The Economic and Social Dimension in the Thought of Kamal Jumblatt

In the wake of the forty-eighth anniversary of the martyrdom of the Teacher, Kamal Jumblatt, the importance of reflecting on this extraordinary figure in the history of Lebanon and the Arab world comes to the fore, especially as he was the man who combined philosophy and politics, aristocracy and the struggle for justice and equality. An encyclopaedic intellectual and a humanist thinker, he was a philosopher in search of truth and a politician striving for reform. He was a statesman with a progressive vision who recognised the pivotal role of the economy in modern human life, devoting an essential place to it in his intellectual and political project.

Politics, from Kamal Jumblatt's perspective, must be a means of serving humanity rather than an instrument of domination or exploitation; he therefore called for the achievement of social justice and fought battles against poverty and injustice. Jumblatt sought to build a society founded on sufficiency and justice, proceeding from his conviction that the economy must be directed towards fulfilling social ends, since every individual in society deserves a dignified life.

The economic and social dimension in Kamal Jumblatt's thought is manifested in a blend of socialist principles aimed at serving humanity, for to him the economy is not merely the management of resources, but a means of achieving social justice and human well-being. From this standpoint, he formulated an economic model aimed at striking a balance between the rights of the individual and the interest of society, affirming that private property constitutes an extension of the human personality and an integral part of it.

Jumblatt held that the aim of the economy must always and forever be the development and advancement of social conditions, rather than the accumulation of wealth for wealth's own sake, and herein lies the principal difference between the prevailing mindset of the free-market economy, particularly as practised in Lebanon, and an economy with humanist and social dimensions. Capital and the means of production have clear and defined social functions, "without which they are impermissible, and indeed become forbidden to their owners and those who work in them."

Kamal Jumblatt considered that achieving social justice requires redistributing wealth in a more equitable manner; he rejected sharp economic disparities among members of society and called for the application of a socialism of a humanist character. He believed that the traditional capitalist system fosters exploitation and deepens the divide between rich and poor, and therefore stressed the necessity of carrying out reforms that guarantee the fair distribution of wealth rather than confining it to economic elites, so that its benefits extend across all segments and classes of society.

Kamal Jumblatt believed in the necessity of state intervention to regulate economic activities, prevent monopolies, ensure the fair distribution of resources, and protect impoverished groups. He viewed economic affairs as one of the fundamental tasks of the modern state, which must intervene directly at times and indirectly at others to stimulate and guide economic activities, emphasising the importance of adopting economic policies aimed at protecting and encouraging national production.

Jumblatt was one of the foremost advocates of agrarian reform, considering agriculture to be the cornerstone of a productive economy and farmers to constitute the most deprived class in society. Accordingly, he called for the necessity of providing them with government support through agricultural loans, reclaiming agricultural land, encouraging the industrial processing of agricultural output, and establishing agricultural cooperatives to boost productivity and secure a dignified living for small peasant farmers.

Consistent with his principles and intellectual convictions, Kamal Jumblatt distributed his lands in Sibline, in the Chouf, free of charge and by legal title deeds to the farmers occupying them, in accordance with the economic principle that the land belongs to those who till and cultivate it. He also worked to translate his economic vision into practice during his tenure at the ministries of Public Works, Economy, and Agriculture, as well as the Ministry of Planning, where he sought to implement several of his reformist principles, especially in the fields of agriculture and rural development.

As for industry, Jumblatt saw the need for it to be geared towards serving society, rather than merely generating profits. He called for the establishment of national industries that would meet the needs of the domestic market, curb economic dependence on foreign countries, and expand employment opportunities, while also calling for the encouragement of artisanal industries and the securing of foreign markets to market them.

During his tenure at the Ministry of National Education between 1960 and 1961, he worked to develop technical and vocational education in order to provide the specialised labour force required by the modern economy. Subsequently, in 1968, in cooperation with the Lebanese University and the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts in France, he established the Institute of Applied and Economic Sciences for the very same purpose.

On the financial and monetary level, Kamal Jumblatt's diagnosis of the causes of the Intra Bank crisis, which he announced at a press conference held on 21 October 1967, resembles the causes of the banking sector crisis that began at the start of 2020. Jumblatt argued that the authority managing the affairs of the state is itself what manufactures crises and brings them about, and that it was the main and direct cause behind the Intra Bank crisis and, consequently, the occurrence of the general banking crisis and the fracturing of the distinguished financial standing that Beirut had occupied.

Jumblatt added that had officials listened to him and provided sufficient assistance to secure liquidity for Intra Bank, they would have put an end to the obstructions carried out by certain Central Bank employees and to the actual conspiracy they pursued alongside a group of national and foreign bank owners by spreading the worst news in financial circles about the aforementioned bank; what happened would not have happened, and deposits in Lebanese banks would have increased, despite the setback of the Israeli war in June 1967.

This approach by Kamal Jumblatt and his reformist proposals correspond to the imperatives of the current crisis, providing the clearest proof of the soundness of his reading of financial affairs and other economic issues, particularly the question of confronting social and economic disparities. The same applies to his call to build a productive economy, reform the unfair tax system, put an end to monopolies, and institute policies that protect the middle class.

Despite the challenges he faced, Kamal Jumblatt's economic thought remains a model of a reformist vision that combines social justice with economic development. His intellectual legacy has left a profound mark on many reform movements and economic policies in Lebanon, where his calls for achieving a more equitable and sustainable economy continue to find an echo in economic and social debates to this day.

Translated from Arabic with AI. Read it in Arabic