Would Poor People In Rural Areas Of Vietnam Be Justified Pursuing Marxist Revolution?
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Would Poor People In Rural Areas Of Vietnam Be Justified Pursuing Marxist Revolution?
Economic inequality has brought a significant impact on the people of Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War. Vietnam is a communist nation that has embraced capitalist economic ideologies. The country has undergone tremendous economic reforms and development since the end of the war. The two main political ideologies that have shaped the socio-political and economic environment are the Marxist and capitalist ideologies. According to the people living in rural areas, capitalist political and economic ideologies have contributed to economic inequality in the country. There has been an increase in the economic inequality with a higher number of the citizens living below the poverty line. The country currently experiences various inequalities such as ethnic, regional, gender and income disparity between the poor and the rich. The communist ideologies however, encourage the distribution of wealth among all citizens. Many industries were built and large-scale farming occurred in the most part of the country. However, only the wealthy individuals and the owners of such industries acquired more wealth. The common citizens who worked in the industries earned unsustainable income thus resulting in the increase in the poverty levels. According to the poor, the capitalistic ideologies have caused the widespread poverty in the region. This has made the people who live in rural Vietnam to vote for the political leaders who are affiliated to the Marxist or communist ideologies.
Communism has brought a great impact on economic inequality in the rural areas. Countries that have embraced communist ideologies have been found to have higher levels of poverty than nations that practice capitalistic economic ideologies (Tella & MacCulloch, 2007). This shows that Marxist ideologies do not effectively help in eradicating rural-urban inequality. One of the reasons that have contributed to higher levels of poverty in rural Vietnam is that they believe in communist ideologies that hinders the adoption of economic reforms. It is difficult to initiate critical economic and developmental changes in a communist nation or region since the main factors of production are controlled by the government. Since the government act as the custodian for the citizens, it controls the vital economic factors of production such as land, labor and capital (Thu Le & Booth, 2010). The citizens therefore cannot easily initiate economic reforms that can ensure the economic growth and development. Moreover, in a Marxist government, the public access economic resources through social services those are usually not sufficient for all the citizens. The people however believe that communism results in the equal distribution of important economic resources. Although the people of Vietnam are pursuing a Marxist revolution in rural Vietnam, the changes in economic policies will have little effect on eradicating poverty in the poor rural areas.
The poor people who live in the rural areas in Vietnam believe that capitalism is the main cause of widespread poverty in the region (Tella & MacCulloch, 2007). This belief about the origin of widespread rural-urban inequality has also hindered economic progress in the rural areas. This situation results in more people voting for against free trade and call for strict regulation of both local and global trade. However, the regulation of free trade eventually results in the practice of communism since the government will be the sole controller of the important factors of production such as land, labor and capital. Research has shown that there are other important factors that have contributed to the high levels of poverty in rural Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War. One crucial factor is low levels of education in the rural areas as compared to urban areas. The presence of inter-group differences in education between the two regions within the country has contributed to the disparity in economic development (Harriss-White, 2007). The rural regions experience high levels of illiteracy hence there is a low demand for the workforce in those regions. A low demand for the labor-force also translates into low-income that eventually results in an increased level of poverty (Sharpes, 2015). Therefore, the people in rural Vietnam should recognize the role that other factors such education play in economic development. Pursing for a Marxist revolution may not help in eradicating the rural-urban inequality. However, there should be a collective action between the government and the rural community to promote higher education standards in the rural areas.
Another factor that is causing high rural-urban inequality is the high population in the rural areas. The presence of high population puts a lot of pressure on the available economic resources such as capital, land and employment opportunities. Being an Asian country, Vietnam has a high population growth rate. The family demographic structures are characterized by families that have many children that cannot be sustained by the available economic resources. This results in malnutrition and the rise in the level of poverty (Oxfam, 2017). Moreover, the presence of a high number of people results in the increase in cheap labor in the market. The government therefore is forced to pay the workers unsustainable income that in turn increases the number of people who are below the poverty line. Therefore, instead of blaming capitalism, the people living in the rural areas should ensure that there is a collective action aimed at controlling the population. For example, the communities should spearhead the use of birth control methods so as to prevent population explosion in the rural regions. By controlling the birth rate in the rural regions, the rate of poverty is likely to be reduced as a result of a reduced number of people who depend on the vital economic resources.
Another reason why it would be unjustifiable for people living in rural Vietnam to pursue a Marxist Revolution is that there are studies that have found out that changing economic structure may not have a significant impact on economic growth. Moreover, there are countries that have experienced economic growth as a result of the adoption of the capitalistic socio-economic and political ideologies (Akerlof & Klenow, 2009, p. 324). Although people from low economic backgrounds believe that changing from capitalism to communism can trigger economic growth, there is likely to be an insignificant change hence the poor will remain poor while the rich will continue to be wealthy. The changes in economic structures will hinder the privatization of industries; an important aspect in economic growth. The government will have to take full control of all commercial activities that occur in Vietnam. The rural areas should instead call for the adoption of effective industrial structures instead of eradicating capitalism. For example, due to low numbers of industries in the rural areas, the rural poor should encourage the government to establish a small and medium-sized business that can help in stimulating economic growth in the rural areas. Such small industries can provide employment opportunities to the high population in the rural regions. Moreover, there should be a collective action by the members of the local communities and the regional government offices to campaign for the establishment of small industries and learning centers that can be used to develop the skills of the workers. Instead of focusing on the disadvantages of capitalism, the poor people in rural areas should focus on finding a solution to the rural-urban inequality in the regions. The people should change their perception of capitalism and communism through adopting positive attributes of the two political and economic ideologies in their life.
The government, in an effort to undertake equal distribution of economic resources will provide poor and low quality social and economic services to the public. This will also result in the continued cycle of poverty within the rural regions of Vietnam. For example, scholars such as RafaelLa Porta and Florencio Ldpez-de-Silanes (1999) studied the impact of extensive privatization of industries that occurred in Mexico in the 1990s. Chang-Tai Hsieh and Klenow (2009) also examined China’s eradication of inefficient state-owned business enterprises. Therefore, it will be imprudent for the poor people living in rural Vietnam to call for a Marxist revolution with an aim of undertaking economic reforms. The adoption of communist ideologies will not have a great impact on boosting the socio-political and economic status of the people in low-income regions. Moreover, the call for communism will result in the abolishment of free market trade that has initiated a significant development in developing and developed nations such as the United States. Instead of calling for the adoption of communist ideologies, the rural areas should call for reforms in the current government structure (Burns, 1945). For example, the people should fight against corruption and the levying of high taxes on basic economic goods. This is because, the prevalence of high rates of corruption within the Vietnamese government has led to an unequal distribution of wealth.
The wealthy and the leaders have embezzled public funds that are meant for social amenities such as paying for health insurance. The people should ensure that corrupt leaders are prosecuted in the court of law and the grabbed property and funds returned for public use. The people should also campaign for tax reduction on basic commodities such as food. The increased amount of taxation has brought a devastating effect on the poor people since they can no longer afford to pay for the basic commodities.
The socio-economic problems are originated from the people who abuse the capitalist policy; therefore people should look to solve these problems by fortifying it, not destroying it. Capitalism does not really trigger inequality in the rural-urban regions. However, the abuse of power by some corrupt and unethical leaders and wealthy businessmen has led to the negative perception of the economic structure (Dossa, 2007). I therefore believe that the poor people should look for effective strategies for protecting the capitalist government and policies instead of adopting a communist government. For example, the people can foster equitable distribution of economic resources such as equal employment opportunities in the rural areas. People living in the rural areas should be in a position to acquire almost equal employment opportunities as the people living in the urban areas. Moreover, the government should provide ensure equal access to healthcare even in the rural areas. Since healthcare is an important factor eradicating rural poverty, the government should adopt measures aimed at boosting the provision of healthcare services to the poor in rural Vietnam. “Thus, one of the important political-economy conclusions of the paper is that politicians in poor countries should emulate Teddy Roosevelt: they should be pro-business on the one hand, but also anti-corruption on the other” (Akerlof & Klenow, 2009, p. 324). Adopting such socio-economic and political ideology will stimulate economic growth and development in the rural areas as opposed to the changing from capitalism to communism. The poor people in rural Vietnam should focus on combating the causes of poverty within the current economic and political structure rather than calling for a Marxist revolution.
Conclusion
In summary, the capitalistic ideologies that have been adopted in Vietnam cannot effectively bridge the gap between the wealthy and the poor people living in the rural areas. However, pursuing a Marxist revolution will also not result in the equitable distribution of vital economic resources. The rural-urban inequality can only be solved through the adopting of strategies that can boost other underlying factors such as access to education, better healthcare, equal employment opportunities, and population control in the rural areas as well as eradication of corruption in the government. The adoption of a Marxist society will hinder the adoption of critical economic reforms thus increasing the rate of poverty. For these reasons, the rural poor in Vietnam should not be justified in pursuing the Marxist Revolution.
References
Akerlof, A. & Klenow, J. (2009). Why Doesn’t Capitalism Flow to Poor Countries? Comments and Discussion. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. vol. 109, no. pp. 322-332.
Dossa, S. (2007). Slicing up ‘Development’: colonialism, political theory, ethics. Third World Quarterly, vol. 28, No. 5, 2007, pp. 887 – 899.
Di Tella, R. & MacCulloch, R. (2007). Why Doesn’t Capitalist Flow to Poor Countries. National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER Working Paper No. 13164, pp. 1-27.
Harriss-White, B. (2006). Poverty and Capitalism. Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, No. 13, pp. 1241-1246.
Lipton, M.(1991). Why Poor People Stay Poor: A study of urban bias in world development. ANU Press.
Oxfam, (2017). Even If Up: How to Tackle Inequality in Vietnam. Oxfam Briefing Paper. pp. 2-39.
Simler, K. & Dudwick, N. (2009). Urbanization and Rural-Urban Welfare Inequalities. PRMPR and FEUSE Report.
Sharpes, K. (2015). Capitalism, Income Inequality, and Education. US-China Education Review vol. 5, No. 12, pp.775-782.
Thu Le, H. & Booth, L. (2010). Inequality in Vietnamese Urban-Rural Living Standards 1993-2006. IZA Discussion Paper, pp. 1-41.