Sosyalist soldan Kemalizme olumlu bakışlar (1920-1971): Nedenler, imkânlar, dönemler ve bazı sonuçlar

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the relation between the Turkish Socialist Movement and Kemalism and to establish its political outcomes. The period that is taken into consideration starts with the year 1920, when the Communist Party of Turkey was born, and ends with the 1971 military coup, organized by some Kemalists and targeted the working class movement and socialists. The main problematic of the article is how the socialist movement looks positively to Kemalism, despite the fact that Kemalists, aside exceptional periods, adopted a harsh attitude against the workers’ and socialist movements, assuming that these would bring nothing but division to the nation, while Kemalism itself aimed the creation of a national bourgeoisie and capitalism through the hands of the state. The article analyses the reasons behind this contradiction, looking at both the reasons emanating from the special features of Turkish Socialist Movement and also the characteristics of Kemalism that allowed such a positive outlook. The analysis, on the one hand, is conducted at a discourse level. At this level, it discusses the conditions of possibility of the articulation between socialist thought and Kemalism. At another level, it studies how the positive relations between Kemalism and socialism were shaped under various historical and political conditions. The article also deals with the outcomes for the Turkish Socialist Movement of lending positive connotations to Kemalism, supporting it politically in some periods and expressing itself through the language of Kemalism.