Flight Lieutenant on deck

“Ghana: Politics, Economics and Society” is a book in the Marxist Regimes series, published in 1986. It describes the government of Flight Lieutenant Jerry J Rawlings and his Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). Rawlings, who had temporarily taken power in 1979, took over permanently in 1981, an event known as the “31st December Revolution”.

The PNDC had a socialist orientation and was initially supported by two Marxist groups, the pro-Soviet JFM and the Maoist NDM. The JFM wanted to implement full socialism right away, while the NDM called for an extended period of “new democracy” and mixed economy. Curiously, Rawlings acted as a kind of honorary chairman of the JFM, while his actual perspective was closer to that of the NDM. Socialist construction in Ghana soon ran into serious problems, as neither the Soviet bloc nor Gaddafi's Libya (both of which were solicited by the PNDC) had the necessary resources to rebuild the shattered Ghanaian economy. This forced the revolutionary regime to turn “right” and seek loans from the IMF and the World Bank.

The JFM broke with Rawlings in 1982 and seems to have participated in several coup attempts against him. That the ultra-left JFM united with right-wing forces operating from pro-Western Togo is, of course, interesting. The NDM, by contrast, continued to support the PNDC. Rawlings' government did manage to stimulate economic growth in Ghana for the first time in decades, while alienating many leftists, union members and civil servants who had previously supported the revolution.

Internationally, the PNDC had a more consistently left-wing stance, supporting ANC, SWAPO and the PLO. Rawlings cultivated good relations with Cuba and contemplated a political union with Burkina Faso, then headed by pro-Cuban revolutionary Thomas Sankara. Many Ghanaians joined the AYC, apparently one of Moscow's many peace fronts, which operated freely in the country.

Since the book was written in 1986, it doesn't contain any information on Rawlings' subsequent political transformation into a centrist “Social Democrat” after the fall of Soviet Communism. The author is a supporter of the 31st December Revolution, has interviewed Rawlings himself, and frequently expounds on the “Leninist” merits (or otherwise) of the PNDC's policies. The book seems to have been written in a hurry, contains frequent repetitions and could have needed a better editor. Its relatively interesting and informative despite its shortcomings, however, and I will therefore give it three black stars…