[PEN-L:11182] Re: India (II)

["James Michael Craven" <CRAVJM@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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> From: James Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [PEN-L:11177] India (II)
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> Jim C. writes: >> The so-called "planning" in India is like the "planning"
> one finds in the U.S. The State "plans" and "manages"--even
> "constrains"--certain inter-capitalist rivalries in the interest expanded
> reproduction of the system as a whole. The "State-owned/controlled" sectors
> and enterprises always represented essentially "socialization of costs"
> necessary for returns that are increasingly privatized and concentrated;<<
>
> I wasn't saying that India was socialist, i.e., with a government
> controlled by workers and peasants. The planning instead indicated the
> relative independence of the Indian ruling class from the U.S.
>
> >>the Government of India did exercise some "independence" and they
> gravitated toward forming and building the movement partly as a result of
> their experiences with not only the U.S. and Britain, but also as a result
> of their experiences with
> the USSR. <<
>
> Right. So, I agree that >>I think actually we are not far off here. <<
>
>
> in pen-l solidarity,
>
> Jim Devine   jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> jim_devine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ.
> 7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA
> 310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
> "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way
> and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.
>
Response:

I think that Jim is correct here in pointing out the "relative"
independence of the Indian ruling class relative to other so-called
"Third World" countries. The British, more than other colonizers,
were adept at creating/using functionaries ("Brown Englishmen") and
locally-adapted administrative systems and local rulers for their
purposes and to minimize some of the visible presence of foreign
control and the local bourgeoisie got in on the ground floor
with the Indian Constitution and First Five Year Plan in creating
mechanisms and structures that assured more independence from foreign
control than found in other countries (see Charles Bettleheim's "India
Independent" and Dhilip Hiro's "Inside India Today")

                                  Jim Craven

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