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Guinean Politics: A Critical Historical Overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Lansiné Kaba
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Extract

In contrast with the study of pre-colonial societies characterised by well- established traditions, the writing on contemporary Africa seems to be in the stage of infancy. Thus it has largely avoided assessing the performance of ‘revolutionary’leaders in an objective manner, and has often exhibited paternalism, idolisation, or dogmatism. If the study of modern history and politics aims at what actually is, rather than at what might be or ought to be, a more balanced view of political mobilisation and performance should result. An attempt will be made from this perspective realistically to appraise Guinea under the Parti démocratique de Guinée in terms of its internal consistency.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 1977 , pp. 25 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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References

Page 25 note 1 de Gaulle, Charles, ‘Speech in Conakry’, 08 1958Google Scholar. Cf. also Morgenthau, Ruth S., ‘Constitution of the Fifth Republic’, in Political Parties in French-Speaking West Africa (Oxford, 1970 edn.), pp. 385–92.Google Scholar

Page 26 note 1 Mulatoes, Dahomeans, and Senegalese living in Guinea had their respective organisations.

Page 26 note 2 Touré, Sékou, L'Afrique et Ia Réevolution (Switzerland, n.d.), p. 49.Google Scholar See Morgenthau, op. cit. pp. 22–7 for the r̂le of the Groupes d'études communistes in the development of political parties in French West Africa.

Page 26 note 3 Framoi Bérété who retired from public life in 1969 died in early 1976. Diawadou Barry served as a Cabinet member, and was ambassador to Egypt before being arrested and condemned to death for ‘treason and conspiracy’ in 1965. Karini Bangoura, former ambassador to the United States, was Minister of Transportation at the time of his arrest and probable execution as a member of the ‘Fifth Column’ in 1971. Ibrahim Barry occupied several ministerial positions before he was hanged in 1971 in Conakry.

Page 26 note 4 Members of the ethnic or voluntary associations integrated with either the R.D.A. or the B.A.G. according to their political preferences. The French expatriates who owned huge plantations of tropical fruit or who were involved in administration, also joined the party of their choice when the double electoral college — according to which French citizens had voted separately and had been given a number of seats in the Territorial Assembly disproportionate to their number — was abolished in 1956. See Morgenthau, ‘Trade Unionists and Chiefs in Guinea’, op. cit. pp. 229–54.

Page 27 note 1 According to L. Gray Cowan, the creation of the R.D.A. was in response to the dissatisfaction felt by African deputies at the defeat of the first constitution of the Fourth Republic in May 1946. See his ‘Guinea’, in Carter, Gwendolen M. (ed.), African One-Fatly States (Ithaca, 1962), p. 158.Google Scholar I believe that the emergence of the R.D.A. expressed much larger concerns.

Page 27 note 2 Touré, Sékou, L'Expbience guinienne et l'uaité africaine (Paris, 1959), p. 13.Google Scholar Quoted in Gray Cowan, loc. cit. p. 160.

Page 27 note 3 See Dubois, Victor, ‘Guinea’, in Coleman, James S. and Rosberg, Carl G. (eds.), Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa (Berkeley, 1964).Google Scholar

Page 28 note 1 The spread of the P.D.G. propaganda is associated with the history of three journals: Phare de Guinie (Guinea's Lighthouse), 1947–1950Google Scholar; Coup de Bambou (Bamboo Stroke), 1950–1951Google Scholar; and Liberté (Liberty) which became Horoya after the proclamation of independence. There existed an international R.D.A. organ, Le Réveil (The Awakening).

Page 28 note 2 Morgenthau, op. cit. p. 227.

Page 28 note 3 Touré, , L'Afrique, p. 62.Google Scholar

Page 29 note 1 See Suret-Canale, Jean, ‘Chieftaincy in Fouta Djallon, Guinea’, in Crowder, Michael and Ikime, Obaro (eds.), West African Chieft (New York, 1970), pp. 79–95Google Scholar, and ‘The End of Chieftaincy in Guinea’, in Markovitz, Irving Leonard (ed.), African Politics and Society: basic ilmes and problems of government and development (New York, 1970), pp. 96–177.Google Scholar

Page 29 note 2 Touré, , L'Afrique, p. 68Google Scholar, and L'Experience guinéenne, p. 168.

Page 29 note 3 Out of a total of 1,405,986 on the list, 1,200,171 voted: 12,920 ballots were spoiled or left blank, 56,959 voted Oui, and 1, 130,292 voted Non— more than 94 per cent. Touré, , L'Action politique du P.D.G. pour l'érnancipation africaine, Vol. II (Conakry, 1959), p. 9.Google Scholar

Page 29 note 4 see Touré, L'Afrique and L'Action politique; also Gray Cowan, loc. cit.

Page 30 note 1 The names are given in L'Agression portugaise contre la République de Guinée: livre blanc (Conakry, 1971), pp. 265–7.Google Scholar Jeanne Martin Cissé, a former Guinean ambassador to the United Nations, was the first woman to chair the Security Council in 1972.

Page 31 note 1 According to Touré, the first two stages of the ‘Guinean Revolution‘’ were ‘la cristallisation et la canalisation des revendications ouvrières’ and ‘l'élargissement de l'action politique aux masses rurales’. L'Afrique, pp. 62–77 and 116–19.

Page 32 note 1 Gray Cowan, loc. cit. p. 183.

Page 32 note 2 See my ‘Cultural Revolution, Artistic Creativity, and Freedom of Expression in Guinea’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), XIV, 2, 06 1976, pp. 201–18.Google Scholar

Page 33 note 1 See Horoya (Conakry), 15–18 01 1971Google Scholar, and Revue de la Commission internalionale deuristes (Geneva), 7, 12 1971, pp. 4–9.Google Scholar

Page 33 note 2 L'Agression portugaise, p. 262.

Page 33 note 3 Ibid. p. 264.

Page 34 note 1 Revue de la Commission internationale de juristes, loc. cit. pp. 6–8, my translation. For more information, see Horoya, February—May 1971.

Page 35 note 1 See Kaba, loc. cit.

Page 35 note 2 Abu-Lughod, Ibrahim, ‘Nationalism in a New Perspective: the African case’, in Spiro, Herbert J. (ed.), Patterns of African Development: five comparisons (Englewood Cliffs, 1967), p. 44.Google Scholar

Page 35 note 3 See Johns, Sheridan, ‘The Comintern and South Africa’, in The Review of Politics (Notre Dame, Ind.), 37, 2, 1975, pp. 200–34Google Scholar, for one example of Moscow's dominance.

Page 37 note 1 Touré, Sékou, ‘La Monnaie guinéenne…’, in L'Afrique, pp. 330–7.Google Scholar

Page 37 note 2 See O'Connor, Michael, ‘Guinea and the Ivory Coast — Contrasts in Economic Development’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, x, 3, 10 1972, pp. 409–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Page 38 note 1 Touré, Sékou, Déefendre la Révolution (Conakry, 1969), pp. 243–6.Google Scholar

Page 39 note 1 Ibid. pp. 46–8, and L'Afrique, p. 115.

Page 39 note 2 Guinean informants, Dakar and Abidjan, January 1976. Cf. O'Connor, loc. cit. p. 412.

Page 39 note 3 Rivière, Claude, ‘Les Bénéficiares du commerce dans la Guinée pré-colonialeet coloniale’, in Bulletin de l'I.F.A.N. (Dakar), 33B, 1971, p. 283, my translation.Google Scholar

Page 40 note 1 The Government has changed the currency four times since 1960: the latest is referred to as the sili, and is valued at 10 old francs. The U.S. dollar equals 20 silis at the official rate, and around 150 on the black market. Since 1971, the free flow and trade of major commodities, including grain and sugar, have been forbidden within the country, while other goods are subject to customs fees.

Page 41 note 1 Touré, , L'Afrique, pp. 111–15.Google Scholar By 1970, however, Touré had clearly opted for socialism: see his RDA—PDG: le chemin du socialisme (Conakry, 1970).Google Scholar

Page 42 note 1 Touré, , L'Afrique, p. 159.Google Scholar

Page 42 note 2 Ibid. pp. 171–4.

Page 42 note 3 See Engels, F., Origine de famille, de la propriété et de l'état (Paris edn. 1954), pp. 155–6.Google Scholar See also the preface by Karl Marx to Critique de l'économie politique.

Page 42 note 4 Trotsky, Leon, Permanent Revolution and Results and Prospects (New York edn. 1970), p. 99.Google Scholar

Page 43 note 1 Helleiner, G. K., ‘Beyond Growth Rates and Plan Volumes — Planning for Africa in the 1970S’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, X, 3, 10 1972, p. 333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Page 43 note 2 Bénot, Yves, Ideéologie des indeépendances africaines (Paris, 1969), p. 170.Google Scholar

Page 43 note 3 Touré, , L'Afrique, p. 173.Google Scholar

Page 44 note 1 Touré, Sékou, L'Action politique du PDG, et lutte pour l'émancipation africaine (Paris, 1959), p. 7.Google Scholar

Page 44 note 2 Marat, , Textes choisis (Paris edn. 1963).Google Scholar

Page 44 note 3 Touré, , L'Afrique, p. 299Google Scholar, and Horoya, 39 January 1971.

Page 44 note 4 Touré, , L'Afrique, p. 503.Google Scholar This view also has a certain religious connotation consistent with idealist attitudes.

Page 44 note 5 Rousseau, J. J., The Creed of a Priest of Savoy, translated by Beattie, Arthur H. (New York, 1956), pp. 36 and 43.Google Scholar Obviously, this is not a critique of Rousseau, but rather a testimony to the magnitude of his influence.

Page 45 note 1 See Touré, Sékou, ‘Complot permanent’, in Défendre la Révolution, pp. 24–51.Google Scholar This is consistent with Marat's argument of permanent conspiracy; op. cit. pp. 535–5. The Guinean Government has discovered at least 54 ‘plots’ since independence, including an alleged recent invasion from the Ivory Coast, strenuously denied by President Houphouët-Boigny; The Times (London), 06 1976.Google Scholar Subsequently, several Guinean leaders, including Captain Lamine Kouyaté, former Military Governor of Kindia, and Telli Diallo, Minister of Justice (the first Secretary-General of the Organisation ofAfrican Unity), were arrested for ‘plotting against the Guinean Government’. See Jeune Afrique, 18 June and 9 July 1976.