IDST 1000Y Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Capital Accumulation, Joint Venture, Bourgeoisie
15 Dec 2016
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Turkey, Part 4 - IDST 1000Y – 25/03/2015
• The impact of the world market on Turkish economy during the war: increased
external demand for foodstuffs and raw materials led to a rise in prices of Turkish
export goods → the shortages at home combined with high inflation, at the same
time, led to speculation and black-marketing
• Who benefited from this period? → the population in general became
impoverished → however, the agricultural and merchant capital emerged with
unprecedented rates of accumulation in this period
• The Wealth Levy: during the war, there were vocal complaints against
profiteering and speculation → this led to resentment directed at the government
and to a search for culprits → the government turned to the religious minorities in
Istanbul and identified non-Muslim merchants as the culprit → the result was the
Wealth Levy
• In 1942, a tax was imposed on the wealthy
• Non-Muslims were taxed 10x higher
• People who could not pay were sent to labour camps
• Consequences: short term gains by the Ankara government (state revenues
increased by one third in 1943)→ windfall gains by Muslim businessmen who
bought land from the less fortunate Istanbul merchants and industrialists →the
departure of many non-Muslims businessmen who failed to pay the levy or lost
their wealth → the damage inflicted on business confidence in the years after the
war
• Transition to democracy under US hegemony: after the war, Turkey joins the
Western alliance under US hegemony → one political consequence of this was
the establishment of a multi-party system → the major opposition party that was
established in the post-war period was the Democratic Party (DP) which came to
power in 1950
• Why the defeat of the RPP and the victory of the DP? By the end of the war, the
government had become deeply unpopular, and even hated – distinction should
be made between the mass of the population and the segments of the coalition
on which the Kemalist regime was built → this reaction/lack of popularity was
strong among the peasants and industrial workers
• A regime unpopular with the masses: small farmers, peasants had not seen any
significant improvement – in 1953 they were only 10 villages (out of 40 000)
hooked up to the electrical grid, the gendarme and tax collector became more
hated and feared than ever, the rigid secularism of the Kemalist regime alienated
the countryside → industrial workers had been badly hit by the rising cost of living
during the war
• Discontent and rupture within the elite: discontent within the bureaucracy due to
a sharp drop in purchasing power as a result of war time inflation → the Wealth
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Document Summary
Istanbul and identified non-muslim merchants as the culprit the result was the. Intermediate goods: a good or service that is used in the eventual production of a final good or finished product. These goods are sold by industries to one another for the purpose or resale or producing other goods. Istanbul vs. anatolian bourgeoisie istanbul bourgeoisie most of these holding companies were established in the big cities istanbul, ankara, and izmir (the first generation or istanbul bourgeoisie) it owed its existence and dominance to the. Kemalist state and it was a strong supporter of the project of integration with the global north these companies entered into various joint ventures" with. Northern companies: joint venture: a business arrangement in which two or more parties agree to pool their resources for the purpose of accomplishing a specific task. This task can be a new project or any other business activity.
