Ministers may be staying shtum about it for fear of attracting attention to the sabotage that is going on in front of our eyes. Steele has been in a "Plato's cave" for three weeks. He thinks that a transitory shadow represents a different scene than what is actually out there. . .less by Domza on November 05 2009, 17:39 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Malthus, Shmalthus Well Hi, JVR. I hope you are well and that you are never cursed with a disease. Your statement, or Mr Stanton's, that "expanding populations require expanding resources, and so there will be conflict," is a concise summary of the . .more principal fixation of Thomas Malthus, allegedly the first professional economist, born in 1766. Malthus' main book, "An Essay on the Principle of Population", was first published in 1798. Many of us have come a long way since Malthus, JVR, but don't stress. . .less by Domza on November 05 2009, 18:54 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Domza I admire you, I really do You are one of those amorphous little bureaucrats that infest the skirting only to offer criticism, denial, and defensiveness in support of your hapless and rather pointless existence. Thats why I admire you. Each . .more day you crawl home to your cupoard under the stairs and think that your bosses actually know your name. They don't. Each day you grow in self-abasement as you consider your irreplaceability to the human race. And you confuse self abasement with aggrandizement. Yet each day you also grow an extra Dorian Grey wrinkle as you slowly realise the total futility of your own existence and the fact that you are one of God's rather humorous and cynical experiments with single cell amoebas Again, that is why I admire you. Lesser amoeba would have slit their wrists long ago when the realisation of their nothingness dawned. But, as you say to JVR----- don't stress . .less by Plutarch on November 05 2009, 22:27 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Plutarch, Shmutark Go forth and multiply by Domza on November 06 2009, 07:56 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Press Freedom Though the press are at most times P*******, sensationalist scavengers,there are times when I thank whatever for the freedom of speech we have here.From time to time ,those journo's who are credible help to expose our other scavengers and parasites (no . .more need to mention names) who feed off the misery of the masses for their own benefit. . .less by RT on November 06 2009, 15:48 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

At least we still have that RT.... I agree wholeheartedly RT. The most positive difference between the Old and the New is that we can speak our minds, at least for now. The worst the Nats did in the old days was to stifle dissent. They interned people who did not agree with . .more them, charged people with sedition when they spoke up, etc etc. That was the nadir of their existence. As long as people can protest, can speak up and out, can throw tantrums, and insult, belittle, point a finger at, swear and generally mouth off, there remains hope to influence the future. Much have been written about the past, and where the Nats etc could have done things differently. But if I can choose one thing about the past and change it, then this is what I would change -- allow people to dissent peacefully (but not violently). That would have changed the entire discourse in the 1960s, and the outcome could have been (I said could) much better Of course, people who dissented with the purpose to create a National Democratic Revolution, such as the Black Sash, the Anglican Communion, the UDF, and so forth, and other Leftists whose Wet Dream it was to be part of a Glorious Revolution, they should now own the consequences of their efforts which often went beyond mere speech. But hey, as long as we yell (and not kill, as in racist attacks on whites) there is hope . .less by JVR on November 06 2009, 16:49 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

bogeyman "...The fact that the SACP long ago abandoned socialist policies and that for at least the last ten years Cosatu has not articulated a radical leftwing programme is ignored..." Clearly Mr Steele should spend more than just 3 weeks in SA in . .more order for him to understand what happens here. And, oh, Europe may have its debates and what not, but please don't try to force them down our African throats Mr Know-all. We are so tired of you pompous Brits coming here telling us what to do. Rather focus on sorting out your own mess at home that is the post-economic crisis Britain. . .less by Goldilocks on December 09 2009, 13:43 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Name
Subject
Comment