Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:36:54.235Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Ascendancy of Blaise Diagne and the Beginning of African Politics in Senegal1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

G. Wesley Johnson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The pantheon of African national heroes houses a man forgotten by recent African history. He is Blaise Diagne, who became the first Negro African deputy of the French parliament by winning an unusual election in Senegal on 10 May 1914. This success not only launched Diagne upon a distinguished career of public service but also marked the beginning of African participation in modern politics in Senegal. Diagne, who was an incipient nationalist, broke the French and Creole domination of Senegalese representative institutions, introduced new campaign techniques and political methods, and gave a sense of purpose and unity to a badly divided African electorate. He was allowed to keep his parliamentary seat, despite attacks from many quarters, and thereby gave the French assimilationist theory its highest expression. He initiated a pattern of African involvement in metropolitan affairs that characterized French-speaking African politics for the next two generations; he set a style and created a mystique which inspired later African politicians; he can be called with great justice the precursor of modern African politics.

Résumé

L'ASCENSION DE BLAISE DIAGNE ET LE POINT DE DÉPART DE LA POLITIQUE AFRICAINE AU SÉNÉGAL

L'élection, en 1914, d'un député de la Colonie du Sénégal à la Chambre des Députés française, fut un événement important qui marqua le point de départ d'une participation du Noir africain à la politique contemporaine. Antérieurement dominées par les intérêts français et Créoles, les quatre Communes du Sénégal trouvèrent un nouveau représentant et champion des droits africains en la personne de Blaise Diagne, Sénégalais assimilé qui s'intéressa à la politique en servant comme douanier en divers points de l'empire colonial français. En 1914, son retour au pays pour se présenter aux élections fournit un foyer de ralliement à un certain nombre de groupements insatisfaits en quête d'un candidat convenable. En les unifiant et en faisant appel aux Français libéraux, Blaise Diagne parvint à constituer une fédération qui le mena à la victoire et assura désormais la mainmise des Africains sur la politique locale et régionale. En ce sens, l'élection de 1914 constitue un jalon dans l'histoire de la politique de l'Afrique francophone: elle montre que la politique traditionnelle a évolué dans les quatre Communes du Sénégal bien avant la seconde guerre mondiale. L'élection fut aussi le point de départ de la remarquable carrière de Diagne dans la fonction publique comme Député, Député Make, Ministre des Colonies et Haut Commissaire aux Troupes Africaines, durant laquelle il parcourut toute la hiérarchie de nationaliste débutant à apologiste colonial.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , July 1966 , pp. 235 - 253
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1966

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

page 235 note 2 Diagne was the first Negro African, since Senegal had already elected two deputies of mixed, or métis, origin: Durand Valantin, first deputy in 1848, and François Carpot, seventh deputy in 1902.

page 235 note 3 Diagne also participated in the second Pan-African Congress in 1921, but much less enthusiastically because he had broken with Du Bois and Garvey. See Le Temps, 6 September 1921; report of Ambassador Brand Whitlock at Brussels to Secretary of State, in National Archives, Washington, D.C., Post Records 84, File 360–1301.

page 236 note 1 Diagne was attributed supernatural powers by various Senegalese. Source of this belief was his membership in the Freemasons, thought by rural folk especially to be the work of evil spirits. (Private materials, Professor A. M. MʼBow, Lycée Faidherbe, Saint-Louis.)

page 236 note 2 Senegal never had double voting colleges; candidates were usually French or Creole, rarely African. The urban Africans of the Four Communes considered themselves citoyens because of the decree of 1833 which extended rights to colonial subjects, Archives de la France Outre-Mer (FOM), Paris, Senegal VII–81.

page 236 note 3 In this paper Creole means a person of mixed European and Negro African descent, often called métis by the French.

page 237 note 1 This party was formally organized in 1919, with Diagne as party chief and Galandou Diouf and A. Duguay-Clédor as lieutenants for Senegal. It was an organization with an Executive Committee, precinct committees, electoral agents, dues, treasury, membership cards, and a changing political programme. It was the ruling force in Senegal for fifteen years until Diagne died in 1954. I therefore disagree with some observers of Senegal who incorrectly attribute the first African party to Lamine Guèye or the S.F.I.O. in the 1920's.

page 237 note 2 Interview with Raoul Diagne, son of Blaise Diagne, August 1964, Dakar.

page 238 note 1 Diagne married Mile Odette Villain of Orleans in 1909 and had four children by her, Adolphe, Raoul, Rolland, and a girl who died in childhood.

page 238 note 2 L'A.O.F., 19 April 1913. Augagneur and Diagne met in a series of public debates in Lyon, Lille, and Paris.

page 238 note 3 Personal communications from President Lamine Guèye and Me Amadou Thiam, both of Dakar.

page 239 note 1 A forthcoming work by Robert Delmas, patriarch of this Bordeaux family in Senegal, should shed some light on relations between these companies. M. Delmas made available his manuscript based on family archival sources in Dakar and Bordeaux.

page 240 note 1 Bordeaux merchants were called ‘sharks’ and the Creoles labelled ‘traitors’ by the Africans. See articles in La Démocratic for April 1914 and L'Ouest Africain Français for November 1919.

page 240 note 2 Rapports administratifs, series 2–G, folders 8–10, 9–7, 9–8, 10–6, 10–12, 10–13, 11–7 12–9 13–8, and 14–6 in Archives de la République du Sénégal (ARS), Dakar. These quarterly reports from Governor of Senegal to Governor-General in Dakar were perennially late (up to nine months) whereas reports from Guinea and Dahomey arrived on time.

page 241 note 1 For example, Administrator Chautemps of Baol was assassinated, as was Police Chief Bourdennec of Rufisque (ARS 13–G–77); the African post-office workers struck, refusing to wear postal uniforms in favour of their traditional boubous; African employees demanded at least one full day of rest each week (Le Petit Sénégalais, 6 June 1914); and on 21 February 1914 the same journal warned the Creoles that the Negroes, until now resigned and docile, were now stirring: ‘Prenez garde, Messieurs, le nègre bouge, il élève la tête.’

page 241 note 2 The communes mixles reflected their name: had an administrator for mayor, with partially appointed and elected municipal councils.

page 242 note 1 Marsat and his successor as mayor, E. Masson, were adept at rotten borough politics. See Election Series, 2–G–15, 2–G–19, and 20–G–14, ARS, for period 1902 to 1912.

page 242 note 2 Interviews with Lamine Guèye, Aby Kane Diallo, and Amadou Assane NʼDoye in 1964 revealed lack of agreement about the founding date of the Young Senegalese (of which they were members). I think 1912 is correct.

page 243 note 1 MʼBaye criticized the authoritarian administrator of Sine-Saloum, Paul Brocard, in several articles in Le Petit Sénégalais in 1913, then made the mistake of visiting Sine-Saloum, where he was arrested by Brocard; he by-passed Saint-Louis and appealed directly to Dakar for release, insisting he was a citoyen. MʼBaye had powerful friends from the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme.

page 243 note 2 Rally for Blaise Diagne, Saint-Louis, 29 April 1914, Senegal VII–81, FOM.

page 243 note 3 By initiating financial contributions to electoral campaigns in 1914, the Mourides began a practice that became standard among Islamic sects to 1940. After the war, with the suffrage extended to the countryside, the situation was reversed; politicians arranged subsidies for rural marabouts in return for delivering the vote. See Political Report, Amadou Bamba, 2–G–11–(7); 2–G–3–(7) ARS describes his years in exile.

page 244 note 1 General and extraordinary sessions, Conseil Général, 1909–14. Galandou Diouf was not the first African to serve on the council, but he was the first to criticize colonial policy systematically. Former African members, such as Yatma Sène, were known as ‘yes’ men. See also 20–G–18, ARS, for 1909 elections.

page 244 note 2 Dreyfus unwittingly brought anti-Semitism to Senegal. He was mistaken for a more famous Dreyfus, who was no relation. The Catholics and Creoles launched a defamatory campaign against him among the Africans; the marabouts also advised their faithful, ‘Vive Carpot! A bas le Juif!’ Rally for Carpot, 28 April 1902, in 20–G–12, ARS.

page 244 note 3 Governor Cor's prognostication on the election: Carpot, Théveniaut, and Marsat would be strong; Heimburger would make a weak showing; Diagne ‘nʼaura aucune chance de succès’. Senegal VII–81, FOM.

page 245 note 1 L'A.O.F., 2 May 1914.

page 245 note 2 Justin Devès replaced Theodore Carpot as president of the Conseil Général, even though he had been suspended as mayor of Saint-Louis in 1910. His comeback attested to his political prowess. 2–G–10– (13), ARS.

page 245 note 3 When Justin Devès was suspended as mayor, it was alleged that his agents collected fees along the Senegal River, warning peasants there was no other way to be saved from French oppression except by tribute to the Devès. Over fifty depositions of witnesses are contained in folio 13, Senegal VII–51–bis, FOM.

page 246 note 1 Diagne rally of 8 May 1914, Senegal VII–81, FOM.

page 246 note 2 Speech of 27 April 1914, ibid.

page 247 note 1 Based on political reports in Senegal VII series in FOM, Paris, and the 2–G and 21–G series in ARS, Dakar, as well as debates of the Conseil Général.

page 247 note 2 Many critics were inspectors who visited the colony briefly and returned to France as African experts. They forgot that France had many rural districts where illiterate Frenchmen made reasonably intelligent choices at the polls.

page 247 note 3 These newspapers were weeklies and enjoyed considerable freedom of the press until Governor-General Martial Merlin, an ultra-conservative, curbed them in the early 1920's. All three titles have some copies preserved in the IFAN library, Dakar.

page 247 note 4 L'A.O.F. 27 April 1914.

page 248 note 1 Rally at Saint-Louis, 8 May 1914, Senegal VII–81, FOM.

page 248 note 2 Ibid. Diagne then appraised Heimburger's patron: ‘M. Devès est noir aussi, mais il nʼa pas une carrière comme la mienne, et il nʼest pas marié avec une française.’

page 248 note 3 This he obtained for Senegal in 1918 in exchange for the troops he recruited for Clemenceau and the French Army as High Commissioner for West Africa.

page 248 note 4 Profession de foi, 30–G–21. D'Oxoby arranged to have articles by Jean Jaurès printed in La Démocratie. Diagne's first affiliation in the Chamber was with the United Socialist Party.

page 248 note 5 L'A.O.F. 11 April 1914.

page 249 note 1 Reports, 20–G–21, ARS.

page 249 note 2 L'A.O.V. 30 April 1914. La Démocratic on 2 May 1914 noted that Crespin and Pellegrin decided not to join the consortium later and opted for Diagne rather than their fellow Creole, Carpot.

page 249 note 3 La Démocratie, 2 May 1914.

page 250 note 1 Telegram, Diagne to Minister of Colonies, 4 May 1914, Senegal VII–81, FOM.

page 250 note 2 Provès verbal, election of 10 May 1914, ibid., 20–G–21, ARS.

page 250 note 3 Acting Governor of Senegal to Governor-General, Political Report, second trimester, 1914, 2–G–14–(6), ARS.

page 250 note 4 Diagnisme is explained by the articulate Creole Adrien Edgar Allègre, in Aperçu sur la situation Politique au Sénégal, 1923 (Nice: Imprimerie Industrielle de Nice, 1923).

page 251 note 1 Governor-General to Minister of Colonies, 24 June 1914, 20–G–21, ARS.

page 251 note 2 Acting Governor of Senegal to Governor-General, 10 June 1914; Governor-General to Minister of Colonies, 24 June 1914; both in ibid.

page 251 note 3 M. G. Leredu, ‘Rapport sur l'élection du Sénégal’, in ibid.; the report did not specifically rule that Diagne was a citizen but held that he was eligible for office because he had voted in Réunion, Madagascar, and Guiana, had renounced his observance of traditional law, was married to a Frenchwoman, had temporarily exercised the functions of criminal judge in Madagascar, etc. See also Journal Officiel, Chambre, débats, séance of 7 July 1914, pp. 2735–7.

page 251 note 4 The first law made Africans born in the Four Communes full-fledged French citizens; the second declared their descendants citizens regardless of place of birth. They were allowed to keep traditional law in marriage, inheritance, and other settlements.

page 252 note 1 La Démocratie, 28 April 1914.