Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s political legacy is singularly greater than any other politician in Pakistan’s history except that of Muhammad Ali Jinnah — the father of the nation.

The 1973’s Constitution of Pakistan is his most remarkable contribution. Despite much disfigurement in the 1980s, it is one of the few factors that have ensured stability and continuity in the state structure.

His fall from power was as meteoric as his rise. Many factors - structural, political, economic, and, not least, personal – combined to cause this and his tragic end.

Bhutto’s death proved a nightmare for his nemeses. His political legacy is represented by Pakistan Peoples Party. The party owes much of its popularity to Bhutto’s personality cult. He is still revered by many across the country as the leader of the downtrodden.

Bhutto is one of the most loved and hated names in Pakistan’s politics. For this reason, a plethora of literature has been produced in the country and abroad on his personality, his party and politics.

Three books warrant mentioning: Stanley Wolpert’s Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan (1993), one of the best biographies of Bhutto; Anwar H Syed’s The Discourse and Politics of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1992), a critical analysis of the way Bhutto understood and performed politics in Pakistani context; and Shahid Javed Burki’s State and Society in Pakistan (1979), contemporary analysis of Pakistan under Bhutto administration with particular emphasis on his handling of politics and economy.

Combined, these and other scholarship produced so far suggest that Bhutto was a Fabian socialist to the core of his heart.

Fabius was a Roman general who fought against Carthage in the 2nd Century BC. The story goes that Romans, under the leadership of Fabius, had successfully avoided facing Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, in open battle for nearly ten years. For that purpose, Fabius led Romans to merely harass the Hannibal-led Carthaginians by cutting off their communication. This refers to a slow and steady development — Fabian development. The Fabian Society of England believes in a gradual, rather than hasty, implementation of socialism. In other words, the Fabians believe in evolutionary developments rather than revolutionary changes.

Bhutto is one of the most loved and hated names in Pakistan’s politics. For this reason, a plethora of literature has been produced in the country and abroad on his personality, his party and politics.

Two important factors determined Bhutto’s choices in political and economic decision-making. First, in the global context, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) was an inspiration because it had unleashed phenomenal economic growth corresponding to international political and power clout. Thus, the USSR served as a model, especially for the least developed and developing countries. Second, sheer regional and class disparities, laid bare by the Ayub regime’s chief economist Mahbub ul-Haq and resulting in the secession of East Pakistan. This necessitated an alternative economic model that might lift the destitute and the poverty-stricken.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian prime minister, was another inspiration for Bhutto. According to Anwar H Syed, as Bhutto studied Nehru, “he would see similarities between himself and the Indian prime minister. Both were well-born. They had attended good Western schools, read history, and thought of themselves as intellectuals. Socialists in a manner of speaking, they had little respect for bourgeois values.”

Some might argue that Bhutto’s economic reforms damaged Pakistan’s economy rather than benefitting the growth and distribution trajectories. Moreover, the policies contributed to the flight of badly needed capital especially critical after the loss of foreign exchange-earning East Pakistan. But it can also be plausibly argued that his policies required legitimacy in the form of electoral mandate in West Pakistan. After the separation of East Pakistan, his party was in the majority.

The same economic distributional regional disparities that had contributed to the rising resentment in East Pakistan played a role in sharpening disgust against the capitalist class of West Pakistan.

Thus, being in line with the PPP’s election manifesto, Bhutto’s economic reforms, based on the gradual implementation of socialism, had the backing from the people of Pakistan.

Bhutto successfully projected himself as a foe of the upper classes, thereby changing the voting pattern in the 1970 election. Ignoring the clan connections, most voters supported candidates based on their positions on issues that Bhutto had agitated.

This was a novel phenomenon in the Pakistani political context. He had approached the voters bearing an ideology and promising a revolution in the country.

However, once in power, he seemed to drift quietly towards pragmatism, abandoning the hopes of teeming millions.

Bhutto discussed complex intellectual issues such as imperialism, colonialism, the Third World, socialism, feudalism, revolution, democracy, federalism, Islamic socialism, and national integration during his electoral campaign. His use of these words and concepts was unprecedented. His contribution to the discourse proved an enduring legacy.

While arousing passions against Ayub Khan, a military dictator, who had transformed into an unpopular autocrat, it was but natural that Bhutto emphasised the role and importance of democracy in Pakistan. Without democracy, he said, the country could have neither been created nor preserved or protected.

According to Bhutto, economic egalitarianism was a sine qua non for true democracy. It was with this realisation that he had raised the slogan of Islamic socialism.

This slogan was catchy in the Pakistani context and espoused the Fabian socialist tendencies of Bhutto’s ideological commitment. Had he not been killed when he was ousted from power, the country’s fate could have been different.

Muhammad Abrar Zahoor has a PhD in history from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and is Head of History Department, Sargodha University. He can be reached at abrar.zahoor@hotmail.com. He tweets at @AbrarZahoor1

Mazhar Abbas has a PhD in history from Shanghai University and is a lecturer at GCU, Faisalabad. He can be contacted at mazharabbasgondal87@gmail.com. He tweets at @MazharGondal87