“The Program of the Socialism of the 21st Century is necessarily a revolutionary one”

At the Preamble part of our Constitution of "The People's Republic of Bangladesh", it is said - 

"Pledging that the high ideals of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism, which inspired our heroic people to dedicate themselves to, and our brave martyrs to sacrifice their lives in, the national liberation struggle, shall be the fundamental principles of the Constitution".

That is why Socialism is a very significant part of our citizen, social and national life. According to Dieterich “the program of the Socialism of the 21st Century is necessarily a revolutionary one” in that the existing society is replaced by a "qualitatively different system". This revolution, however, should be a gradual process that does not employ violence but instead utilizes participative democracy to secure power, education, scientific knowledge about society and international cooperation. Dieterich suggests the construction of four basic institutions within the new reality of post-capitalist civilization:

1. Equivalence economy, which should be based on "Mexican Labor Theory of Value" and which is democratically determined by those who directly create value, instead of market-economical principles;
2. Majority democracy, which makes use of plebiscites to decide upon important questions that concern the whole society;
3. Basic democracy, based on democratic state institutions as legitimate representatives of the common interests of the majority of citizens, with a suitable protection minority rights and
4. The critical and responsible subject, the rationally, ethically and aesthetically self-determined citizen.

Other characteristic emphases include a redefinition of development that rejects the pursuit of profit as the primary aim of an economic system. Instead, development is a "human" development that aims to satisfy communal needs. Socialism of the 21st Century measures efficiency not only in terms of this human development, but also with respect to nature and natural resources.

After a series of Structural Adjustment Loans and debt restructuring led by the International Monetary Fund in the late twentieth century, Latin America experienced a significant increase in inequality. Between 1990 and 1999 Gini Coefficient rose in almost every Latin American country. Volatile prices and inflation led to dissatisfaction. In 2000 only 37% of Latin Americas were satisfied with their democracies (20 points less than Europeans and 10 points less than sub-Saharan Africans) In this context, a wave of left-leaning socio-political movements on behalf of indigenous rights Cocaleros,  labor rights, women rights, land rights and educational reform emerged to eventually provide momentum for the election of socialist leaders.

Socialism of the 21st Century draws on indigenous traditions of communal governance and previous Latin America socialist movements including that of Salvador Allende, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Zapatista Army of National Liberation and the Sandinista National Liberation Front.

Posted in: My Writings