7 - Mwongozo: The African Revolution, Reloaded

Summary

Dar es Salaam’s politics became radicalised further still in the early 1970s. A series of developments – Britain’s proposal to sell arms to South Africa, a Portuguese invasion of Guinea-Conakry, and a coup in Uganda, plus internal unrest – propelled TANU into a gear-change in its socialist revolution. This resulted in the drafting of the ‘Guidelines’ or Mwongozo. This chapter shows how Mwongozo militarised Tanzanian society and concentrated power in the hands of party activists. These steps were taken with misgivings from Julius Nyerere and proved fractious among several of his trusted colleagues. While the government continued to talk the language of continental revolution, this was accompanied by a toughening of the national institutions of the party-state. The motor for development was increasingly believed to be popular mobilisation through the organs of the party rather than the economic planning that had previously tempered revolutionary interventionism. Meanwhile, the troublesome regime in semi-autonomous Zanzibar was brought to heel. National unity was achieved and enforced from above, but came at political cost.