Prospects for Communist Development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Abstract
Socialism emerged in sub-Saharan Africa in the late 195Os as the first colonized territories gained independence. African Socialist leaders, including Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, Sekou Toure in Guinea, and Modibo Keita in Mali, believed that Africa's traditional societies had characteristics compatible with socialism. In the l970s, African Socialist thinking led several new regimes to embrace Marxism-Leninism. They have become known as Afrocommunist governments because they lack class distinctions and interpret Marxism-Leninism as an ideology that could be adapted to local circumstances and implemented free of Soviet domination. The Marxist-Leninist orientation of the military regimes in Congo, Benin, and Madagascar was proclaimed by fiat, partly in reaction to French neocolonialism, but primarily because it provided the rulers with the means to consolidate power. In the Portuguese colonies of Guinea-Bissau, Angola, and Mozambique, national liberation movements were led by Marxist-Leninist ideologues who had been influenced by members of the Portuguese Communist Party during their student years in Lisbon. The leading theorist among them was Alnilcar Cabral, whose ideas on the application of Marxist-Leninist ideology to Africa provided all three nationalist movements with the foundations of their policies. Ethiopia, never having been colonized, experienced the emergence of Marxism-Leninism as an outgrowth of an internal social upheaval, a government overthrow, and the establishment of a ruling Marxist-Leninist party. Afrocommunism in the 4 countries in which the Marxist-Leninist parties maintain party-to-party relations with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union - Angola, Congo, Ethiopia, and Mozambique - is probably more entrenched there than elsewhere in Africa. (KAR)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 25, 1985
- Accession Number
- ADA303100
Entities
People
- Rachel Warner
Organizations
- Library of Congress