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Third World socialism is an umbrella term for many movements and governments of the 20th century—all variants ofsocialism—that have taken place in numerous less-developed countries. There have been many leaders of this practice andpolitical philosophy which remained strong until at least the 1990s, including:Michel Aflaq,Salah al-Din al-Bitar,Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,Buddhadasa,Fidel Castro,Muammar Gaddafi,Saddam Hussein,Juan Domingo Perón,Modibo Keïta,Walter Lini,Gamal Abdel Nasser,Jawaharlal Nehru,Kwame Nkrumah,Julius Nyerere,Sukarno,Ahmed Sékou Touré and other socialist leaders of theThird World who saw socialism as the answer to a strong and developed nation.
Third World socialism is made up ofAfrican socialism,Arab socialism,Buddhist socialism,Islamic socialism,Melanesian socialism,Nasserism,Peronism, andNehruism. Gaddafi's version was more inspired in the ideas ofArab nationalism,direct democracy,strongman politics andnational liberation struggle while Bhutto's was more Western-aligned and resembled, allied and inspired itself in the ideas of Westerndemocratic socialism/social democracy and had membership in theSocialist International.
In the 21st century, a surge in leftist governments called thepink tide occurred in Latin America. Latin Americansocialism of the 21st century is an ideologically-specific form ofThird Worldism. It incorporatesanti-Americanism and a connection with the less-developed Eastern Europe and finds solidarity with otherdeveloping countries including variants in the Arab world.
The leaders ofAfrican socialism were Julius Nyerere, first president of Tanzania after the independence, who coined the concept ofUjamaa and collectivized the land;Kwame Nkrumah, first president of Ghana, who was one of the fathers of theNon-Aligned Movement, praised state planning policies like the five-year plans and an agency for the regulation of cocoa exports and in several political speeches and writings developed his theory of African socialism;Modibo Keïta, father of Mali; andAhmed Sékou Touré, father of Guinea.
The main figures ofArab socialism areGamal Abdel Nasser, second president of Egypt, whonationalized the Suez Canal, and theBa'ath Party, founded in Syria byMichel Aflaq, which gained popularity in the whole Arab world and reached the government in Syria (1963-2024) and Iraq (1963-2003). Arab socialism is defined as "a non-Marxist socialism adapted to the strong conservative Islamic roots of the Arab world". Arab socialism postulated the elimination of economic inequality and relied on economic planning and public ownership of the economy, and partly under Soviet influence, elements of the Soviet socialism. It also promoted women's right and abolition of discrimination based on religion and religious denomination.[1]
Noam Chomsky argued that the main trait shared by both Arab socialism and Marxist socialism was "the idea that the government has direct responsibility for the welfare of the people". Arab socialism mainly concerned itself with the liberation of the Arab nations from their exploitation by the West. The main characteristic of Marxism, liberation of the working class from its exploitation by the bourgeoisie, was also present in Arab socialism, but presented as something that can be realized by resisting Western imperialism and economic interests, as well as through religious Islamic rhetoric.[1]
In case of Nasser, his Arab socialist policy consisted of mass nationalizations, including theSuez Canal, as well as the pharmaceutical, cement, phosphate, and tobacco industries, hitherto owned by French and British concerns. Nasser also created new, state-owned enterprises, such as a national steel company. Main concern of Nasser, in line with Arab socialism, was "indigenizing" the Egyptian economy and safeguarding the political independence of Egypt, especially in economic aspect. Some sectors such as banking, overseas trade and transportation became entirely public-owned, while private investment was permitted in other sectors such as mining, though limited to Egyptian citizens only in order to hinder foreign dependence.[1]
Iran experienced a short Third World socialism period at the zenith of theTudeh Party after the abdication ofReza Shah and his replacement by his son,Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (though the party never rose to power). After failing to reach power, this form of third world socialism was replaced byMosaddegh's populist, non-alignedIranian nationalism of theNational Front party as the main anti-monarchy force in Iran, reaching power (1949–1953), and it remained with that strength even in opposition (after theoverthrow of Mossadegh) until the rise ofIslamism and theIranian Revolution.[2] The Tudehs have moved towards basic socialistcommunism since then.[3]
Kemalism can very arguably be added to the list,[4][5] as it appeared before the notion of Third World was created in post-World War II, it added populism to the equation (something not all Third World socialists did; Nasser and Nkrumah, for example, did) andTurkey is more developed than the typical notion of a Third World country, but as it was used as a model of government after theTurkish War of Independence to rebuild Turkey and recover it from the underdevelopment of theOttoman Empire, creating a strong nation in face of the prospect ofEuropean colonialism, it can be considered as reaching the templates of a Third World socialism movement. From the 1960s onwards, Third World socialist and Third Worldist thought influenced left-Kemalism.[6]
The Kemalist experiment,[7]Fabian socialism andsocial democracy in general[8] and the main Third World communist country, thePeople's Republic of China,[8] were big influences on the movement. Despite being inspired by social democracy, most of these states were affected in one time or the other by strongmen orbig man leaders orone-party systems. In any case, most Third World socialist states are followers of social democraticreformism (normally state-guided), preferring it torevolution, although some adopted a kind ofpermanent revolution stance on the social progress to a socialist society.
ManyLatin American thinkers argued that the United States used Latin American countries as "peripheral economies" at the expense of Latin American social and economic development, which many saw as an extension ofneo-colonialism andneo-imperialism.[9] This shift in thinking led to a surge of dialogue related to how Latin America could assert its social and economic independence from the United States. Many scholars argued that a shift to socialism could help liberate Latin America from this conflict.
TheNew Left emerged in Latin America, a group which sought to go beyond existingMarxist–Leninist efforts at achieving economic equality and democracy to include social reform and address issues unique to Latin America such as racial and ethnic equality, indigenous rights and environmental issues.[10] Notable New Left movements in Latin America include theCuban Revolution of 1959, the victory of theSandinista revolution in Nicaragua of 1979, theWorkers' Party government in Porto Alegre of 1990, among others.
Because of its close proximity and stronghistorical connection to theUnited States,Cuba served an integral role inspreadingsocialism to the rest ofLatin America.Che Guevara described Cuba as "a guiding light" to Latin American countries caught in conflict betweenimperialism and socialism.[11] In Guevara's speech "On Revolutionary Medicine", he recounts his travels through Latin America and the misery, hunger and disease he witnessed and explained how a shift to socialism could help alleviate these struggles.[12] As part of theNew Left,Fidel Castro and Che Guevara implemented leftist politics in Cuba while incorporating policies aimed at addressing social issues.[13][14] Cuban officials intended for Cuba to spur similar leftist revolutions in the rest of Latin America, what he saw as a common "liberation struggle", in countries likeVenezuela,Bolivia andNicaragua.[15][16]
In the case ofJuan Perón, elected president of Argentina on three times, his Third World socialist stance was fused with radicalpopulism, which aligned itself with the Third World and theNon-Aligned Movement (what Perón called "the third position"), with a significantstate intervention for development such asfive-year plans, thenationalization of railways, ports and banks, the creation of an agency to regulategrain exports (theIAPI) and the establishment of a modernwelfare state. Despite hisprogressive policies, Perón did not define himself or his doctrine as "socialist" during his first presidencies (1946–1955), but he did later during his exile and during his third presidency (1973–1974) when he coined the term "Christian national socialism" (socialismo nacional cristiano),[17] sort of an Argentine way to socialism. Perón defined it as "a ‘national’ road to socialism, understood as a system of economic socialization and popular power respectful of specific national conditions and traditions."[18] Amongst his influences, Perón listed the "Nordic model",corporatism and non-aligned, Third World socialist models such asChristian socialism andNasserism.[19] Scholars described Perón's ideology as a variant of non-Marxist Christian socialism,[20] Third World socialism,[21] or a fusion of "indigenous socialism with Argentine nationalism".[22]
