@ Pants-of-dog
Pants-of-dog wrote:Your moral opinion on tactics does not contradict my point that peasants are an integral part of any successful socialist movement, democratic or not.
The reluctance to engage in violent resistance is not a tactic, but a principle. Change must be brought about by reforms, and not by revolutions. Evidently socialism can be reformist. But unfortunately it has been dominated by the propagation of the classwar. Even nowadays, many social democrats show resentment and suspicion with respect to private trade and industry. This is preposterous, because obviously we all benefit from entrepreneurial activities.
Pants-of-dog wrote:And the fact remains that at the time, Nicaragua was fighting a war against the US invaders.
There is a cultural gap between the west and the Latin-American states. The book "Why nations fail" by Acemoglu and Robinson helped me to understand the causes. They argue that successful states have inclusive politics and economics. Here inclusion implies the universal freedom to participate in politics and economics. Such states motivate the people to take initiatives, and to improve their living conditions. The western states exemplify these systems.
On the other hand, many states are governed by a small elite. This impedes participation. Acemoglu and Robinson call them extractive, because the elite exploits the private trade and industry in order to enrich themselves. This discourages the people, and consequently such state lack innovation. The feudal system is an extreme example. However, Acemoglu and Robinson state that also Latin-America still tends towards extractive practices.
They explain the difference between Latin-America and, let us say, North-America by the different approach during the colonization. In the seventeenth century the colonization was still commonly extractive. A tiny elite ruled over the common people, and forced them to do compulsory labour. In North-America this system failed. Thus the Virginia Company, and the big landowners in Maryland and Carolina all had to give political and economic rights to the common colonists.
In Latin-America the Spanish also established a small elite, and called this system the encomienda. The resistance of the Indians was suppressed. Later the elite founded cities in order to facilitate exploitation (the reduciones). The compulsory labour was called mita. Such systems endured until the nineteenth century.
In this way North- and South-America have developed different social institutions. Obviously those in North-America are superior (inclusive). It is a slow and painful process to change institutions.
Pants-of-dog wrote:Those of you who have not lived ths reality have the luxury of believing in peaceful movements. But sometimes you need guns to defend democracy.
I fulfilled the compulsory military service, and I take pride in it.
Once again, revolutions or foreign invasions are risky, and I disapprove of them. Often the new regime simply continues in the old way, although it naturally disposes of another basis of power. Sometimes the new regime is worse than the old one. Just look at the French revolution, or the Leninist coup d'état in Russia, or the fascist coup d'état in Italy and Germany, or use your own imagination. Revolutions may even create a total anarchy and disorder.
By the way, there is this joke about Italian fascism: an Italian says: "Two men are needed to correct the mistakes of Mussolini". The other asks: "Two statesmen?" The reply: "No, two police officers". Or, the Pope prays that the eyes of Il Duce will be opened. The rest of Italy prays that he will finally close them.
It is true that sometimes revolutions erupt in a spontaneous manner, and then the leaders can seize the opportunity to extort beneficial changes, often also participation. At the same time, the leaders must make it a primary concern to tone down the aggression. It will help, when the new rule includes the acceptable parts of the old regime.
Finally, note that democratic socialism requires lots of coordination, and this depends heavily on the experience of the people with decent institutions. When socialism does not work in the west, it will be disastrous elsewhere.
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