Nyerere Road to Socialism

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



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



5/7


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



7/7

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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Nyerere Road to Socialism