How Did Ujamaa Transform Tanzania Into a Socialist State During the 1960s and 1970s?

761 Words4 Pages
Ujamaa, an “African socialist” model of development outlined in the Arusha Declaration of 1967, was to be a programme of nation-building as well as economic policy. The very communal nature of Ujamaa in combination with the economic institutions of socialism transformed Tanzania into a socialist state thanks to these socialist development strategies. Socialism is defined as a theory that advocates that the community as a whole should control the means of production. It was seen to embrace the African principles of human dignity and equality. However, as stated by President Julius Nyerere, socialism is an attitude of mind, the basis of which is human equality. Nyerere, once in power, turned Tanzania into a non-aligned, one-party state so as to achieve true independence without bloodshed or conflict, and without the ethnic conflict that seemed bound to arise should there be multiparty democracy. Multiparty states were viewed as divisive and un-African. Nyerere was exceedingly against neo-colonialism and demanded Uhuru – freedom from colonial rule –, which was seen to be one of the first steps towards socialism, in conjunction with the creation of a one-party state. Naturally, however, the Tanganyika African National Party (TANU) government could not merely force Tanzanians to adopt this state of mind of their own accord: hence, the Arusha Declaration was produced. This declaration had little to say about the development of socialism in the countryside beyond expressing that the peasant farmer must be the priority. However, it set the stage for the policy of constructing Ujamaa villages by removing foreign capitalists as the owners of all major means of production with in Tanzania. The Arusha Declaration led to the nationalization of all private banks, insurance companies, foreign companies and manufacturing companies and created a completely
Open Document