Jamaica History Part II - Failures of the 1970s

by Livingston Smith

Wednesday,  January 11, 2006

In spite of the above success and others, the period, was, for the most part, an economic disaster.

This strategy resulted in the extension of government activities in cement manufacturing, communications, agriculture and land development, export marketing, mineral exploitation and processing, banking, tourism, housing, food importation and trading.

Such extensive direct activity in the economy is illustrated in the fact that government- owned hotels account for half the hotels industry’s room capacity.

This expansion affected negatively the macro-economic performance of the economy. Foreign borrowing was used to repay debt. Between 1974-80 real per capita income fell by 30 percent.

Unemployment levels increased due to the shrinkage of the economy, in part a result of reduction in private sector activity. Domestic savings fell by 35 percent and increasing amount of available resources were used to service an ever-increasing public debt.

In addition, expansion of state control resulted in falling living standards, which could be linked to excessive bureaucracy, government red tape and corruption. 

Popular participation in ownership and production, for example, through workers-run cooperatives, failed.

Furthermore, the government failed to construct a viable accommodation with substantial sections of the capitalist, managerial and professional classes. Where discretionary funds were available, government policies were too distributive, thus reinforcing the clientelistic orientation of the society.

On reflection, this fact has turned out to be a most significant error of the period. Nationhood requires moral, cultural and social cohesion and not just political status. Whereas the experiment of the 1970s provided moral vision, it failed economically and this failure was due in the main to the fact that it was predicated on a foundation divisiveness. Professor Norman Girvan is right ‘the lesson, not just of the 1970s but of the entire sweep of post colonial history, is that the chief obstacle of our development has been deep division in our society.’

So what are the connections between the 1970’s and contemporary Jamaican realities? They are many and varied. Jamaica’s huge debt burden makes a mockery of that society’s desire for socio-economic transformation, which is critical to reverse its endemic crime culture. 

Whereas at the beginning of the 1970s Jamaica’s debt was miniscule, at the end of it, it had quadrupled and even worsened in the 1980s.

The 1970s represented Jamaica’s first real flirtation with ‘radical’ ideology. In the 1980s up to the present, it swung wildly back to the capitalist mode of development, at first, following a rigid IMF sponsored programme of privatisation, deregulation and devolution of its currency.

These policies represent a reversal of those of the 1970s. The results are mixed but life for the majority of Jamaicans is still difficult and the positive ratings given by the citizens a decade after independence, has substantially changed.

The culture of violence, which was merely embryonic prior to the 1970s, became full blown and has worsened since. As it did then, it still represents a cruel combination of politics and a networking of gangs, community dons and drugs.

And, yet, the 1970s also bequeathed important benefits. Many today benefit from the protection offered by important legislation of the period as they do from institutions, which have survived.

There is now an understanding and commitment to policy continuity between administrations and there is an emerging consensus as to what is needed for Jamaica to work: a shrewd combination of spiritual renewal and socio-economic and values and attitude transformation.

Dr Livingston Smith, B.Sc. M.Phil, PhD is a professor of Political Science, Sociology and Caribbean History at the University College of The Cayman Island (UCCI). The Commentary that you have read does not necessarily reflect the views of The Jamaican in Cayman, its staff, the staff of Cayman Net News or its publisher.

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