Producing state, winning people: A new model of publicism against the comprador bourgeoisie

Turkey's economic independence depends not only on the means of production but also on the will to make decisions remaining in the hands of the people. However, throughout history, this will has been weakened in line with the interests of a comprador group that prefers mediation over production and rent over investment, prioritizing the demands of foreign capital rather than national interests. This mentality, which places the demands of foreign capital ahead of national development, has transformed the country from a producing economy into a consuming market, eroding the power of production, which is the true foundation of independence. Yet, economic salvation is possible by re-blending the statist development legacy of the past with the science, technology, and social consciousness of the era, and by rebuilding a publicist economic understanding that centers on the people's labor, production potential, and welfare.

The comprador bourgeoisie appears local, but in reality, it is the domestic representative of foreign capital. It pushes national interests to the background and serves the interests of foreign powers; it prefers imports over production and speculation over investment. It feeds not on the labor of the people, but on the interest of foreign debt. Thus, the economy becomes detached from production, becomes dependent on imports, and foreign trade deficits become chronic. This fragile structure makes not only economic balances but also political decision-making processes vulnerable to external influences. National will weakens, and economic dependency brings political dependency along with it.

The wealth of the comprador bourgeoisie does not return to society as welfare; on the contrary, it deepens income inequality. On one side, a narrow group strengthened by capital accumulation, and on the other, broad segments of the public struggling to make a living... This picture shakes not only economic balances but also the foundations of social justice. As the gap in income distribution grows, social peace is also damaged.

Today, the fundamental issue facing Turkey is to break this vicious cycle. Economic independence can only be regained through a production-based, populist, and publicist development approach. Without a state understanding that organizes and empowers the people's labor rather than exploiting it, the restoration of economic sovereignty is not possible.

FROM COLONIAL AGENT TO LOCAL ELITES: The Thin Threads of Dependency

The concept of "comprador" is not just an economic definition, but the most subtle tool of the colonial order. In many societies from 19th-century China to Latin America, this local collaborator class was the vehicle through which imperial powers could maintain exploitative relations without having direct contact with the local population. This group, which protected the interests of Western merchants from within, eventually paved the way for not only trade but also thought and governance to become dependent on foreign centers.

In the case of Turkey, this class gained power from the late Ottoman period onwards through foreign debts, capitulations, and import-based trade; although it was trimmed by the statism policies in the early years of the Republic, it was never completely eliminated. Today, the "comprador" mentality is back among us in a changed form—it no longer lives in palaces, but in financial towers; not in capitulations, but in the invisible contracts of global capital networks.

The principle of statism adopted in the early period of the Republic was born precisely to break the domination of this structure. Because economic independence is possible not only with political sovereignty but also with control over the means of production. National development can rise only with the will of the producing people, not the dependent comprador groups.

CURRENT REFLECTIONS OF THE COMPRADOR ECONOMY IN TURKEY: The Will to Produce Lost in the Shadow of a Rentier Economy

Turkey's economic history is actually the never-ending struggle of two opposing wills: the national developmentalist will fed by production and the comprador mentality that internalizes the interests of foreign capital. The production-based understanding of independence achieved with the founding of the Republic has been besieged in different forms every decade; a group that appears local but defends foreign interests has been placed in front of every industrialization move. Today, this mentality no longer speaks from customs warehouses, but from stock market screens and financial networks. This order, which prioritizes imports over production, rent over investment, and short-term profit over national interest, has turned Turkey from a producing society into an economy that survives on debt. What never ends is the struggle for development—and this struggle is now knotted not just in the industrial field, but in the question of who holds the economic will.

The Republic's statism policies were born precisely to break this dependent structure and institutionalize national production. However, the comprador order did not remain a relic of the past but became today's economic habit. Since the 1980s, it has regained strength with the "free market" rhetoric; a model that facilitates imports instead of encouraging production, is open to transnational capital, and is consumption-oriented has become dominant.

The wave of privatization eliminated strategic sectors in the hands of the public one by one. It was said that "the private sector works efficiently"; but the result was the opposite: factories closed, machines were sold as scrap, and lands were turned into rent projects. Production capacity decreased, employment declined, and Turkey became dependent on imports again.

In this process, new representatives of the comprador bourgeoisie emerged: an economic elite that grew rich through finance, construction, and imports, and is tied to international capital flows. For them, what matters is not the smoking of factory chimneys, but the rise of stock market indices. They feed not on production, but on currency movements and public tenders. Thus, a fragile economy was born that grows with foreign resources and does not produce domestically. Every currency fluctuation, every interest rate hike, or global crisis has shown once again how shaky the foundations of this structure are.

The comprador economy erodes not only production but also political independence. While excessive dependence on foreign capital makes decision-making processes vulnerable to external influences, income distribution deteriorates, and social justice is harmed. While wealth accumulates in a handful of hands, broad segments of the public become impoverished.

What needs to be questioned now is not just economic models, but the economic mentality itself. The comprador order has turned dependency into a system habit; it has sanctified borrowing instead of production, competition instead of solidarity, and individual gain instead of public interest. Unless this mentality changes, economic independence will remain just a slogan.

True salvation is possible by rebuilding the economy in favor of the people—this is not a choice, but a historical necessity.

THE CHAINS OF THE MARKET: The Comprador Mask of Neo-Liberal Transformation

With the 1980s, Turkey witnessed not only a change in economic direction but also a mental rupture. The rhetoric of "free market" and "global integration" was adopted not as a development vision, but as the ideological cover for a new chain of dependency. While the Republic's production-focused statism legacy was liquidated under the pretext of "inefficiency," concepts of public ownership, national planning, and economic self-sufficiency were made to appear as if they were out of date.

Yet, the privatization frenzy put not only factories but also social solidarity, production culture, and the idea of economic sovereignty up for sale. Neo-liberal transformation is actually a new form of the comprador bourgeoisie adapted to our age: this time, capital flows replaced import ships, and free market agreements replaced capitulation decrees. The fragile economic structure Turkey is experiencing today is the most concrete result of this new compradorism—a system that is dependent on the outside, unproductive on the inside, and centers on foreign capital rather than its own labor.

In this process, the local producer has become a subcontractor for international giants; decision-making power, price setting, and profit sharing have shifted to foreign centers. "Privatizing profit and socializing loss" is now the fundamental law of the neoliberal economy. The "growth" created by this understanding is hollow, hormonal, artificial, and fragile—it is like an industry planted with imported seeds, watered with foreign debt, and whose profits are transferred abroad.

The "privatization illusion" has completed this picture. Many strategic public institutions, from electricity distribution to telecommunications, have been transferred to private monopolies; far from increasing competition, monopolistic pricing has placed a greater burden on the public. These companies, kept alive with treasury guarantees, tax cuts, and incentives, are in reality state-supported privileged capital structures.

The abolition of support purchases in agriculture, the liberalization of imports, and external dependency in input prices have left the Anatolian farmer at the mercy of global agricultural monopolies. Combined with foreign-dependent pricing in energy, national control has weakened in every area where the state has withdrawn its hand, and the production chain has passed under the control of foreign centers.

Today, the sale of many strategic local brands, from e-commerce to food, to foreign companies is the most visible indicator of this new chain of dependency.

Now, both profit and decision-making have been moved abroad.

And it must not be forgotten: when the state withdraws from the economy, the strongest always fills that void—and that hand is always the hand of global capital.

THE RETURN OF PLANNED DEVELOPMENT: The Future Vision of a Publicist Economy

The principle of statism, which took shape in the founding years of the Republic, was not just an economic choice, but a manifesto of independence in the economic sphere. That period symbolized the will of a people who broke the military chains of imperialism to also reject economic shackles. Today, reviving an economy dissolved within the networks of global capital through production is only possible by rebuilding the guiding and organizing power of the public.

The state must now be an actor that not only regulates but also builds the will to produce together with the people. Weaving national production networks in every strategic field, from food security to energy, from defense to digital technology, and placing the people's labor back at the center of development is the contemporary expression of economic independence. This new statism is a vision that combines not the patterns of the past, but self-confidence with the science of today; it is a determination to bring production, justice, and welfare together on the same line.

Rediscussing statism is not a return to the past, but a will to move forward with firmer steps into the future. The goal is not to repeat the model of the 1930s; it is to establish a publicist and sustainable development strategy suitable for the world of the 2030s. The state should be a leading producer again in strategic sectors; it should strengthen national capacity by establishing national production networks in areas such as food, energy, transportation, defense, and software.

Economic independence cannot be spoken of without a model that supports the local producer, encourages R&D, and is based on high value-added production. In this understanding, the state is a power that organizes, directs, and protects the people's labor, not one that exploits it. Spreading production to the base through cooperatives, regional development agencies, and public investment policies both increases employment and reduces regional inequalities. When every city creates its own production focus and every region its own industrial base, capital accumulation is not gathered in one hand; development is spread to the base through the common labor of the people.

Furthermore, the understanding of planned development must again be the backbone of state policy. Instead of random incentives, a planning system based on long-term and public benefit should be established. A planned economy does not mean suppressing individual initiative; it means directing it in line with national interests. Thus, while maintaining the dynamism of the market, an inclusive mobilization of production that unites society around common goals can be created.

Ultimately, the reconstruction of statist economics is not a romanticism of the past, but a necessity of the future. Unleashing the people's power of production is the only way to re-fortify Turkey's economic, social, and cultural independence.

THE STATE'S NEW ROLE IN THE ECONOMY: A Producing, Guiding, and Inclusive Public Understanding

A new economic vision is not a repetition of the past; it is the will to learn from history and rebuild the future for the benefit of the people. The statism of the 21st century is not based on old bureaucratic patterns; it relies on the harmony of green transformation, digital development, and social participation.

Public investments and independence in energy, strategic local production in agriculture, a national technology mobilization in the digital field, and the state assuming the role of "production pioneer" rather than "market watchdog"—these are the four main pillars of the new statism. This understanding is not a nostalgic return, but an economic and social necessity of the era.

In a world where crises, wars, and global uncertainties are increasing, no country that leaves the welfare of its people to the mercy of the market can survive. The state is not just a regulator; as required by the social state principle, it is a direct producer and guiding actor when necessary. Creating production and employment in strategic sectors, ensuring the continuity of public services, and filling the gaps of the market in times of crisis are the primary duties of the state.

The market mechanism does not always work perfectly. In areas such as poverty, environmental destruction, food insecurity, inequality in education, access problems in health, income inequality, unemployment, and inflation, the state is obliged to remedy the inadequacies of the market as a requirement of social justice. This model is neither a rigid statism that excludes the market nor a sense of freedom that abandons society to the market. What is needed is a publicist state understanding that is effective, encouraging, guiding, and compatible with good governance.

New statism is a model that acts within a democratic, social, and developmental framework, intervenes when necessary, but at the same time creates a healthy production environment for private enterprise. This vision requires the state to focus not only on growth but also on sustainable development, social justice, and human development goals.

True development is measured not by growth rates, but by improvements in the living conditions of the poor and vulnerable segments. True statism is an understanding that directs the market on the axis of social benefit without rejecting its dynamism; it grows production, justice, and solidarity together.

Turkey regaining economic independence is only possible with a contemporary interpretation of a producing, guiding, and inclusive state philosophy. This is not nostalgia, but a historical necessity. In today's world, where financial crises turn into a global cycle, no country that entrusts the welfare of its people to the short-term profit greed of foreign capital can sustain its existence.

Economic independence is measured not only by interest rates or budget balances; but by a nation's will to determine its own destiny. A state that cannot protect its own farmers, industrialists, and engineers from the pressure of global monopolies cannot be truly independent.

Those who consider the concept of "statism" outdated today do not want to see that the real reactionism is hidden in the chains of economic slavery. The only way to break the golden chains of the comprador bourgeoisie is through publicist development, populist planning, and the will to produce.

The state must produce again to grow not just profit, but the welfare of the people.

Because true independence; sprouts in the field, rises in the factory, and comes to life in the budget.

And until the economy belongs to the people again, this struggle will continue.

CONCLUSION: Independence Begins with the People, Grows with Publicism

Economic independence is not just an economic goal; it is also an expression of national honor, social justice, and a moral stance. Building a society that consumes what it produces, trusts its own labor, and relies not on the grace of others but on its own sweat constitutes the essence of statist economics. Unleashing the people's power of production; returning development to the will of the people and transforming the economy into a structure that not only grows but also shares fairly is the foundation of a true publicist vision.

True statism is an understanding that relies on the people's will to produce, reduces external dependency, and places common labor at the center of development. When this approach is adopted, Turkey will be liberated not only economically but also socially, culturally, and politically. For economic independence is not a budget balance; it is the most concrete indicator of a nation's power to determine its own destiny and its will to build its own future.

A state that cannot protect its own farmers, industrialists, engineers, and producers cannot be considered truly independent. The way to break the chains of the comprador group—which puts a barrier in front of every development move; chooses mediation instead of production and rent instead of investment; prioritizes the demands of foreign capital rather than national interests; and acts as the internal representative of foreign capital while appearing local—passes through publicist development, populist planning, and the will to produce. The state must produce for the people again; because true independence first sprouts in the field, strengthens in the factory, and comes to life in the budget.

The day Turkey reunites its power of production with the will of the people, it will break the chains of dependency established by the comprador mentality. The state's resumption of production, planning, and public guidance will open the door to a new economic order that exalts labor, observes justice, and makes development a part of national honor.

Today's Turkey may not be able to implement the statism of the 1930s one-to-one; but it can revive the will to "stand on its own feet" at the core of those years. When that day comes, the voice of the producing people, not the comprador group, will rise; the economy will regain a fair order shaped by sweat, labor, and the common will of the people. True independence comes from bringing the people's will to produce together with the guiding power of the public.