Woes of Capitalism in Armenia Exposed in Markar Melkonian’s Book The Wrong Train

Under the first three presidents, various ways to make the free market economy more “efficient” were proposed. During this period, there has been no true political opposition in the Republic of Armenia, Melkonian states, which could deal with the deeper problems of the economy. The opposition parties were similarly supporters of neoliberalism, implying privatization of public property, cutbacks in state provision of healthcare, education, public transportation, and removal of environmental and other regulations. “The overall effect,” Melkonian said, “in Armenia as elsewhere, has been an enormous transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top.”

The reason, he concludes, “is that successive administrations have been dominated by cliques that have in common the fact that they own and control a large part of the country’s productive wealth.” In other words, he said, “a class that comprises a tiny minority of the population has come to wield a near-monopoly on economic and political power.” In turn, these plutocrats use public institutions to advance their own interests and power.

Shrill nationalist rhetoric of groups like Sasna Tsrer, he stresses, is not an alternative to neolibleralism but too often camouflage for the same ideas.

‘Velvet Revolution’ Merely a Change in Administration

Melkonian does not find the “Velvet Revolution” to be a true revolution, as it did not bring a new economic class to power. He exclaimed in 2018: “What has taken place in Armenia since [Serzh] Sargsyan’s resignation was neither a revolution nor a counterrevolution; it was just a change of administration,” and predicted that primarily stylistic changes would be made.

In his book’s introduction, written a year or two later, Melkonian quotes Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in January 2019 assuring businessmen in Zurich that “Armenian citizens do not want more redistribution of income. They have seen enough of that.” He observed, “But Pashinyan has turned reality upside down,” since “in Armenia, as elsewhere, redistribution has not taken place from the rich to the poor; on the contrary, in the past decades the wealthiest minority has massively expropriated the poor and working-class majority.” Armenia has become one of the most unequal countries on earth during its period of independence. Consequently, he sarcastically points out, Armenians have indeed seen enough of such redistribution.

Pashinyan, he concludes, is prescribing the same neoliberal policies of his predecessors, the results of which are plain to see.

How to Improve Economic and Political Conditions

The only broad solution to these woes that Melkonian offers is to organize resistance to free market reforms which hurt the majority of the population. He cites the resistance in the US to the attempts of politicians such as Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin as an encouraging example. Traditional constituencies with independent organizational presence, like labor unions, played an important role in this, he adds, just as in the past popular resistance led to the abolition of child labor, the eight-hour work week, universal suffrage, consumer safety legislation, and many other achievements.

In a chapter written prior to the Velvet Revolution, he said, “the best counterforce against the ongoing abuses by Armenia’s plutocrats is resistance from the bottom – from the streets, social media, offices, factories, and public squares.” The next step would be “to build a common vision and a common organization to fight against plutocracy altogether – and to fight for workers’ power.” Melkonian finds that militant unions and a party of labor is necessary to force the ruling class to give up state power. A “mass-based democratic opposition that has built a sustainable institutional presence on the ground and that presents a realistic way forward” is necessary.

Instead of the market model of democracy that ratifies the existing control of Armenia by wealthy oligarchs, Melkonian proposes deliberative democracy, through which “open discussion and debate transform personal preferences, creating new conceptions of the greater good.”

He hoped for “a generation of working-class Armenians who will break with the delusions of their parents and grandparents as thoroughly as the counterrevolutionary generation twenty-five years ago blotted the lives and hopes of their Soviet Armenian predecessors.” His ultimate goal is the replacement of capitalist rule by socialism, or workers’ power.

Socialism

Melkonian sketches out how he sees a possible non-capitalist state with workers in power as a class controlling the state. Economic planning exists in any state today, but if workers are in control it will benefit the poor, and those in the middle instead of just a small minority of the rich. The means of production do not have to be owned by the state, he explains, to have a socialist system. Private ownership by self-employed workers is possible, but some large sectors like energy, transportation, mining, banking, finance and insurance should be socialized. Eventually production for the market will decrease and be replaced by production for use value. Land also should be removed gradually from private ownership. He wants a multiparty representative democracy within the workers’ state. Cuba is one of the states which Melkonian holds up to Armenians as a socialist example despite decades of US obstruction and embargo.

Rare for an American-born Armenian, Melkonian remains a staunch defender of the early period of Soviet communism, though a critic of its many flaws in its later decades. On the 100^th anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917, Melkonian penned an article of praise on its spurring of workers’ rebellions, ending Russian participation in World War I. Its heirs, he observes, hastened the end of colonial regimes, liberated women, defeated fascism, fed the hungry, extended lifespans, pioneered scientific and technological research, and so forth. He defends Lenin against blame for Stalin’s brutalities. Melkonian looks to the revolution as a source of inspiration for the future, stating: “Perhaps the best and brightest of a rising generation will reclaim the vibrant spirit of the October Revolution.”

Foreign Policy Issues

While primarily focusing on domestic Armenian politics and economics, Melkonian occasionally touches on foreign policy issues. He notes that “Foreign aid is an instrument of foreign policy,” and gives the examples of the large roles played by USAID and Western-funded NGOs in Armenia. Furthermore, he finds the promotion of civil society
“a distraction from the struggle for freedom.”

He warns of US intervention with financial aid to strengthen trust in the Armenian electoral process through new technical processes, pointing out that “many American voters themselves do not trust the American electoral system.” He wrote about the US embassy’s announcement about its program, stating that  it “is not really about improving Armenia’s electoral system. We know that it is just another propaganda stunt, a tit-for-tat against Moscow, another lesson in obedience for the instruction of the natives.” Melkonian also in a separate chapter wrote about US intervention in the elections of other countries, including in the run-up to the 1996 presidential election in Russia in support of Boris Yeltsin.

Melkonian presents the destruction wreaked in Iraq and Syria since 1990 by the US, which also largely destroyed the local Armenian communities, turning most Armenians there into refugees. In fact, he notes that among the 30,000 Iraqi Armenians uprooted, some had fled to Syria, where they were made refugees a second time. He then criticizes Armenia for sending its own soldiers as part of the Coalition of the Willing, thus giving some additional legitimacy to the plans of American neoconservatives to destroy the armies of Syria and Iraq, despite their harmful results for Armenians. Ominously for Armenia, Melkonian wrote, Iran was the next country in the sights of the US neocons.

For the Republic of Armenia too, Melkonian finds that the growing Russophobia in the Armenian opposition prior to the Velvet Revolution, was contrary to Armenia’s vital security interests, while the US agrees in general with Turkey that Armenia and the rest of the South Caucasus should be integrated into the “dominant imperialist system” as Melkonian calls it, within Ankara’s sphere of interest. He warns readers of “the old dangerous fantasy of Uncle Sam as Armenia’s savior.”

While many readers may not agree with Melkonian’s admiration of the early Soviet Union and Cuba, or his ultimate goal of socialism, they still can benefit from his revealing analysis of the effects of the practice of neoliberalism in Armenia. Understandably, there is a bit of repetition in the book’s chapters, which after all were initially written as independent articles, and the language could use additional minor editing.

The English edition is available from Abril Bookstore in Glendale and various online vendors, while an Armenian-language edition, ՍԽԱԼ ԳՆԱՑՔԸ. Գրառումներ հետհակահեղափոխական Հայաստանի մասին (2021) is available from Zangak Publishing House (www.zangak.am) in Yerevan.