Concern over the dangers of economic inequality inspired
a number of African leaders—including Nkrumah
in Ghana, Nyerere in Tanzania, and Samora Michel in
Mozambique—to restrict foreign investment and nationalize
the major industries and utilities while promoting
social ideals and values. Nyerere was the most consistent,
promoting the ideals of socialism and self-reliance
through his Arusha Declaration of 1967. Taking advantage
of his powerful political influence, Nyerere placed
limitations on income and established village collectives
to avoid the corrosive effects of economic inequality and
government corruption. Sympathetic foreign countries
provided considerable economic aid to assist the experiment,
and many observers noted that levels of corruption,
political instability, and ethnic strife were lower in
Tanzania than in many other African countries. Unfortunately,
corruption has increased in recent years, while political
elements on the island of Zanzibar, citing the stagnation
brought by decades of socialism, are agitating for
autonomy or even total separation from the mainland.
Tanzania also has poor soil, inadequate rainfall, and limited
resources, all of which have contributed to its slow
growth and continuing rural and urban poverty.
In 1985, Nyerere voluntarily retired from the presidency.
In his farewell speech, he confessed that he had
failed to achieve many of his ambitious goals to create a
socialist society in Africa. In particular, he admitted that
his plan to collectivize the traditional private farm
(shamba) had run into strong resistance from conservative
peasants. “You can socialize what is not traditional,”
he remarked. “The shamba can’t be socialized.” But Nyerere
insisted that many of his policies had succeeded in
improving social and economic conditions, and he argued
that the only real solution was to consolidate the
multitude of small countries in the region into a larger
East African Federation.4
The countries that opted for capitalism faced their
own dilemmas. Neighboring Kenya, blessed with better
soil in the highlands, a local tradition of aggressive commerce,
and a residue of European settlers, welcomed foreign
investment and profit incentives. The results have
been mixed. Kenya has a strong current of indigenous African
capitalism and a substantial middle class, mostly
based in the capital, Nairobi. But landlessness, unemployment,
and income inequities are high, even by African
standards (almost one-fifth of the country’s 27 million
people are squatters, and unemployment is currently
estimated at 45 percent). The rate of population growth
—more than 4 percent annually—is one of the highest
in the world. Eighty percent of the population remains rural,
and 40 percent live below the poverty line. The result
has been widespread unrest in a country formerly admired
for its successful development.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, a few African nations decided
to adopt Soviet-style Marxism-Leninism. In Angola
and Ethiopia, Marxist parties followed the Soviet
model and attempted to create fully socialist societies
with the assistance of Soviet experts and Cuban troops
and advisers. Economically, the results were disappointing,
and both countries faced severe internal opposition.
In Ethiopia, the revolt by Muslim tribal peoples in the
province of Eritrea led to the fall of the Marxist leader
Mengistu and his regime in 1990. A similar revolt erupted
against the government in Angola, with the rebel group
UNITA controlling much of the rural population and for
a time threatening the capital city, Luanda. With the
death of the rebel leader Julius Savimbi in 2002, the revolt
finally appeared to be at an end.
World History
