Flash back
Last week, we started our discourse on the above subject matter. This week, we will continue our thematic analysis. Let us today x-ray other countries that went through recession, depression, downturn, austerity, belt-tightening times and learn how their leadership galvanised the people for dramatic turnaround.
Some historical lessons
We will, therefore, delve into the history of a few economically successful nations who, yesterday, were in such precarious situation as we find ourselves in today. A leader does not lament. A leader leads. He solves problems. The windshield of a car is far larger than the rear mirror, to enable the driver see more of the front, rather than the rear. Let us see how other great leaders did it.
Russia – Glasnost and perestroika
Glasnost and perestroika (Russian words for “restructuring” and “openness”), were key elements of the campaign initiated by Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, to reform and revitalise the Soviet system. He first mentioned it in a speech at a meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in April 1985.
Glasnost literally means “openness,” when Gorb a chev decided to open up the Russian state to public knowledge; perestrioita, on the other hand was a political movement for reformation within the communist party itself, in the 1980s, also associated with Gorbacks. It referred to the reconstructure of the political and economic system within the ruling Compliance Party.
Glasnost (coupled with the economic and political reforms of perestroika), summarised Gorbachev’s efforts to allow and stimulate more open discussion and criticism in political and cultural life. The term had both a symbolic and practical significance. Carrying the meaning of “speaking out” or “giving voice to,” glasnost was evident in the more open debate and discussion that existed in the final years of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Many conservatives were initially sceptical about this policy in the Communist Party and tried to undermine it. However, particularly after the 27th Party Congress in February, 1986, public officials and citizens began to take Gorbachev’s call for more open, critical discussion seriously. Intellectuals in particular made use of the new freedom glasnost offered to criticise government and to engage in activities that were previously prohibited.
These changes were evident in the cultural realm, where previously banned works were published, and in the scientific and educational world, where Soviet scholars and experts were able to speak more freely and have more contact with their colleagues in the international community. The changes were also evident in discussions of economic performance, where experts openly acknowledged the serious problems of the Soviet economy. Glasnost led to greater openness in the state-controlled media and to the formation of a large number of independent groups. It contributed to the growth of national movements in the Soviet republics, and, ultimately, to the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Perestroika came to encompass a wide variety of political and economic policies. It was implemented along with glasnost. Perestroika at first mainly referred to efforts to reform the ailing Soviet economy by reducing the power of central authorities and introducing elements of a market-based system. A major part of the reforms involved expanding private ownership, which had long been shunned by the regime for ideological reasons. Perestroika also came to mean changes in other aspects of the Soviet system, including the bureaucracy and political life. Although the Communist Party was to remain the dominant political institution in the Soviet Union, other political groups were allowed to participate for the first time in Soviet history, and citizens had a greater role in choosing leaders in elections.
The most significant change was the Committee’s decision in 1988 to allow for small private businesses and cooperatives, which could exist either inside state enterprises or separate from them. But disagreement among the Soviet leaders and their economic advisers, and between Russia and the other Soviet republics, prevented the adoption of a realistic reform programme for the Soviet economy as a whole. This deadlock, as well as the drift of control away from state planners, led to a severe economic crisis by 1990. The effects of this crisis included declining production, growing inflation, pervasive shortages of consumer goods, labour unrest and, most importantly, a widespread loss of confidence in Gorbachev’s ability to handle economic issues.
Gorbachev did not achieve what he set out to do as Soviet leader, that is, to save the country’s existing social and political system by reforming it from within. And in some areas, notably economics, he produced few results. Nevertheless, Gorbachev’s political and foreign policies made a tremendous difference to the countries of the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and in some respects the entire world. The cumulative effect of these policies was to loosen the grip of the Soviet Communist dictatorship, thereby allowing leaders throughout the Communist Eastern bloc to search out new ways of governing. On the international scene, Gorbachev’s policies put an end to the Cold War and the post-World War II division of Europe. Gorbachev is thus one of the most influential statesmen of the 20th century. What do we have in Nigeria? Muzzled opinion. Frightened masses. Government repression. Cronyism, nepotism. Exclusion, rather than inclusion. Divisiveness. Recession. Hunger. Thirst Starvation. Decimation of human rights and rule of law. Rule of the thumb. Contempt for intellectualism, intimidation of the judiciary, emasculation of the legislature, using the coercive, corrosive and awesome apparatchik of state.
China -The Great Leap Forward
In 1918, Future Chinese leader, Mao Zedong, joined a study group headed by his supervisor, Li Dazhao, Director of the library at Beijing University, to be acquainted with the writings of German political philosopher, Karl Marx. Mao would later revise Marxist ideology in hopes of adapting it to conditions in China. Thus highlights the need for a leader to study.
In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) headed by Mao Zedong came to power and founded the People’s Republic of China (PRC). During the first few years of its existence, the PRC focused on rebuilding from the ravages of war and redistributing land to 300 million poor peasants. Nigeria is only 185 million people. China is 1.3 billion people. The first five-year plan, implemented from 1953 to 1958, outlined changes for all economic sectors but particularly emphasised expansion of heavy industry. The government created hundreds of large, state-owned, industrial enterprises and by 1958 China had a solid industrial base. In the agricultural sector, meanwhile, the state organised workers into large, cooperative farms. Agricultural output increased, but not nearly at the same rate as industry.
Initially, the authors of the second five-year plan modeled it on the first. By the beginning of 1958, however, they had revised the plan to address the concern of Chinese leader Mao Zedong that agriculture was not growing as fast as industry. The revised plan was to be accomplished through an economic and social campaign intended to radically increase China’s agricultural production while maintaining high industrial growth. The campaign became known as the “Great Leap Forward.” Nigeria? Moral platitudes, adjurations. Ineffective liberal disquisition. Lachrymal effusion. Chest-beating and sloganeering.
Usa – The Great Depression
The Great Depression in the United States, was the worst and longest economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the early 1940s. Beginning in the United States, the depression spread to most of the world’s industrial countries, which, in the 20th century, had become economically dependent on one another. The Great Depression saw rapid decline in the production and sale of goods and a sudden, severe rise in unemployment. Businesses and banks closed their doors. People lost their jobs, homes and savings, and many depended on charity to survive. In 1933, at the worst point in the depression, more than 15 million Americans, one-quarter of the nation’s workforce, were unemployed.
Emergence of the New Deal
The stock market crash in October 1929 marked the beginning of the Great Depression, a difficult economic period for the United States and other countries. Unemployment increased and the economic security of many people was threatened. Farmers lost their land, homeowners their homes, and workers their jobs. In the years following, the stock market crashed. Thousands of banks closed and many Americans lost their savings. The incumbent President, Herbert Hoover, lost the election of 1932 to Democrat, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt campaigned on promises of a “New Deal” for the American people. In his first inaugural address, he declared:
“…In the event that Congress shall fail to take these courses and in the event that the national emergency is still critical I shall not evade the clear course or duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis, broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact to be invaded by a foreign foe.”
Roosevelt’s course of action became known as the “New Deal”, the name given to the peacetime domestic programme of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and especially to the innovative measures taken between 1933 and 1938 to counteract the effects of the Great Depression.
To be continued. You cannot afford to miss the next tranche of revivalist and redemptive strategies adopted by historical leaders.