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From International Socialism (1st series), No.59, June 1973, p.26.
Transcribed & marked up by by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto: Quest for Power
Dilip Mukerjee
Vikas Publishing House.
The author is a well-known Indian journalist, one of the top few, who has been writing for The Economist (London) since 1964. Written in 1972, the book took the author barely three months to write, a good example of instant history. It has the familiar, racy style of Time magazine, and like Time it is both interesting and superficial. Like most journalism of its type, the emphasis is on one factor – the personality and performance of Z.A. Bhutto.
He is no Lenin, needless to say, nor even a modern version of Napoleon, even though he takes great pride in having almost every book about Napoleon in his library. (He was too drunk to show me this massive collection when I went to see him at his home in Karachi three years ago.) The most serious flaw of this book is that it is not based on a class analysis. What unholy alliance does Mr Bhutto represent? What objective social conditions were responsible for his dramatic rise to power? How does he differ from or resemble Mrs Gandhi? What do Bhutto, Nasser, Soekarno, Nkrumah and Nehru have in common? Any intelligent student of Pakistan would like to know answers to these and a host of other questions. And this is where he will be disappointed. The book has the sole merit of being a good record of recent events, certain documents, some facts and figures. Even if it adds to your knowledge (a controversial point) I am certain it can make no useful contribution to our understanding of Pakistan or of her ruthless dictator.
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Last updated on 25.12.2007