Fall of Idi Amin
Description
Fall of Idi Amin
Shared by: asafwewe
-
Stats
- views:
- 58
- posted:
- 3/9/2010
- language:
- English
- pages:
- 5
Document Sample


Fall of Idi Amin
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 14, No. 21 (May 26, 1979), pp. 907-910
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4367633
Accessed: 15/10/2008 08:00
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=epw.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the
scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that
promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Economic and Political Weekly is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Economic and Political Weekly.
http://www.jstor.org
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY May 26, 1979
UGANDA But soon these two were in trouble. To
deprive the Obote forces of the base they
had been grantedin neighbouring Sudan-
Fall of Idi Amin and to benefit from Libya's promises of
aid-Amin expelled the Israelis who had
TO many, Idi Ainin's end was regime. They share the weakness of their used NorthernUganda as a base to supply
incomprehensiblyanti-climactic. He was counterparts elsewhere-they grew up in a Anyanya guerillas in Southern Sudan.
the tyrantwho had smashedeven a murmur colonial economy and continue to be Thatsameyear(1972) he expelledthe Asian
of protest with brute force. Medieval dominated by foreign capital, there also minority,the capitalistsamong whom were
savagery with modern weapons-that was exist sharp internal divisions within this intermediaries for British commercial
his style. Now the very dictator who had class, a product of Uganda's specific interestsin Uganda. In retaliation,Britain
brazenly flaunted his military prowess colonial history. Its strongest section, the and Israel tried to cut the regime'slifeline
had simply melted away as the hour of Asian capitalists(forinstance,the Madhva- to the international market through an
reckoning approached, without so much nis and Mehtas) came from a minority economic embargo. For an effective
as a fight. The most militarisedregime in nationalityand were closely identifiedwith embargo,however,they needed superpower
the region thus failed to survive a military Britishcolonial interest.The rest have also co-operation.
confrontation. failed to coalesce as a unified force Now, no neo-colonial regime (let alone a
To understand the source of Amin's politically. Unable to form a single party fascist one) can survive if opposed by a
weaknessat the final hour requiresunder- to championthe interestof property, they unitedfront of imperialistpowers. Amin's
standing the source of his strength at its formed several. Each section tried to rally regime survived as long as it did in part
prime, his local base, his foreign support, behind it a segment of the people on a because it always found one or another
the nature of the militarymachinehe built religious, regional, or tribal platform. imperialistpower to patronise it. In 1972,
up, and the character of the opposition Becauseof its organisational weakness,this the British-Israeliembargo failed because
that he faced. For, by the time he fell, his class has often had to act by proxy, as at neither the superpowers nor other
local base had disintegrated;his principal the time of the Amin coup. imperialistpowers were willing to support
foreign supportershad deserted him; the In 1972, Amin took advantage of this it.
pride of place in his fascist regime, the division within the capitalist class. Also, In fact, beginning 1973, both the US
military machine, was riddled with like other fascists before him, he tried to and the USSR stepped up their presence
factionalism and indiscipline; and Anmin channel the anti-imperialism the people
of in Uganda. The US purchasedthe coffee
himself had succeeded in multiplyingand into a racist mould. He expelled the Asian that Britain would not. (Coffee sales
unifying the ranks of the opposition, both capitalists (along with Asians of other accountedfor over 90 per cent of Uganda's
internal and external. classes) and promisedparadise to the rest. foreign exchange under Amin.) From
Paradoxically, the regime that But only so long as this Paradiseremain- buying a-fifth (20.6 per cent) of Uganda's
consolidated itself through the gun was ed a promisedland could it be sharedby the crop in 1973,it took a-third(33.5 per cent)
weakened by the same gun. Many an multitude.Once the spoils had actually to in 1976, emergingas the regime'sprincipal
observer was content to compile statistics be divided, only the fittest could survive. tradingpartner.In time, relations between
of the regime's brutalityand then wonder Now, Amin's officers were not about to the two became even cosier-though
whyit continuedto survivein spite of sucha queue up behindthe big businessmen a for covert-as US firms supplied Amin with
staggering record. What such observers share of the loot. In no time, the cabinet much needed intelligence support.
never understoodwas the social character of technocrats and bureaucratswas sent The main external training ground for
of violence, that at every point violence is packing on a long vacation. The first the dreadedState ResearchBureauwas the
directed towards specific socio-economic predominantly militarycabinetwas formed. US and, later, also the UK. According to
ends. Should its use accord with dominant The most ambitious of the businessmen information that surfaced at the US
economic interests, foreign and local, it were either killed (for instance, Michael congressional hearings on US-Uganda
will be supportedby them. Should it not, Kawalya Kaggwa and Augustine Kamya) relations, in 1977-78alone over 70 agents
it will have to confrontthese,soonerorlater. or they simply ran away. The rest of them, of the regime were trainedin the US. Most
As the brutalityof the Amin regimepassed to continue to function, became extreme of themweremembersof the StateResearch
from the first category to the second, the opportunists ignoring all else so long as Bureauand manyweretrainedas helicopter
regime became increasingly isolated and some money came their way. It was then pilotsor as 'communication specialists'.For
vulnerable. that the military-capitalists,such as Ali example, the Harris Corporation, which
Fadhul and Nassur (not to speak of Amin sold Amin 'tactical trucks' and installed
LOCAL BASE
himself), were born as a group.The people earth satellite stations and 'mass
Local support for the 1971 coup ranged baptised them the Mafuta Mingis (men of communication systems',signeda four-year
from Ugandan capitalists estranged by much oil) after Operation Mafuta Mingi, contract on April 17, 1977 to train the
Obote'snationalisationsto a section of the the nameAmin gave to the Asian expulsion. necessary personnel. Bell Helicopter
popularclasseswho momentarily welcomed Brought to life by Amin, the main local Textron, which sold helicopters to the
any changefrom a regimethat had muffled beneficiaries the coup and the expulsion,
of regime, trained 21 pilots and mechanicsat
them. Technocrats and bureaucrats, the the Mafuita Mingis, prospered under him its Fort Worth, Texas facilities in 1977.
mechanicsof a privateenterpriseeconomy, but in time found him the main obstacleto The Soviet Union, on the other hand,
staffed Amin's first cabinet. Propertied their continued growth. became the regime's principal arms
interests, foreign and local, applauded. supplier. Following the visit of a Soviet
Both turneda blind eye to the first wave of FOREIGN SUPPORT military mission in November 1973,
massacres of thousands of Acholi and Britain,Israeland the US were delighted MiG-19s and TU-54 tanks rolled in. By
Langi soldiers towards the end of 1971. with the turn of events in 1971, and they 1975, the fascist regime had received an
But Ugandan capitalists have had a showedit. In fact, the firsttwo had actively estimated $12 million in economic 'aid'
historical weakness which was to have a participatedin the coup that realised their and $48 million in military'aid' from the
telling effect on their relations with the good fortune. Soviet Union. According to the Soviet
- Qn7
May 26, 1979 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
Ambassador to Uganda, the "aid" was econoimic hardship also stirred student gun. Over the years, any civilian authority
"in the interestof peace and securityof all opposition.Makererestudents'demonstra- that could exercise a measure of control
peoples"! tions of early and late 1976 evoked over the armed forces, in the name of
Once convinced that the regime was no favourable response from the lower and preserving and orderto ensure regular
law
passingaffair,the peddlarsof yens, marks, middle strata of Kampala. But civilian trade, was done away with. When in 1972,
liras and francs-as those of dollars and protest, without clarity of long-run vision the civilian cabinet was replaced by a
rubles-ruslhed in. Japan came into road and a correspondingly high level of orga- military cabinet, a few of the civilians
constructionand transport,West Germany nisation, could not withstand the baton survived as members of later military
in miningand prospecting,Italy to shore up and the bullet the soldierslet loose against cabinets. In 1977, those remaining also
manufacturingand electricity generation, it. left Oboth Ofumbi for the grave and
and Belgium to provide railway In the countryside, matters stood Henry Kyamba for the US.
maintenance. somewhat differently.In a predominantly The same tendency was evident at the
Its economic blockade having failed, rural society, the effect of economic crisis local level. In 1975-76,the administrative
Britain also made the best of the new moves froniithe town to the countryside. map of the country was redrawnto create
situation, soon becoming the regime's Because peasantsgrow their own food and 10 provinces,each with its own military
second largest coffee purchaser (20.5 per build their own shelter, the effect on the governor.Everyone of Amin's top officers
cent in 1976). Barclays Bank returnedto countryside is necessarily limited. now acquired his 'own' province. He
Kampala.Israel came in throughthe back- Subsistence production was the peasant's treatedit more like the fiefdom, a feudal
of
door, using front agencies like ATASCO response to urban tyranny. And it was lord than the responsibility of a local
(jointly owned by the Israeli Ministry of indeed a devastating response. administrator.From the revenue and the
Defence, the US Export-Import Bank and Faced with the inflation of industria produce of 'his' province, the military
an Israeli tycoon called Eisenberg) and prices (of textiles, sugar, soap, salt), while governor could now enlarge his personal
Zimex-Aviation(a Zurich-basedfront for agricultural prices remained stagnant, booty. Less and less of coffee, sugar,
the Israeli intelligence, Mossad) to supply peasants simply stopped growing cotton tobacco and tea found its way to Kampala
aircrafts and crew for Uganda Airways, and began uprooting coffee trees. In his for export. More and more was smuggled
establishedin 1977. budget speech of 1974-75,the Minister of to neighbouringcountries such as Kenya,
It is only in the context of this imperialist Finance estimated that cotton production Sudanand Zaire by the militarygovernors.
jamboree in Uganda that we can assess had declinedby 60 per cent. That minister The central treasury now looked more
support from regimes such as Libya, was heard of no more. It was also the last like a provincial chest. Amin found it
Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, and budget speech under Amin. Meanwhile,a difficult to ensure for his troops the
Bangladesh.Whereasthe latter three made spiral movement had begun: repression sumptuousliving to whichthey had become
availablemuch-needed technicalpersonnel, coupled with harsh economic conditions accustomed.The 'whiskyrun' to London's
the reactionaryArab regimes gave Amin fuelled the peoples' resistance which in StandstedAirport could only suffice for a
financialcontributionsat critical moments, turn deepened the economic crisis and select few. Soon, Amin found it difficult
such as at the time of the 1975 OAU made the regime even more repressive. even to pay soldiers'salariesin time.
summit in Kampala. The Libyan connect- Under such conditions of tyranny and This calamity had a two-fold result. On
ion was by far the most important: massacre, however, the opposition of an the one hand, in a situation where each
investments channelled through the unorganised people could only be silent military governor had his own domain,
Libyan-ArabDevelopment Bank in such and sullen. Opendefiancewas sporadicand Amin himselfbegan to resemblea warlord.
spheres as sugar, transport and cement sponataneous. few who could vote voted
The He could no longer physically eliminate
production were valued at $25.5 million with their feet. This is why the first and top military brass such as Colonel Moses
in 1976. for a long time the only manifestation Ali, the Minister of Finance, until July,
So long as it was business as usual in of organised opposition was among 1978. He could only dismiss them, if even
Uganda, bankers and merchants were exiles-particularly those in neighbouring that. On the other hand, with soldiers
willing to turn a blind eye to all else. This Tanzania-who faced far more favourable increasingly exposed to economic
was the first source of Amin's strength. conditions for organisation. But exile hardships civilians had long known
Whatever the exposures of the regime's politics also had its drawback. Removed discontent spread within the lower ranks
brutality,business came before politics. from the actual situation at home-and, of the army.
therefore, from conditions which would The ground was rife for CoUps and
RESISTANCE AND ECONOMIC CRISIS
have had a unifying effect on any mutinies,as in fact it was the case during
Having consolidatedits control over the opposition-exile politics was shaped by
State machinery, the regime tried to gear the last years of the regime. In response,
secondary questions, question far more Amin relied more on non-national
all economicactivity towardsbuildingup a divisive. Exile organisations were many
mighty war machine. Fully mechanised mercenary elements in the army-those
and weak. This absence of an all-round from Southern Sudan and Eastern Zaire.
battalions,completewith tanksand armour, organisation that could harness, concent-
was the goaf. Expenditureto maintainthe He then cut off the rest of the army from
rate and direct the entire opposition access to the armoury. Thus, when Israeli
let
social andeconomicinfrastiucture, alone was the second source of Amin's strength.
to develop it, was reduced to a trickle. commandoslandedat Entebbein July 1976,
Scarcityand inflation were the harvestthe AND
WARLORDISM DISINTEGRATION it is most likely that the soldiers at the
regime reaped in a short period. No organism is immune from its airport were limited to the ammunition
The effect on the town population was environment. The economic crisis could they had in hand and to no more. Also,
imnnediate. Workers went on strike, in not but have an effect on Amin's army. A the raid exposed to the outside world
1974, at the Lugazi Sugar Works, and in shrinking pie intensified squabbles among Amin's military weakness. Finally, those
1975, at the Kilembe Copper Mines. But those wlho wanted a share of the spoils. disgruntled officers whom Amin found
every open manifestation of protest was It also affected the very characterof the difficult to' eliminate for fear of their
suppressed.Strike leaders were killed and State power. support in the army were transferred,
unions were banned. Amin's newly-richofficersknew the one demoted,or dismissed.
The combination of repression and sure way of makingmoney-through the The round of coup attempts reached a
908
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY May 26, 1979
climax with the one in mid-1978 led by coalesce into a single organisation: the overthrownwas becoming a real one. A
none other than Amin's second-in- Uganda National Liberation Front. As change of position was required to be on
command, Vice-Presidentand Minister of JuliusNyerereargued:'There are two wars the right side of the wind. The US sought a
Defence, Mustapha Adrisi. Sent to Egypt going on in Uganda: one, by Ugandans foothold in the anti-Amin camp.
for recovery, Adrisi had to be returnedto fightingto free themselvesfrom a fascist The USSR, on the other hand, had
pacify troops loyal to him-though now dictator; the other, by Tanzaniansfighting openly armed the fascist regime ever since
strippedof his Defence portfolio.Such was to defend their national sovereignty".- 1973. Its options were far more limited.
the backgroundto the widespreadmutinies The point, though, was that both wars had In this hour of Amin's crisis, the time had
of late 1978 in the Simba (Lion) Battalion the same target: the regime of Idi Amin come for the USSR to support its ally.
in Mbarara and the Chui (Leopord) Dada. To do so, however, would be to risk
Battalion in Gulu. Ironically,it was none other than Amin political exposure without compensating
himself who had played a central role in gains. The USSR was paralysed. Soviet
KAGERA INVASION
bringingtogether all forces, internaland officialdom looked the other way as
By then, Amin's army was seethingwith external, opposed to him. And that too, Ugandan students demonstrated against
intemal feuds. The little disciplineit could at a time whenhis regimewas wreckedwith Libya in Moscow. Its officialnews agency,
have boasted of earlier had melted away. internal divisions and his margin of TASS, although with one of the few
Why then did Amin embark on an manoeuvrein the internationalarena was correspondents Kampala duringAmin's
in
adventuresuch as the Kagera invasion? rapidlynarrowing. fall, could write no more than two short
Incredibleas it may sound, Amin must paragraphs on the fall-and that, too,
have seen the invasion as a solution to his FOREIGN POWERS
anaestheticquotes taken from the Western
dilemma. The battalions that participated For the superpowers,the October War press.
in the invasion were precisely those that was one they had not initiated. But like This left Amin with his secondaryallies,
were the most problematic to Amin, the other local conflictsaroundthe globe, they mainly the reactionary Arab regimes.
Chui and the Simba battalions. The had to reckonwith it; if possible,by turning Unlike the superpowers, Libya had less
predatorycharacterof the invasion-that it to advantage. For the Western powers room for manoeuvre. It sought a middle
the invading troops took with them all and the racist regimes they support in ground-mediation-but could find none
formsof movablepropertywhile destroying SouthernAfrica, the Kagera invasion was in a polarised conflict. Seeing the world
the rest-provided the disgruntledtr6ops immediately a blessing from above. For mainlyin termsof the Arab-Israeli conflict,
with new pasturesfor pillage and plunder. some time, the racist regimes had sought Gaddafi came to the rescue of the
Finally and, probably most significantly, to implement in Southern Africa the demagogic anti-Zionist Amin with troops
throughthe invasionand throughhis threat strategyIsrael had perfectedin West Asia: and equipment. But in a terrain they did
that the next time around he would attack the Frontline States, one by one, not know and in a war whose meaningthey
permanently annex the Kagera salient, make it appear as an inter-State conflict did not understand,these young and aged
Amin hoped that Tanzania would and neutralisethem, also one by one. Thus sons of the earth-cannon-fodder in every
permanentlyneutralise the Ugandan anti- the roundof invasionsagainstMozambique, reactionary army-faced a wallopingdefeat
Amin forces on its territory. For what Zambia,Botswana,Angola.But therewas a at the Battleof Entebbe.Thosenot captured
Amin dreadedmost was the possibilityof a problem: neither South Africa nor were soon withdrawn. Amin's last days
connection between the exile opposition Rhodesia shared a border with Tanzania. had begun.
in Tanzania and the mutinous'battalions Now Amin, the man who was already
in Uganda. training Sithole's private army, had DEFEAT
But the invasion precipitated the very presentedthem with a solution: a war by We return to our original question.
situationit was designedto avoid. Tanzania proxy. The most reactionaryforces on the Though left in the lurch by superpowers
was determinednot to get involved in the continentbegan to crowd aroundAmin. who had patronised him all along, with
diplomatic quagmire Amin had prepared Whereasthe smaller reactionarypowers none but secondaryallies to support him,
for it: a recipe designed to neutralise the are incapable of looking beyond their why did Amin's military machine, built
UgandanoppositioninsideTanzania,to cast noses, the vision of the imperialistpowers with all the resources the dictator could
the whole question of fascism in Uganda necessarilyembracesthe whole world. But muster, disintegrateafter the first test of
and the fascist invasion of Tanzania in no matter what their strength, the super- battle? We can now bring together the
terms of the single issue of the territorial powers do not act on a blank State. It is threads of our analysis to answer the
inviolability of all State boundaries and objective reality, 'the facts of the matter', question.
to shift the question from the battlefield as they say, that compelledthe US to shift First, the character of Amin's army.
to-the conference table. It was a recipe its stance. Already by 1978, it had been From the massacresof late 1971 and more
designedto not only let Amin off the hook awareof the weaknessof the Amin regime, so from 1975-76,the core of Amin's army
in exchange for no more than some pious of both the necessity of law and order in were southern Sudanese and Eastern
proclamations also to paralysethe exile Uganda to facilitate regular trade and Ziarois, mercenary
but elementswho remained
opposition. profits and of the risks of political to gather hay while the sun shone. The
Instead, Tanzania gave free rein to exposure-in the context of Carter's Ugandan elements in the army were
Ugandan anti-fascist forces. It carefully 'Human Rights'-if open relations with a predominantlyrecruited from the riff-raff
and methodically prepared the ground- regime as oppressiveas Amin's continued. of the towns, mainlyNubian. A marauding
work-internally and internationally, Of course, the US embargo on trade with force used to medieval savageryto silence
militarilyand diplomatically-for counter- Uganda did not put a stop either to covert and strip a defencelesscivilian population,
ing Amin's forces. Finally, Tanzania relations or to indirect trade (to the it had no battle experience. At Masaka
launched its own counter-attack.- at
purchaseof Uganda coffeeeithersmuggled and Mbarara,and particularly the Battle
The new situation providedthe impetus through Kenya or flown to Djibouti and of Lukaya, Amin's army found out that it
for the entiregamutof Ugandan opposition shippedto New Yorkby Frenchmerchants). was one $hingto harass unarmedcivilians,
forces, who understandably sought to take But now, it had to contend with a new quite another to face the armed forces of
advantageof Amin's weakness, to come factor: that while it could not openly another State.
together at a~conference in Moshi and support Amiin,the possibility-of his-being But that was not all. The army was
909
May 26, 1979 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
wrought with internal divisions from 1976 to shed their uniformand melt away in the
ing picture. The concept of labour as
on. Officers had been recklesslytransferred, local population, and the non-Ugandan the source of production enables one
demoted, dismissed and killed. Such a mercenaries to roam the countryside as to make the distinction between labour
state of affairs hardly auguredwell for the bandits until finally rounded up or killed.
and different forms of property as
discipline of the troops. It was a ragtag The medieval savagery which had beenqualitatively distinct bases for claims
army that entered battle against the anti- on the social produce. The recognition
the hallmark of the regime all along was
Amin forces. of alternative bases of income leads to
also characteristicof its dying gasp. Not
What Amin did have was m-litary only that. When the anti-Amin troops the concept of social class as the unit
hardware, a lct of it new and very entered Kampala, they found huge cachesof analysis. Finally, class-relations are
impressive. As many a field commander viewed as essentially antagonistic in
of arms from the USSR, Britain,Israeland
remarked,with their tanks and armoured nature. The demand-supply theory, on
Spain-all unused. In the final analysis,
cars Amin forces were confined to roads. it was not the quantity of weapons but the other hand, views production as
Against long-rangeTanzanianartillery,as a process of transformation of factors
the quality of the organisation wielding
against the ambush of infantry in bush them that mattered. Amin had of production the supply of all of which
country, Amin's army turned out to be as demonstratedan important truth, though involves some subjective cost on the
specialised as a dinosaur. At the first sign part of their owners. The concept of
by negativeexample.In war as in all realms
of defeat, the soldiersabandonedtheir new of social activity, it is not the technicalbut
subjective-cost puts all types of claims
equipmentand fled the Ugandan elements the political factor which is decisive.on the social produce on a uniform
basis and thus, eradicates the grounds
for any class-distinction. The individual
emerges as the unit of analysis with
REVIEW ARTICLE market as the only institution relating
the anonymous individuals.
A question which arises is whether
any mode of expression of antagonistic
Grand Conceptions of Supply-Demand class-relations can be viewed as equi-
valent to production-relations.In Smith,
Theory for instance, the master-worker relation
is viewed as bargaining relations. The
A K MaIik bargain for wages is between unequal
social classes and not between equal
ClassicalPoliticalEconomyand the Rise to Dominanceof Supply-Demandindividuals. This inequality, Smith
Theory by Krishna Bharadwaj; Orient Longmans, New Delhi, 1978; locates, in specific property bases.
pp 106, Rs 14. There is also the recognition that the
dominant classes manipulate the state
RECENT revival of interest in classical without any sense of perspective. As policies in their favour. But in Smith,
political economy challenging the neo- acknowledged by the author, the present there is no concept of 'production rela-
classical orthodoxy started on the book owes a lot to Piero Sraffa's tions' in the sense of relations viewed
analytical issues in value-distribution writings. The suggestion of an overall from the standpoint of organisation of
theory. Krishna Bharadwaj, in this series perspective, especially in regard to the labour process within a production unit.
of lectures, attempts to view the two point of view of change, was implied While the basis of wage-labour is
schools of thought in a much wider per- in Sraffas work. Nevertheless, an explicit rightly located in property, the essence
spective. The transition from classical discussion on the classical method of of wage-relation is not located in the
political economy to the demand-supply dealing with change was not within capitalist's control over labour-process,
theory is viewed as a fundamental change Sraffa's immediate interest in the ana- ie, in the technology and work orga-
in the vision of how the economic lytical frame of value-distribution nisation of factory production. Social
system works, ie, a transition at the level theory. The present book with its organisation of production is discussed
of ideology having its roots in the explicit concern for a total perspective, in a general frame of division of labour.
broader history of social movements. therefore, looks useful. The sequence is from division of labour
The methodological implications of this While agreeing with the basic theme of to the necessity of stocks in production
shift are then viewed with respect to Krishna Bharadwaj'slectures, a few com- to privately.-owned stock or capital.
the ability of the new theories to deal ments may be relevant on some of the Capital labour relation thus manifests
with a greater or lesser variety of ob- points of detail raised in course of her only at the level of bargaining that
servable change. On the one hand, theory discussion. The first lecture tries to bring determines the distribution of social
as ideology and on the other, theory out the difference between the two produce. State power is viewed as
in relation to the problem of change, theories at the level of ideology and strengthening the bargaining position of
provide the overall perspective- the to trace their historical roots. The the masters.
former for locating the origin or history dividing line is drawn in the beginning One can, of course, understand the
of two streams of thought and the latter (p 11) in terms of "production-rela- author's position. She is viewing
for evaluating their analytical power. tions" vis-a-vis "market-relations". "The theoretical development from Petty to
Analytical problems in value-distribution primacy of production-relation in clas- Marx as a single tradition. The com-
theory are seen to fall into their proper sical political economy" was replaced mon concepts of labour-based produc-
places within this broader frame. by "market-relations (or relations in tion, property, social class and anta-
Appreciation of Krishna Bharadwaj's circulation)". The discussion which gonistic class-relations are sufficient in
effort is not intended to suggest that follows centres upon 'the major problems differentiating the work of all these
the recent works on the logical founda- and conceptualisation' of classical poli- economists from the demand-supply
tions of classical value theory are tical economy where one gets the follow- approach. But her frequent and un-
910
Get documents about "