The Eads to Tanzania

Conclusion: Julius Nyerere Himself

Any look at Julius Nyerere is not complete unless it highlights the reason why Tanzania still so highly respects its beloved leader: his character. Nyerere was a humble man. It is said that in the midst of traveling from region to region, delivering public speeches as president, that he would lay aside his speech schedule every so often to help a local farmer plant or harvest his crops. Unless one knew what he looked like, Nyerere could have been easily overlooked as any one of the other farmers in the field. He was very approachable, and this has set a precedent for proceeding presidents who will often have common peasants who demand a personal audience with the president. Nyerere was self-effacing and not afraid to admit his mistakes and recognize his failures. In a rather forthright way, he recognized the economic outcome of his social experiment in his farewell speech in 1985: "I failed. Let's admit it." Yet, it was that speech in 1985 that made him the first African head-of-state to voluntarily step down from office, again showing the humility of the man. And to say that he was a failure would be to ignore the huge strides he had made in education and medical, to say nothing of the all-too-rare commodity of political peace that was achieved under his nearly 25 years of leadership. The role that he played in politics, even after resigning from the presidency is illustrated in his influence on the one-party political system. Nyerere began to speak out about the corruption that had taken hold of Tanzania's one political party, and he began to advocate for multiple parties to provide an alternative to the stagnant CCM (Tanzania's ruling party). It was through Nyerere's influence that Tanzania peacefully transitioned to a multi-party democracy.

Julius Nyerere, left an indelible mark on Tanzania, one that will not soon be forgotten.

Julius Nyerere and Socialism

Tanzania was the African experiment. While not the earliest African nation to declare its independence (that was Ghana in 1957), it certainly led by setting an example of not only independence, but self-reliance. This meant that, while wishing to learn from the industrialized nations of the West, Nyerere would lead Tanzania on a different course. Africa was a different world, with its tribalism, nearly nonexistent infrastructure, its impoverished peoples, and all the baggage from colonialism. These newly emerging nations were to struggle with tribal loyalties, tribal tensions, and geographic boundaries that were drawn with no regard for either.

Nyerere, while he was at the University of Edinburgh, was considering how his nation would deal with these problems in the coming years. If Tanganyika were to declare its independence from the British colonial powers, how would she ever be able to become one nation?

Influenced by socialist ideas, Nyerere began to think about what kind of political and economic structure would wed with Tanzanian (then Tanganyikan) values of community and ownership. In traditional societies, there is less of an emphasis on personal ownership and individual decision-making, which runs counter to Western capitalism and individualism. Embracing the ideas of community ownership and equal rights and opportunities for all, Nyerere led Tanzania in the formation of a one-party democratic socialism.

It was a democracy because the leaders of the nations were to be elected by popular vote. It was a one-party system, in that there was only one party that the candidates would come from. Unlike the United States (with its two major political parties, the Republicans and Democrats, and their two competing theories of government), Tanzania would only have one party, in which the candidates would (generally) agree with the socialistic structure of the nation. Tanzania was socialistic in that all its major industries were under government control. Nyerere thought that the peasants should have ownership of all industries that may serve to exploit them. Therefore, peasants would own the industries of the nation through the elected government. This included medicine and education, which was freely distributed to everyone. The implementation of Nyerere’s program was called Ujamaa, a Swahili word that means “familyhood”.

Tanzania was an experiment, and in general, the experiment failed. The socialized system led to a decline in the nation’s economy. There was little motivation to contribute to the community when there was little benefit to the individual. The bureaucracy that was put in place to operate the industries and to distribute the government services lent itself to corruption and stagnation. The forced movement of rural populations to locations near clinics and schools was extremely unpopular. Overall, Tanzania’s period of socialism formed a real cohesion between its tribes, giving Tanzanians a peaceful political existence. But it has also made it one of the poorest and most economically undeveloped countries in the world. Nyerere boldly tried, and he failed, but unlike most politicians, he had the integrity to admit it.

Julius Nyerere and Nationalism

Tanzania distinguishes itself from its regional neighbors in many ways, one of which is its political and civil peace. Uganda lacks unity and has been characterized for years by internal strife and civil war. The current situation in Kenya demonstrates that Tanzania's neighbor to the north deals with its share of unrest. The repeated story in most all of independent Africa is one of civil conflict and tribalism. Tanzania should be no different. With its nearly 130 different tribes, the country of Tanzania could be riddled by the same kind of tribalism, but it is not. This is in large part to the work of Julius Nyerere.

Nyerere made a number of strategic moves that have provided Tanzania with political stability. The most important of these was to establish a Tanzanian national identity. Nyerere did this primarily by leading the nation to adopt Swahili, a native Tanzanian language, as the country's national language. Swahili gave Tanzanians a distinctly African identity, distancing them from the colonial powers whose rule had just recently been removed. Unlike the language of English (the administrative language under the British protectorate), Swahili was something indigenous. Nyerere's policy of socialized education was the means of disseminating the language to the whole nation, but it was already widely used throughout the country before it as ever taught. Swahili would not be simply a regional language; it would become the national language of education and commerce, and for many, the language of daily life. In order to demonstrate Swahili's ability to serve as a literary language, Nyerere (as the scholar that he was) translated Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and The Merchant of Venice into Swahili. He also created a paraphrase of the New Testament in Swahili, using a form of traditional poetry called tenzi. His efforts to promote Swahili even popularized it outside of the country. Part of being Tanzanian became speaking Swahili, so the language served to unify a tribally diverse nation.

Since the decade of independence (1960's), Africa has become known for civil strife rooted in tribalism. One tribe wrestles for political power over another, and a country's democratic system becomes the stage for inter-tribal warfare. Tanzania has avoided much of this because of the purposeful leadership of Nyerere to develop a truly national identity. Politically, this nationalism was fostered within Nyerere's political and economic socialism, a subject that will be taken up in future posts.

Julius Nyerere and Independence

Julius Kambarage Nyerere came to be known as "The Conscience of Africa," and this title was not his without reason. Born with a humble beginning, he attended primary school in Musoma (a district on Lake Victoria that is directly northeast of Mwanza, where we will be working). He proved a capable student and finished the program one year early. This simply foreshadowed his academic ability, for eventually he became the first Tanzanian to study in a British university (University of Edinburgh), and only the second to get a university degree outside of Africa.

Nyerere returned to Tanganyika (the name of mainland Tanzania before its union with Zanzibar) to teach, but as he would say it later, "I was a teacher by choice, but a politician by accident." He stumbled into political action in the 1950's as he began to speak out against what he saw as the British exploitation of Tanganyika. Unlike so many of his African counterparts, he was able to lead his nation to declare independence from the British without bloodshed. By peaceful civil and political action, Nyerere not only saw the establishment of Tanganyika as an independent nation, but he also was instrumental in leading this newly established nation in forming a republic with the the island nation of Zanzibar (The name Tanzania is formed by joining the name of mainland TANganyika with ZANzibar to make TAN-ZAN-ia).

This young nation would mature as it courageously supported the African independence movements, as it experimented with different social and economic models, and as it sought to shape its national identity. Yet Tanzania would make these bold steps by following its leader, Julius Kambarage Nyerere.

Introduction to Julius Nyerere

No one person has influenced Tanzania the way that Julius Nyerere (1922-1999) did. Nyerere, Tanzania's first president, played a vital role in the birth, development and maturity of Tanzania as a nation. A school teacher by trade, his people affectionately called him Mwalimu (Swahili for 'teacher') long after he had become a politician. He was a humble leader who was eager to close the gap between the common man and the socially and economically elite. Nyerere was a voice for African independence and self-reliance. His distinctive political and economic policy has shaped the face of Tanzania, but more than just being influential, he also won the hearts of his people. Because of Nyerere's impact on the country of Tanzania, I have been reading and studying about him with interest. In the coming days, I hope to introduce you to Mwalimu and his influence on Tanzanian society.