Julius Nyerere: Mwalimu
Before Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to become Tanzania in 1964, Julius Nyerere was president of the newly independent Tanganyika. He then became the first president of Tanzania.
While he was president, Nyerere was called “Mwalimu,” the Swahili word for “Teacher.” This had the significance of making Nyerere one of the people, as he chose not to use titles that implied a higher position than that of the common man. This reflects Nyerere’s socialist philosophy.
The objective of socialism in the United Republic of Tanzania is to build a society in which all members have equal rights and equal opportunities; in which all can live in peace with their neighbours without suffering or imposing injustice, being exploited, or exploiting; and in which all have a gradually increasing basic level of material welfare before any individual lives in luxury. (Nyerere 1968: 340)
The Life of Nyerere
"Julius Kambarage Nyerere was born on April 13, 1922 in Butiama, on the eastern shore of lake Victoria in north west Tanganyika. His father was the chief of the small Zanaki tribe. He was 12 before he started school (he had to walk 26 miles to Musoma to do so). Later, he transferred for his secondary education to the Tabora Government Secondary School. His intelligence was quickly recognized by the Roman Catholic fathers who taught him. He went on, with their help, to train as a teacher at Makerere University in Kampala (Uganda). On gaining his Certificate, he taught for three years and then went on a government scholarship to study history and political economy for his Master of Arts at the University of Edinburgh (he was the first Tanzanian to study at a British university and only the second to gain a university degree outside Africa. In Edinburgh, partly through his encounter with Fabian thinking, Nyerere began to develop his particular vision of connecting socialism with African communal living.
On his return to Tanganyika, Nyerere was forced by the colonial authorities to make a choice between his political activities and his teaching. He was reported as saying that he was a schoolmaster by choice and a politician by accident. Working to bring a number of different nationalist factions into one grouping he achieved this in 1954 with the formation of TANU (the Tanganyika African National Union). He became President of the Union (a post he held until 1977), entered the Legislative Council in 1958 and became chief minister in 1960. A year later Tanganyika was granted internal self-government and Nyerere became premier. Full independence came in December 1961 and he was elected President in 1962.
Nyerere’s integrity, ability as a political orator and organizer, and readiness to work with different groupings was a significant factor in independence being achieved without bloodshed. In this he was helped by the co-operative attitude of the last British governor – Sir Richard Turnbull. In 1964, following a coup in Zanzibar (and an attempted coup in Tanganyika itself) Nyerere negotiated with the new leaders in Zanzibar and agreed to absorb them into the union government. The result was the creation of the Republic of Tanzania.".Information taken from www.marxists.org.
Nyerere and Tanzania
By the late 1960s Tanzania was suffering from a severe foreign debt burden, a decrease in foreign aid, and a fall in the price of commodities. Nyerere's goal was to meet with these problems by a collectivization of agriculture and large-scale nationalization.
The focus of Nyerere's policies was on rural development. In his system, people would live and work cooperatively in "Ujamaa" (the word ujamaa means familyhood, and refers to collective villages). Through Ujamaa, the East African value of kinship and social responsibility would go beyond family to extend to Tanzania as a whole.
Nyerere believed in a socialism that was based on people. Within his policies was a commitment to raising basic living standards (and an opposition to conspicuous consumption and large private wealth). Humanness in its fullest sense rather than wealth creation must come first. Societies become better places through the development of people rather than the gearing up of production. This was a matter that Nyerere took to be important both in political and private terms. Unlike many other politicians, he did not amass a large fortune through exploiting his position.
The policy met with significant political resistance (especially when people were forced into rural communes) and little economic success. Nearly 10 million peasants were moved and many were effectively forced to give up their land. The idea of collective farming was less than attractive to many peasants. A large number found themselves worse off. Productivity went down. However, the focus on human development and self-reliance did bring some success in other areas notably in health, education and in political identity.