Program of Economic Reactivation for the Benefit of the People, 1980

The Program of Economic Reactivation for the Benefit of the People, 1980 is the work of 200 people commissioned by the revolutionary Sandinista victors to create a plan for their post-victory world. The Program writers included Chileans with experience during the Allende years in Chile before the 1973 coup. It included people from all walks of Nicaraguan life, from workers to shop owners, from farmers to merchants, from intellectuals to illiterates. It analyzes the production and output of farms and factories to make the crises of employment, production, nutrition and international trade something real and understandable. It proposes solutions based on economic planning, control of prices and taxes, strong government protections for the lowest levels of society, sacrifices for the rich, and redistribution of wealth via enhancing the social services, pensions, medical care, education and literacy for the people.

The Foreword by Sandinista veteran Anuar Murrar provides readers with an inside look at the historical moment that gave rise to the revolutionary victory and the commissioning of its program of economic reactivation. The Program was translated by Nina Serrano, Paul Richards, Ph.D., Robert McBride, Ph.D., and Patricio Barruito, all active participants of the US international Nicaraguan solidarity movement of the 1980s.

When the Sandinista revolutionaries overthrew the dictator, what did they do? They brought immediate relief to the lowest economic strata through enhanced social programs, job creation, literacy programs, government sponsored health care, expanded education and control of prices. They kept their international credit in tact but they nullified their debts to Somoza’s arms dealers and to the vulture capitalists who financed the dictatorship. Their program may not have had the chance to be achieved in the face of the Contra War that dominated the 1980’s, but it set out the ideas and analyzed the economic realities they faced. As such, this volume deserves a place in the dialog going on today about economic inequality and the path to a better world. It is for students, teachers, economists, historians, and anyone who is wondering what are the real alternatives to the current neoliberal austerity programs strangling the globe.

Contents
List of Tables vi

Forward by Anuar Murrar vii

Editor's Introduction xvii

Introduction 1

Chapter I: Objectives, Problems, Goals and Logic 5

I. 1 General Objectives 5

I. 2 Problems of Reactivation 9

I. 3 Goals 11

I. 4 Determining Factors for Achieving the Goals 11

I. 5 the Logic of the Sandinista Economic Policy 15

Chapter II: The Main Programs for Reactivation 21

II. 1 State Transformation Program 22

II. 2 Farm Production Program 28

II. 3 Program of Production for the Industrial Sector 38

II. 4 Foreign Trade Program 45

II. 5 Programs of Investments 56

II. 6 Fiscal Financial Program 62

II. 7 Foreign Finance Program 73

II. 8 Program for Supplying Basic Consumption Needs 78

II. 9 Employment, Wages and Social Services Program 84

Chapter III: The Dynamics and Tensions of Reactivation 97

III. 1 The Problematic of Reactivation 97

III. 2 The Three Balances of the 1980 Program 102

III. 3 the Contradictions in the 1980 Program 111

Chapter IV: Urgent Measures for the Reactivation 115

IV. 1 National Planning System 115

IV. 2 Investment and Construction Program 116

IV. 3 Farm Program 117

IV. 4 Industrial Program 118

IV. 5 Foreign Trade Program 119

IV. 6 Fiscal Finance Program 120

IV. 7 Supply, Consumption and Price Program 121

IV. 8. Employment, Wages and Social Service Program 122