- Kadro
Kadro was a leftist journal published in Turkey between 1932 and 1934.
The journal believed that the Turkish revolution would occur in two stages: the battle to achieve political sovereignty, achieved in the
Turkish War of Independence , and an ongoing battle to liberate the economy (and indeed, the society) from imperialist influence. To this end, the Kadro theorists borrowed heavily from Marxist theory, and pragmatic elements of Soviet central planning and South-West European fascism. Importantly, the Kadro theorists never accepted either of these ideologies, believeing that they were creating a third (non capitalist, non socialist) development theory that would be essentially Turkish.The theorists advocated absolute state control of the economy (devletcilik); believeing that Turkey could overcome the problem of class conflict if the state never developed a bourgeiose class (Turkey's previous middle classes, Greeks and Armenians, had by this time departed). If the state was in charge of development, class conflict need not arise, as capital would be in the hands of the state, not certain classes.
Kadro was extremely important as it tried to provide Kemalist Turkey with a solid theoretical underpinning. Although Kadro policies were never absolutely adapted, Turkey did pursue a state-centered development strategy (see
Turkey's Five Year Plans ).Although supportive of the government, The journal was shut down in 1934 as economically liberal actors in the Government (like
Celal Bayar ) worked against the Kadro theories which they found far too leftist.Kadro translates from Turkish as "cadre" (referring to the "cadre" of intellectuals who were to be the vanguard of the continuing Turkish revolution).
ee also
Sevket Aydemir Kemalism statism References
Harris, George. "The Communists and the Kadro: Shaping Ideology in Ataturk's Turkey". Istanbul: Isis, 2002.
Turkes, Mustafa. "A Patriotic Leftist Development-Strategy Proposal in Turkey in the 1930s: The Case of the Kadro (Cadre) Movement" in International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. (2001) 33: 91-114.
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