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another backwater illustrating the benefits of socialism
Spain gives up Guinea, so a new ruler introduces "scientific socialism';
"Macias had been vice-president of the autonomous government [of Spanish Guinea] under Spain and also counselor of public works. He had a reputation for
incorruptibility unusual among African states and won the first elections in 1968 after registering a protest against the new Spanish
administered constitution. The Cuban regime devoted some attention to Spanish Guinea as early as 1962, and Macias was later protected by a
Cuban guard. His self-image was messianic in the extreme; he preferred to quote Hitler almost as much as Lenin. His power base lay among the
more numerous Fangs of Rio Muñi, while the regime's massive violence was primarily directed against the rival Bubis of Fernando Poo. Of
this unhappy little land's original population of 350,000, it has been estimated that as many as 50,000, mostly Bubis, were killed
outright (with hundreds executed by the hand of Macias himself) and another 40,000 enslaved on state-owned plantations, while up to
100,000 either fled the country or were driven out. Towards the end, Macias was said to be drinking a pint of human blood a day, according
to an eyewitness report cited in the International Herald Tribune, Jan. 28, 1980. As one investigation concluded: "At the time
of independence from Spain in 1968, Equatorial Guinea was potentially one of the wealthiest countries of the African continent ... It had a
promising tourist industry, with fine hotels, nightclubs, and casinos. Thanks to its rich volcanic soil, the country shipped almost 40,000
metric tons a year of the world's best cocoa to Europe and America...[over the course of Macias rule from 1968 to 1979] cocoa
production dropped to 5,000 metric tons a year, and of 98,000 acres of plantation land in 1968, all but 7,400 acres have reverted to jungle.
Apart from killing about a fifth of the population, the dictator also forced more than 100,000 people to go abroad."
New York Times, Sept. 12, 1982."
[The Franco Regime 1936-1975, p.535]
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The Franco Regime 1936-1975
by Stanley G Payne
Published six years earlier than Paul Preston's rather amateurish book, The Franco Regime is far better written and far more objective. What is almost shocking is that it is listed neither in Preston's bibliography nor the book's index.
This is best general survey of the Franco regime, in English, that I know.
I would argue with Stanley Payne's summary on the last few pages. The author suffers from the widespread inclination to take politicians' words at their face value, instead of putting prime attention on what they actually do. My various reading of Franco is that he was a consummate politician, seeking always to keep the Spanish nation calm and to build them a better future. And that is what Franco actually achieved during his long, pragmatic reign (originating in 1936 until his death in 1975).
By the 1950s, the Spanish economy was growing faster than any other advanced nation, with the exception of Japan. Franco brought Spain from backward, third world conditions to being the tenth biggest economy in the world., despite being widely shunned and blocked by most other governments. |
University of Wisconsin Press
First edition, 1987, hbk , 640 pages, plus bibliography, index etc.
ISBN: 0299110702
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
2011, pbk
ISBN-10: 0299110745
ISBN-13: 978-0299110741
£36.90 [amazon.co.uk] {advert}
amazon.com
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Kindle edition
Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
ASIN: B009NZHEY8
$17.99 [amazon.com] {advert} |
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