What was Nyerere's theory of 'ujamaa socialism' and why was it not successfully translated into practical policy in Tanzania?

to revert back to and adapt to the modern day. With the idea that African socialism was merely reverting

back to a form of socialism that was once in place is stark contrast as too the way that European socialism

was considered to be born. It was viewed by Nyerere and fellow Africans to be born out of conflict

between man and his fellow man. The foundation and the objective of ujamaa socialism is the extended

family. It is opposed to capitalism which is believed to seek to build a happy society through the

exploitation of man by man, yet it is also opposed to the socialist doctrine which seeks to build its happy

society on a philosophy of inevitable conflict between man and man. Ujamaa was put in place to recapture

the socialist ideals of traditional African society and adapting these traditions and values to the modern era.

“Tanzania was seeking a non-capitalist path of development”

Ujamaa socialism was based on tradition and modernisation a mixture of what was rooted in the past of

African societies drawing from the recognition of society as an extension of the basic family unit, whilst

also recognising the need for technology and commercial produce. Ujamaa socialism ask the people to lead

their lives endearing to three main principles “equality and respect for human dignity, sharing of the

resources which are produced by the efforts of all, and work by everyone and exploitation by no one”.

The Arusha declaration in 1967 saw Tanzania’s commitment to ujamaa socialism confirmed. This was a

way of reinforcing Tanzania’s ideological stand point. The Arusha declaration was aimed “to create a

society based on co-operation, mutual respect and responsibility”. Ujamaa had to overcome 4 specific

areas and these were; inequalities between state employees and the civil society; that capital development

may come at the expense of human development; the private capital was making profits that could be

invested in all and finally the urban-rural imbalance in the country. These were areas that were set out

from an early period and if these could be overcome then ujamaa socialism was deemed able to become

successful in Tanzania.

The villagisation process was begun following the Arusha declaration. The idea behind this was to combine

traditional African society which was one of an extended family with modern production methods.  The

idea was that the whole village would combine to farm public common land rather than smaller individual

plots of land that they had in the past. They would then enjoy benefits of economies of scale. Each of the

Tanzanians would work for each other providing for their own personal subsistence and a surplus which

would enable the village to develop further and the process would continue. The modern villages would act

as a centre point for the inhabitants as it would be here that the government officials would come to, and

teach new and modern farming techniques to be taken back to the common land. This was to give the

people a further feeling of ‘togetherness’ they not only worked together but they also learned together.

There was no room for the individual in this society. The society and the way that it was structured made it

very difficult for the individual to have a chance to flourish. It was also through these villages that the state

was able to invest in public resources and through these villages the people had the chance to use and

benefit from them.

The studying of ujamaa is often concentrated on looking at the villagisation process and the production of

crops and how this process was structured and rightly so as this is the largest part of ujamaa socialism.

Nyerere and his ujamaa also believed in both formal and non-formal education and this translated into

massive efforts to dramatically expand children’s access to primary education and rapidly raise literacy

rates in adults. It was said “the nation cannot wait until the children have become educated for the

development to begin”. The majority of new schools and health centres that were built by that state were

built in ujamaa villages giving the people further incentive to dedicate themselves to the government

scheme. In co-ordinance with the societies of the past the villages also served as centres for local

democracy, with the community members aided by state help making their own decisions. This was so that

similarities could be seen between the new system and that of tribal pre-colonisation villages.

Many people moved to the ujamaa villages without question; some believed in the socialist ideology, others

the idea of collectivisation in the villages and others through the belief in nationalism. Others moved for

more practical reasons all together, the ability to have access to modern technology and discounted seed.

Further incentives were given to the people to move to these ujamaa villages that had been built especially

for production in that the poll tax would be waived if a move was made. There was great success in the

numbers that moved to these villages; by 1977 almost all of Tanzania’s rural population inhabited the

ujamaa villages.

So why did Ujamaa fail, Nyerere’s ideology appeared to have everything thought through. Despite this

government coercion of people was required to make sure that rural populants moved to the ujamaa

villages, this was when the villagisation process began fail and required production levels were not being

met. Rural development had failed to meet with the growth of the population.

There are numerous arguments into why ujamaa failed giving internal, external and ideological reasons. It

has been argued by Hyden that it was Nyerere’s ideology that had failed; it failed to capture the people of

Tanzania’s minds. It was certainly believed that the peasantry respected what ujamaa and Nyerere was

trying to do and that the social goals that were set out to be attained were the right ones; living as a

community, government supplied technology and welfare.

The problem was that though ujamaa claimed to be taking the country back to the way it was before

colonisation, this was not quite the case. The villages had been a centre point in the past and the people

within these villages were always there for one another to help each other but there was a form of

individualism as well. The Africans had not been collectivist farmers hence when ujamaa was introduced

people had to be enticed to move from what was there already; their individual plots of land. They would

certainly traditionally co-operate with each other helping out in times of need and when the harvest season

came round but they would not farm collectively. This meant that this idea from Nyerere was actually a

new one and one that people had difficultly taking too completely. This meant that the people continued to

look out for their own subsistence first and then look to the common land as additional work. This of

course resulted in the failure to produce enough surplus  for the villages to continue to develop. In many

ways the people did go back to the way they lived before colonisation benefiting from being part of a

village unfortunately for Nyerere’s ideology this was not necessarily the way that he had intended and not

how he had foreseen. Hyden summed up this point with “to the peasants, work on the communal farm was

never considered an end to itself. To them it remained a supplementary activity, to which attention was

given when circumstance in the household permitted” This meant that there was a lack of trust in the

farming of common land, if the people farmed just this they did not believe they would receive enough for

their own existence. In many ways this is a lack of trust in the original socialist mantra as mentioned earlier

about receiving a fair share of what the individual sows.

A question commonly bought up is the efficiency of villages in production. For countries to develop in the

modern era production needed to be at a commercial rate. The villages did not produce at this rate, through

no fault of their own. It is argued that this could be put down to the lack of competition, there was no

capitalist mind set or orientation the villagers would work at their own rate, for their own subsistence. With

the national economy built on the foundations of the success of these production villages, failure bought

with it a failure in the economy.

The state must also accept some of the blame; it cannot all be put down to the ‘uncaptured’ peasantry.

Administrative errors were been made by the state. For example villages had been occasionally settled in

unproductive areas and inappropriate crops had been grown on these areas. The people that were farming

were unskilled and in many ways were doing what they were told to do even in what was supposed to be a

socialist environment. With an inefficient transport system harvest times were especially difficult. Crop

movement became very difficult, this was a vital part of the production that was required for development

of the villages. Transport was not required for individual subsistence but it was required for the nation to

develop in the way that Nyerere wanted. The villagers were working in difficult situations and at times

without the appropriate support.

On a social level, the interaction that had been so integral to the introduction of ujamaa, due to the idea

having come from the traditional societies and the idea that all members of the society could make

decisions for themselves that was beginning to break down. When faced with a peasantry that at times were

determined to do things the way they had traditionally been done, the state officials made a mistake that

had been commonly made across Africa; it returned to an authoritarian style of public administration

something that was completely against the 4 original principles of ujamaa. This placed obvious strain on

the relationship between the state and its civil society. Things got worse when in an attempt to make things

better the relationship at times ended up in a patron – client relationship which was no different from the

relationship held by colonial power 20 years before with the peasantry. Many people thought that they had

jut come full circle.

In an attempt to continue along the vein of a non-capitalist path the ideas of ujamaa were adapted and were

being used still in the 1980s. Having been faced with economic and social issues internally it was at this

stage it was faced with external problems. In the 1980s Tanzania’s hand was forced by being part of the

global economy. There was an oil-price hike and a world economic recession in the 1980s. This meant that

rather than becoming insular and closing in its boundaries a realisation need to be found. The country was

surrounded in the world by right wing individualist economies. Nyerere realised these issues and it was him

that actually started the liberalization process. He had called for ex-pats living abroad to invest in the

country with the understanding that they could take some profit for themselves out of the country. Nyerere

was still president when the formal liberalisation came into place with private enterprises being allowed to

import goods directly.

Socialism just like democracy is an attitude, a belief. In a socialist society it is the socialist attitude of mind,

and not the unmovable adherence to a political standpoint which is needed to ensure that the people care for

each others welfare. Without this in a socialist society, you cannot move forward and it has to be

questioned whether the people though in agreement with the possible outcomes actually had this mind set,

or whether the individual within them still had control. In the case of Ujamaa, though there were a number

of factors that contributed to the downfall to this form of socialism it can be argued that the when

ideologies are enforced upon a society that the people quite often subconsciously rebel against this. In

Tanzania they were being told something that the people ideologically did not agree with 100% and the

attitude, the belief was not there and without that, half of the battle is already lost.

Nyerere “I failed, Lets Admit it!” 

Bibliography

1. Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasango,  African Notes, November 1999
2. Alex Thompson, An Introduction to African Politics, Oxford: Routledge, 2004
3. Andrew Heywood, Politics 2nd Edition, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002
4. Julius. K. Nyerere, Nyerere on Socialism, Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press, 1969
5. Harvey J. Sindima, Africa’s Agenda: The Legacy of liberalism and colonialism in the crisis of African Values, Westport: Greenwood, 1995
6. Julius K. Nyerere, Freedom and Unity: A selection from Writings and Speeches 1952 – 1965, Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press, 1966
7. Goran. Hyden, Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania: Underdevelopment and Uncaptured peasantry, London: Heinemann, 1980
8. Julius K. Nyerere’s speech upon stepping down from the presidency

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