8/11/2019 Nyerere Road to Socialism
1/7
Nyerere's Road to SocialismAuthor(s): Neville LintonSource: Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des tudes Africaines, Vol. 2,No. 1 (Spring, 1968), pp. 1-6Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.on behalf of the Canadian Association of African StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/483993.
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2/7
Nyerere's
Road
to
Socialism
NEVILLE
LINTON
The
phenomenon
of the
one-party
state
has been
widespread
in
post
colonial
Africa
in
a
variety
of
forms. Rationalisations
for this
system
of
government
have varied
from the
rule
of
necessity'
to the
claim
of
unique
cultural
relevance.2
None of the
exponents
have been
as articulate
and
convincing
as
President
Julius Nyerere
of
Tanzania, and,
it
will be asserted
herein,
none of
the
experi-
ments to date have been
as
hopeful
as the
Tanzanian
one.
It is
generally
recognized
that
the
major problem
facing
most
new states
after
independence
is
that
of
translating
the nationalist
movement into
an
effective
government;
major
organisational
weaknesses and
political
instability
are usual
in
the
post independence
period. They
are characterized
by
a
lack
of
a
disciplined program
of action and a
set of
practical
principles
through
which
effective
organization
can
be
created.
What
distinguished
the
great
Communist states
-
China and
the Soviet
Union
-
in
their
drive
for modernization was
exactly
that
they
had a
concept
of
the
party
as an
instrument
for
fundamental
change
and action and not
just
as
a
machinery
for
mustering
votes and
general
support.
And
what
distinguishes
Tanzania
amongst
African states
is that the
ruling
party
-
the
Tanganyika
African National
Union
(TANU)3
-
has such an
image
of itself and is
assiduously
and
systematically
working
towards
its
goals.
The task
facing
TANU at
independence
in
1961 was far
greater
than that
facing
the
Chinese
or
Soviets,
for the
people
of
Tanganyika
did
not
comprise
an
integrated
or mobilized
community.
TANU's
problem
was
to
build
a nation
in
the
face
of considerable
political,
social,
economic,
and
communications dis-
advantages.
It
would
have been
enough
of a task
to set out to
build a modern
nation-state
as
was
the
goal
of
most
of
the new
states of the
Afro-Asian world.
Nyerere's
purpose,
however,
was to
create
a
new
order,
a
truly
socialist commu-
nity,
an
African
vision of
what
society
ought
to be.
Nyerere's socialism has been articulated in several key statements in recent
years
the
most
important
of which are
Ujamaa:
The Basis
of
African
Socialism
of
1962 and
The Arusha Declaration
of
1967.V
From these
it is
clear
that
he
1. R.
Emerson
Parties
and National
Integration
in Africa
in
J.
LaPalombara and
M.
Weiner,
Political
Parties and
Political
Development
(Princeton, 1966),
296.
2. President
Sekou
Tour6
of
Guinea
has
been
the
major
spokesman
for
this
position
although
the
argument
has also been
regularly
used
by
other
African
leaders.
3. Tanzania
is the name
of
the
United
Republic
that was
created
in
1964 with
the
linking
of
Tanganyika
and
Zanzibar. The
only party
in
Zanzibar
is the
Afro-Shirazi
Party
which shares
the
government
of the United
Republic
with
TANU.
4.
J. Nyerere,
Ujamaa
-
The Basis
of
African
Socialism
(Dar
es
Salaam,
1962);
The
Arusha
Declaration
(Dar
es
Salaam,
1967).
1
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3/7
LE
JOURNAL
CANADIEN
DES
ETUDES
AFRICAINES
believes
that
in
the
past,
traditional African
society
was
classless
and that
his
socialism
is
an
updating
of
this tradition.
He has
always
stressed that
there
are
many
roads to socialism
6
and
rejects
Marxism-Leninism
or
any
theology
of
socialism .
The
rejection
of Marxism-Leninism
sharply distinguishes
Nyerere
from
other
leading
African socialists.
Nkrumah of Ghana
for
instance
often
used
the
language
of
scientific
socialism
and
clearly
associated
himself with
the
Marxist
tradition
of
analysis.
Nkrumah,
it
would
seem,
thought
of himself as
the
African
interpreter
of
an
international doctrine that
was
of
universal
validity.
All
classic
socialist states
always
mention
Marxism-Leninism as their
base,
including
the Chinese
who
have,
of
course,
added
on
the
phrase
and
the
thought
of Mao
Tse-tung .
Nyerere's
thought,
however,
is
not based
on dialectical materialism
or the
law
of
unity
of
opposites;
he does not
speak
of
the
theory
of
proletarian
revolution
or
dictatorship
or
of
the
proletarianisation
of
the state
or
the
world;
he
has
never claimed that
the
driving
force of
history
is class
conflict
or
that
the current
historical manifestation
of
class
conflict
is the
struggle
of
emergent
nations
against
imperialism.
Yet
he
does have a
concept
of
class
struggle
and
of
antagonism
between
capitalism
and
socialism
and he
does
speak
of the
presence
and
evils
of
imperialism ,
neo-colonialism and
exploitation .
Socialism to
Nyerere
is a doctrine
which
accepts
mankind as
it
is,
and
demands such
an
organization
of
society
that man's
inequalities
are
put
to
the
service of
his
equality
.
.
.
it is
in
fact
.
.
.
the
application
of the
principle
of
human equality to the social, economic, and political organization of society .7
It is not
surprising,
therefore,
that
Nyerere
has
emphasized
the
creation
of
the
correct attitude
of mind for
socialism
rather than
the
creating
of
socialist
institutions
and
organizations
since
without the
correct attitudes
institutions
can
be subverted
from
their
true
purpose.
8
This
reformist
approach
is remin-
iscent
of
that
of the Chinese
who
developed
the
technique
of
'thought
reform'
to
this end.
To
bring
about
a
fundamental
moral and
psychological
trans-
formation
of
individuals
is
not
easy.
To
move
beyond
what Mao calls
the
emotional
stage
of
cognition ,9
past
traditional and
national
appeals
to
ration-
alistic
acceptance
of
a
new
order
requires
a
thorough
organizational
structure
and a clearcut ideology to which people react emotionally, intellectually, and
necessarily.
The
Chinese,
for
instance,
used
intense
thought
reform
for
the
elite
cadres and mass
movements,
as well as
regimented
activity
and
incessant
propaganda
for
the
masses.
The
Chinese,
moreover,
did
not
stop
at
thought
5.
See H.
Bienen,
Tanzania,
Party
Transformation
and
Development (Princeton, 1967);
W.
Tordoff,
Government and Politics in
Tanzania
(Nairobi,
1967.)
6.
Speech
at
Cairo
University,
April
10,
1962
-
See
Mwalimu
in
Cairo
(Tanzanian
Information
Services,
Dar es Salaam
1967), 20,
27-88.
7.
Ibid.,
21.
8.
Ibid.,
28.
9.
Mao Tse
Tung,
On
Practice ,
Selected
Works,
Vol.
I,
274.
2
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4/7
THE CANADIAN
JOURNAL
OF
AFRICAN
STUDIES
reform
but
also
revamped
the
institutions
and
nature
of the
society
consider-
ably.
But
Nyerere
the
Catholic,
the
liberal
humanist,
the
gradualist
is not
likely
to use the methods of Mao. Moreover, he does not have the advantages which
emerged
from the concrete
conditions
of
the
Chinese
Revolution,
e.g.
the
discipline
and
trained
personnel
which
were
by-products
of
the
Yenan
years,
the intellectual traditions
of
the
long
centuries
of
the
Middle
Kingdom,
and
the
Chinese
people's
historic sense
of
unity
and
identity
as a nation.
What
has been
tried
in
Tanzania
for
most
of the
time has been the method of exhortation
and
of
demonstration
by
the
example
of
leadership.
Nyerere
has been
reluctant
to
face
up
to
the
necessity
to
develop
an
organization
suited
to the
ideology
of
the
state.
This
might
well
be
because
he
shies
away
from
considering
his own
thought
as
the
ideology
of the state.
Yet
he
has articulated
over the
years
a consistent
body
of
principles
of belief
and
goals
which can be
called
an
ideology.
They
constitute
a
set of
major
ideas
which can
govern party
policy,
organization
and action.
The care and
scholarship
which
goes
into his
major pronouncements
on socialism and
the fact that he
has
monopolized
the task
of
defining
Tanzanian
socialism'
leaves little
room
for
doubt
that
he
consciously
seeks
the
responsibility
of
framing
the
ideology
of
the state.
But
Nyerere
does
not seem
to
have created
the means of
carrying
the
ideology
to
the
people.
For one
thing
Nyerere
did
not and
does not seem
to
believe in the development
of
cadres,
of
political elites and of functional elites,
both
socialist and
technical,
and so there was
no
ideological
training
of
a
party
vanguard.
Nor
has
there
been
any
well-organized
program
of
political
education
for
the
party
rank and
file
and
the
masses
in
general.
These weaknesses
in
the
link
between
ideology
and
organization
have been
attacked
gradually
over
the
last
two
years
and
particularly
since the Arusha
Declaration of
February
1967.
With the
Arusha Declaration
Nyerere
moved
closer to
the
demands of the
leading
Marxists12
of
his
party by producing
a
concrete
plan
for
the creation
of socialism and
a
program
for the
training
of
leaders
and
the
political
education
of the masses.
The Declaration
itself
is
a
hard-headed
approach
to
the
problem
of
developing
Tanzania. It faces
up
to
the
shortage
of
capital
and
to
the
desire
not
to be
dependent
on
foreign
aid
by shaping
a
development
scheme
that is
based
10.
This has
been
particularly
noticeable
since
the Arusha
Declaration
in
a
series of
Presidential
policy
papers
on
implementation
in
specific
areas such
as
education and
agricultural
development.
11. The
Arusha
Declaration
(Dar
es
Salaam,
1967).
12. Individuals such as A.
Babu and
Kassim
Hanga
from
the
ASP and
0.
Kambona,
the
former
Secretary-General
of
TANU. Both the last
two
leaders
are
no
longer prominent
in
Tanzania
and
in
fact have
fled
the
country
within the last
year.
3
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8/11/2019 Nyerere Road to Socialism
6/7
THE
CANADIAN
JOURNAL
OF AFRICAN
STUDIES
austerity program
as
they
are the
subjects
of a series
of
economy
drives
and
cutbacks
on
salaries that
have
been
launched since
Arusha.
A
bureaucracy
is
of
course
often
alienated
from
the
masses;
Nyerere,
like
Mao,
is a
strong
advocate of the masses. Mao's solution was to use the party to resolve the
contradiction between state and
society;
sometimes
he even
dispensed
with
the
formal
administration as
in
the
program
of
the Great
Leap
Forward.
Nyerere,
however,
does not want the
party
to
be
in
the
position
of
giving
formal
commands;
it
frames
policy
but does
not issue
orders.
The state
gives
orders
and this
is
probably
because
the
President
wants
to
keep
control
and
cannot
trust the
party
with
comand
functions.
But
what
then
is the role of the
party?
If it is
the
organized expression
of
the
interests
of
the
people
should it
be
bureaucratized
and used
as
an
instrument to ensure that the ministries function properly? Even if this was
what
Nyerere
wanted,
the
shortage
of educated
people
means that the
party
cannot
easily
afford a
separate
complex
machine. It
is,
however,
trying.
The
staff
has
been
revamped
and
enlarged
in
the last
year
and
the
key
areas of
research,
publicity
and
political
education
have
been
given
more
prominence.
But
it is
these functions
that the
party
headquarters
have
responsibility
for and
not
for
matters
that
have
to
do
with
policy
planning
and research
on
govern-
ment
programmes;
these
clearly
come out
of the
President's
office
or the
ministries. There are
no
party policy
committees
for instance
on matters
such
as
the
military
and defence or economic
development.
Nyerere has tried to bridge the organizational gap between party and
state
by
making
little distinction between
state
officials
and
party
officials
in
certain
key
positions
such as
regional
and area commissioners
where
the
same
individual
wears
both
a
party
hat
and a state
hat.
He
has
also
brought
the
bureaucracy
into
politics by opening
membership
of the
party
to
civil
servants
and
by,
at
times,
transferring
top
civil
servants to
serve full
time
in
important
party posts.
Fundamental to
this
approach
is
his
attitude that TANU
and
the
nation are one.
By
acting
as
if
this
were
indeed so
and
accepted
by everyone
he
seeks to make true
his
aspiration.
But
one reason
Nyerere
is keen on
using
bureaucrats
interchangeably
and
on
integrating
bureaucrats into
command
posts
in
the
creation
of socialism
is his need
for
their
expertise;
he is more
interested
in
efficiency
cadres rather
than
ideological
cadres since
development
and
modernization are
the
major
priorities
as he sees
it.
Thus
the Tanzanian
bureau-
crat as
a
politically
relevant
figure
is
expected
to
accept
change,
to
take
up
challenges,
to show
initiative
and
accept
insecurity
of
tenure,
or
posting.
Ideally,
he should
be
able to
transmit the
ideology
of the
state to his
work and
to
inspire
those
around him.
Instead
of
creating
cadres therefore
Nyerere
seems
to
want
to
create
a
new
type
of
bureaucrat.
15.
Bienen,
112-157,
310-320.
See also
Tordoff.
5
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LE
JOURNAL
CANADIEN DES ETUDES
AFRICAINES
The
emphasis
then remains
on
a revolution of
personality
rather than
a
revolution
of
system.
The Arusha
Declaration
brought
in nationalization
but
left
a
substantial
private
sector
untouched;
there
is
a
free-enterprise, expatriate-
owned newspaper in Dar es Salaam in competition with the government-owned
paper.
The
university,
ninety
per
cent of
whose
faculty
is
expatriate,
is
run on
a
curriculum that
is
in
the mainstream of
western educational
theories but
its
students
on
graduation
have
to
willingly
give
two
years
of their
lives to National
Service
and
to
play
their
part
as
good
socialist
citizens
thereafter.
Contradictions are
many
in Tanzania. A
superficial
glance
would
suggest
to
an
observer
that
Nyerere
has built
a
marvellous
superstructure
of rhetoric
which
cannot
be sustained
by
action,
that
his ambitions
have outrun his
capa-
cities.
One commentator
who is
by
no means
superficial,
has said that the
material conditions of
Tanganyika
do not facilitate
the
building
of
a
centralized,
disciplined
party.
But it is not
that
simple. Nyerere
is
a
careful,
calculating
strategist.
He
has assessed the
political,
social and
economic
map
of his
country
and
has
moved
deliberately
from
stage
to
stage
of a
well
thought-out long
range
program
of action.
Socialism
in
Tanzania,
he said
in
a recent
speech,
will take
some
thirty years
before
major
appreciable changes
will be
seen
in
the
society.
While
Nyerere
is
probably
the leader
with
the
most charismatic
appeal
in
Africa,
he has not
attempted
to
push
the
people
too
hard,
too fast. He has a
preference
for an
open party
which
allows
individual
dissent as
long
as
group
dissent
or
factions
do
not
develop
and as
long
as
he
is left
free
to
get
on
with
the priorities of government. Because of this approach party development has
not
been as advanced as the
plans
and
program
of
the
government
might
lead
one
to
expect.'
But this has
been
deliberate.
Nyerere
is a
good
husbandman
who first
prepares
his
ground
carefully.
TANU has continued
to
be the
most
popular
mass
party
in
Africa and at
the
same time
the
party
which
has
done
the most to contribute
something
new
towards
the
development
of a
democratic
one-party
system. 9
Success
with the
program
started
with the
Arusha
Declara-
tion would make it clear
that,
in
the
continent of
false
starts,
Nyerere,
the
charming
revolutionary,
is a
political
innovator of
universal
significance.
16. The National Service
is
a
nation-building group
in
which all
young
adult
Tanzanians
are
eligible
to
serve,
to
learn
some basic
military
training
and
contribute to
national
development.
17.
Bienen,
14.
18. Bienen
in fact
raises the
question
whether
the central
TANU
Government
does
in
fact
rule
Tanganyika
-
See
Bienen,
14. TANU
undoubtedly
rules
Tanganyika
at
least
as much as
the British
did
and
in
fact
more.
The limited resources
of
the
govern-
ment
meant that
it made choices
as
to
priorities
and
emphasis
in
administration and
policy.
19. See L.
Cliffe,
One
Party
Democracy (Nairobi,
1967).
Also
Tordoff and Bienen.
6
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