◆ SpookStack

NEED FOR SOLIOECONOMIC CHANGE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 25 the underdeveloped countries of Asia is so enormous that it is certain to involve a long, difficult, and often extremely bitter - process. Left-wing or Communist regimes in themselves do not constitute any passport to rapid economic progress. Neither China nor the Soviet Union nas escaped serious errors in the process of industrialization, particularly in regard to the extremely compli- cated problem of maintaining a proper balance between industrial and agricultural development. However, these have generally been errors committed in the process of growth—a growth possible only after the elimination of the restraints imposed by the old socio- economic patterns. In this growth both countrics have shown a seal responsiveness to the needs of the people. The rise in the general standard of living, literacy, and health has been spectacu- lar, compared with those countries still following an old social order. An example can be cited from North Vietnam in 1956, ‘where an effort to apply unsuitable Chinese patterns of agrarian reform in one province resulted in peasant rioting. Army troops sternly subdued the incipient rebellion. The particular reform was then abandoned for more suitable methods and President Ho Chi ‘Minh removed the pro-Chinese official who had administered it. ‘Revolutionary social change has so far always exacted a cost in terms of human lives and misery. This cost must be seen in rela- ‘tion to the alternative of extending the hunger, disease, ignorance, and chronic violence of the past into an overpopulated and over- armed world of the future. Many Asians are now heaping the onus of Western imperialism on American shoulders. This accusation is not without some jus- tification and cannot easily be shed. Any new revolutionary gov- £rament that comes to power in Asia will probably begin with - virulent denunciations of the United States, if only to prove that it iis upholding the cause of anti-imperialism, American-owned busi- nesses may suffer and may be nationalized, and Americans and their friends will certainly find life less comfortable than be- . fore. How long would it be before national interests would lead -these governments to seck some accommodation with the United , States? This will be governed by how long and in what measure - the United States continues to pose a threat. Algeria is a case in } Point. When finally allowed to develop as an independent nation,