Ripe for Revolution: Building Socialism in the Third World

by Jeremy Friedman

A historical account of ideology in the Global South as the postwar laboratory of socialism, its legacy following the Cold War, and the continuing influence of socialist ideas worldwide.

In the first decades after World War II, many newly independent Asian and African countries and established Latin American states pursued a socialist development model. Jeremy Friedman traces the socialist experiment over forty years through the experience of five Indonesia, Chile, Tanzania, Angola, and Iran.

These states sought paths to socialism without formal adherence to the Soviet bloc or the programs that Soviets, East Germans, Cubans, Chinese, and other outsiders tried to promote. Instead, they attempted to forge new models of socialist development through their own trial and error, together with the help of existing socialist countries, demonstrating the flexibility and adaptability of socialism. All five countries would become Cold War battlegrounds and regional models, as new policies in one shaped evolving conceptions of development in another. Lessons from the collapse of democracy in Indonesia were later applied in Chile, just as the challenge of political Islam in Indonesia informed the policies of the left in Iran. Efforts to build agrarian economies in West Africa influenced Tanzania’s approach to socialism, which in turn influenced the trajectory of the Angolan model.

Ripe for Revolution shows socialism as more adaptable and pragmatic than often supposed. When we view it through the prism of a Stalinist orthodoxy, we miss its real effects and legacies, both good and bad. To understand how socialism succeeds and fails, and to grasp its evolution and potential horizons, we must do more than read manifestos. We must attend to history.

Genres: History, Politics, 20th Century

368 pages, Hardcover

Published January 4, 2022

Reviews

[Darren]

Reviewed in the March 2022 issue of the Socialist Standard:

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blog...

[Paul Kenyon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friedman writes smoothly and with confidence. It's quite a pleasurable read for what is, essentially, an academic book. The author examines how different forms of socialism took root in the developing world after WWII, and the influence (or attempted influence) wielded by Russia, China, and the West. He describes why socialism might have been the best model for state building and social transformation in Africa and Asia. Some sections, like the one on Tanzania, seem to have been the result of field work - I'm guessing sponsored by one of the universities for which he works. That's a good thing, and gives us the occasional first hand account of key figures who are no longer with us. First hand testimony is what I strive for in my own books, and Friedman has managed it here. I learned a lot.

[Ruslan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that every researcher of international relations - as well as ordinary persons - should read.

The topic is very important for the study of different political and social models, affecting a period that has an impact to this day. The spread of socialist, communist, Marxist-Leninist ideas in the so-called third world is something that has not yet been sufficiently discussed widely.

The author provides a complete picture and various examples. At the moment, the book is difficult because it contains facts, ideological prisms, and terminology, but this is necessary given the subject.

I read the book in advance and recommend it!

[Hannah Baksh · Rating 3 out of 5]

friedman does quite a good job at compiling some interesting examples of building socialism in the global south. yet, the shortcomings of making this book slightly too simplified with little discussion of the Soviet side of things… interesting choice but he makes too many concessions and provides too little context