African Socialism

“African Socialism” Steve Snow Wagner College Forthcoming in the “International Encyclopedia of Political Science,”  Congressional Quarterly Press. In the 1960s, when everything seemed possible, African Socialists saw  a path between Marxism­Leninism and capitalism, one that avoided  democracy.  They proceeded with mostly disastrous consequences. It seemed an indigenous, equitable path to development, based on traditional society. As a Madagascan Minister of Economics put it, “We have known this form of socialism—communal life—before Karl Marx was born.” Kanoute argued: “It has nothing to do with the adaptation of socialism to Africa; it involves the modernization of traditional collectivism” (1964, p. 13).  Such nostalgia is not unique.  Frederick Engels briskly dealt with such  visions long ago, arguing historical communalism had more to do with  poverty than any promising ground for socialism. He wrote in 1874 of the  recently discovered Russian “communal property”,  trumpeted to the world as something absolutely wonderful... the fact to describe the Russian peasants as the true vehicles of socialism, as born communists… In reality, communal ownership of the land is an institution found among all Indo-Germanic peoples at a low level of development (Engels). Or perhaps it never existed. In a roundtable conversation in 1966,

Ernst Gellner doubted there was any truly widespread African communalism, and certainly no single tradition for the whole continent. Even if did exist, it was irrelevant. No realistic economic modernization plan could involve a return to the past (Roberts, 1966, p. 47). When implemented, many socialists thought the policies of African  Socialism not so socialist (Mohan, 1966, p. 220).  According to the 1963  Manifesto of Nigeria's Socialist Workers' and Farmers' Party, for example, every corrupt nationalist, every opportunist politician, every barely progressive liberal finds the label 'socialism' useful to cover up actions, policies and  programmes that are essentially capitalist. Similarly, in 1962 the socialist Senegalese Parti Africain de   l'Independence—soon banned—criticized President Leopold Senghor’s  socialism as “nothing more nor less than an African form of capitalism belonging to the neocolonialist era.” (LeMelle, 1965, p. 340). Elliot Berg agreed, in an early warning. Distrust of the market, faith in the ability of elites to manipulate economic variables, eagerness to expropriate whatever surpluses farmers managed to scratch out—these were “habits of thought passed on to independent Africa by its colonial rulers” (Berg, 1964, p. 555). In any case, socialist economics was particularly illsuited to Africa. While Kwame Nkrumah thought capitalism “too  complicated a system for a newly independent nation,” (Mohan, 1966, p. 221) the real problem was the “scarcity of people equipped by training, experience or education to manage the economy…socialism is not less but much more complicated than a 'capitalist' or market system” (Berg, 1964, p.556). Decisively, an overwhelmingly agricultural continent was not fertile

ground for policies that theretofore had failed spectacularly in that sector (Berg, 1964, 560). Where implemented, as Berg predicted, socialism led to economic dislocation, not development. Ahmed Sékou Touré’s rule over Guinea, from 1958 to his death in 1984, was not atypical. At the end of his reign he adopted capitalism, but previously had insisted on the indigenous basis of his “collectivist state.” His subjects never once doubted his policies. “Unanimously everyone approved enthusiastically: functionaries, employees, merchants, peasants, youth and workers.” As economic disasters grew, Touré arrested or forced abroad opposition leaders, and established feared jails and secret police. The particular blend of Stalinism, Jacobinism and colonialist hangover that we have here is Touré’s own. The general monolithic flavour may, however, be detected in movements scattered throughout Africa. (Leslie, 1960) Kwame Nkrumah was perhaps the most important figure, a hero of Pan-Africanism, President of Ghana from 1960-66. He eventually became an orthodox Leninist, who argued against the existence of traditional communalism: “there is no historical or even anthropological evidence for any such society. I am afraid the realities of African society were somewhat more sordid” (Nkrumah, 1967). After resoundingly winning in 1951 the first African election held under universal suffrage—organized by the British —as President he instituted a draconian Preventive Detention Act, arrested opponents, and outlawed strikes. He became President for Life, complete with a personality cult centered on the sacred title Osagyefo—‘Redeemer’. (Mazrui, 2002). In practice, the return to communal tradition consisted of claims to be

culturally qualified to rule unopposed. The one-party state had “unique cultural relevance” to Africa (Linton, 1968, p. 1); in his Leninist years Nkrumah specified an "immemorial practice of democratic centralism” (Mohan, 1966, p. 227). Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of Zambia, held that "the idea of an institutional Opposition is foreign to the African tradition" (Kaunda, 1975, p. 66); he banned all non-government parties and maintained a state of emergency for 27 years. Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, called ‘Father of the Nation’, and Mwalimu (“Teacher”), ruled from 1964 to 1985. As did his compatriots, he saw “no room for difference or division” (Nyerere, 1997, p. 158). Trying to prevent the onset of a class system, Nyerere calamitously collectivized agriculture, and forcibly displaced nine million peasants into "development" villages. Showing grace and honesty unusual for any politician, Nyerere in 1985 declared in his farewell speech, "I failed. Let's admit it." (Maier, 1998, p. 5).

Berg, Elliot J. 1964. Socialism and Economic Development in Tropical Africa. The Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 78, No. 4, 549-573. Engels, Frederick. “On Social Relations in Russia.” Refugee Literature by Frederick Engels 1874. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1874/refugeeliterature/ch05.htm. Accessed 4-04, 2008. Kanoute, Pierre. 1964. African Socialism. Transitions No. 13, 49-51. Kaunda, Kenneth. 1975. “The Future of Nationalism”, in “Readings in African Political Thought.” Eds. Gideon-Cyrus M. Mutiso and S. W. Rohio, London: Heineman. LeMelle, Wilbert J. 1965. A Return to Senghor's Theme on African Socialism. Phylon Vol. 26, No. 4, 330-343. Leslie, John. 1960. Towards an African Socialism. International Socialism No. 1, 15-19. Linton, Neville. 1968. Nyerere's Road to Socialism. Canadian Journal of African Studies

No. 1, Spring, Maier, Karl. 1998 Into the House of the Ancestors. Inside the New Africa. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Mazrui, Ali A. 2002. “Nkrumahism and the Triple Heritage in the Shadow of Globalization.” Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lecture, University of Ghana. http://igcs.binghamton.edu/igcs_site/dirton15.htm (accessed 19-04, 2008). Mohan, Jitendra. 1966. Varieties of African Socialism. In Socialist Register, eds. R. Saville and Miliband, J. 220-266. Nkrumah, K. 1967. “African Socialism Revisited.” http://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/nkrumah/1967/african-socialismrevisited.htm. Accessed on 13-3, 2008. Nyerere, Julius. 1997. One-Party Government. Transition, The Anniversary Issue: Selections from Transition, 1961-1976 No. 75/76, 156-161. Roberts, Margaret; Gellner, Ernest; Crosland, Anthony; Serumaga, Robert; Mbayi, Paul. 1966. Talking Aloud on African Socialism. Transition No. 24, 44-48.