The Politics of Feeding the World The lessons of the Marshall Plan seemed obvious: Apply them t o the developing countries and problems could be solved easily. But all war-tom the emerging Europe had t o do was rebuild nations were starting from scratch.
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By JOHN MELBY N THIS article I am not using "politics" in the usual narrow sense in which it is commonly used t o describe the manipulation between political parties at Queen's Park or on Parliament Hill -the sense which carries an unpleasant connotation in the publ~cmind. Rather, the word "politics" is being used for a much broader meaning which includes all the relationships between people, the ways i n which they get things done i n all aspects of their lives, how they manage t o live together, hopefully as peacefully and constructively as possible, and the arrangements by which society manages its affairs. It is irony and even tragedy that the spectacular reconstruction of Western Europe from the devastation and destruction of World War II should be a direct cause for so many of our failures in trying t o help the underdeveloped countries of the world t o modernize and take their rightful place in the world. Unquestionably the Marshall Plan was one of the most original and brilliant concepts in the entire history of foreign policy in which one country deliberately and consciously set out to help other countries i n a co-operative venture. Canada played a major and creative role in this undertaking. It had originally been thought that the objectives of the Marshall Plan to put Europe back on its feet could be well in sight within eight years. Actually, the job had been so thoroughly accomplished that the plan was terminated in less than four years. While the reconstruction of Europe was going on, something else of at least equal importance was happening throughout the rest of the world. The vast areas and innumerable populations which had made up the principal World War II colonial empires were demanding and acquiring their independence. Whereas in 1945 there had been 50 sovereign independent countries, the number had more than doubled 10 years later, and in another 10 years an additional 30 had been added. But for these new countries independence was not enough. They were also demanding, and rightfully so, decent standards of living, adequate health and literacy, and the Western world recognized that it had an obligation t o help. Given the tremendous disparity in standards, it was an enormous job which had to be undertaken. At times it seemed an impossible one. But it was equally apparent that man had the technology with which to do the job and, thanks t o modern communications, the peoples of the underdeveloped countries were quite aware of these facts and they were determined to share i n what was possible. The lessons of the Marshall Plan seemed obvious. Here were the blueprints which the developed societies would use i n assisting the underdeveloped countries to enter the modern
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