Julius Nyerere, in full Julius Kambarage Nyerere, also called Mwalimu (Swahili: “Teacher”) (born March 1922, Butiama, Tanganyika—died October 14, 1999, London, England), first prime minister of independent Tanganyika (1961), who became the first president of the new state of Tanzania (1964). Nyerere was also the major force behind the Organization of African Unity (OAU; now the African Union).
Julius Nyerere, 1985.William F. Campbell—Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Nyerere
was a son of the chief of the small Zanaki ethnic group. He was
educated at Tabora Secondary School and Makerere College in Kampala, Uganda.
A convert to Roman Catholicism, he taught in several Roman Catholic
schools before going to Edinburgh University. He was the first
Tanganyikan to study at a British university. He graduated with an M.A.
in history and economics in 1952 and returned to Tanganyika to teach.
By the time Nyerere entered politics, the old League of Nations mandate that Britain had exercised in Tanganyika had been converted into a United Nations
trusteeship, with independence the ultimate goal. Seeking to hasten the
process of emancipation, Nyerere joined the Tanganyika African
Association, quickly becoming its president in 1953. In 1954 he
converted the organization into the politically oriented Tanganyika African National Union
(TANU). Under Nyerere’s leadership the organization espoused peaceful
change, social equality, and racial harmony and rejected tribalism and
all forms of racial and ethnic discrimination.
Julius Nyerere.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
In 1955 and 1956 he journeyed to the United Nations in New York City as a petitioner to the Trusteeship Council
and the Fourth Committee on trusts and non-self-governing territories.
After a debate that ended in his being granted a hearing, he asked for a
target date for the independence of Tanganyika. The British
administration rejected the demand, but a dialogue was begun that established Nyerere as the preeminent nationalist spokesman for his country.
The
British administration nominated him a member of the Tanganyikan
Legislative Council, but he resigned in 1957 in protest against the
slowness of progress toward independence. In elections held in 1958–59,
Nyerere and TANU won a large number of seats on the Legislative Council.
In a subsequent election in August 1960, his organization managed to win 70 of 71 seats in Tanganyika’s new Legislative Assembly.
Progress toward independence owed much to the understanding and mutual
trust that developed during the course of negotiations between Nyerere
and the British governor, Sir
Richard Turnbull. Tanganyika finally gained responsible self-government
in September 1960, and Nyerere became chief minister at this time.
Tanganyika became independent on December 9, 1961, with Nyerere as its
first prime minister. The next month, however, he resigned from this
position to devote his time to writing and synthesizing his views of
government and of African unity. One of Nyerere’s more important works
was a paper called “
Ujamaa—The Basis for African Socialism,” which later served as the philosophical basis for the Arusha Declaration (1967). When Tanganyika became a republic in 1962, he was elected president, and in 1964 he became president of the United Republic of Tanzania (Tanganyika and Zanzibar).
Tanganyika gaining independence, 1961.Stock footage courtesy The WPA Film Library
Nyerere was reelected
president of Tanzania in 1965 and was returned to serve three more
successive five-year terms before he resigned as president in 1985 and
handed over his office to his successor, Ali Hassan Mwinyi. From
independence on Nyerere also headed Tanzania’s only political party,
Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).
As
outlined in his political program, the Arusha Declaration, Nyerere was
committed to the creation of an egalitarian socialist society based on
cooperative agriculture in Tanzania. He collectivized village farmlands,
carried out mass
literacy campaigns, and instituted free and universal education. He
also emphasized Tanzania’s need to become economically self-sufficient
rather than remain dependent on foreign aid and foreign investment.
Nyerere termed his socialist experimentation ujamaa (Swahili:
“familyhood”), a name that emphasized the blend of economic cooperation,
racial and tribal harmony, and moralistic self-sacrifice that he sought
to achieve. Tanzania became a one-party state, though certain
democratic opportunities were permitted within that framework.
As a major force behind
the modern Pan-African movement and one of the founders in 1963 of the
OAU, Nyerere was a key figure in African events in the 1970s. He was a
strong advocate of economic and political measures in dealing with the apartheid policies of South Africa. Nyerere was chairman of a group of five frontline African presidents who advocated the overthrow of white supremacy in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), South Africa, and South West Africa/Namibia (now Namibia).
Nyerere’s concerns on the domestic front were dominated by economic hardships and by difficulties between Nyerere and Idi Amin of Uganda.
In 1972 Nyerere denounced Amin when the latter announced the expulsion
of all Asians from Uganda. When Ugandan troops occupied a small border
area of Tanzania in 1978, Nyerere pledged to bring about the downfall of
Amin, and in 1979 the Tanzanian army invaded Uganda in support of a
local movement to overthrow him. Nyerere’s intervention helped to unseat
Amin and brought about the return to power in Uganda of Milton Obote in 1980.
Though
enthusiastically adopted by his countrymen and steadfastly supported by
sympathetic western European nations, Nyerere’s socialist policies
failed to spur economic development in Tanzania. At the time of his
resignation in 1985, Tanzania was still one of the world’s poorest
countries, with a per capita income of about U.S. $250.
Agriculture
remained at the subsistence level, and the country’s industrial and
transportation infrastructures
were chronically underdeveloped. One-third of the national budget was
supplied by foreign aid. Tanzania had one of the highest literacy rates
in Africa, however, and the society was both politically stable and
notably free of economic inequalities. Nyerere himself remained
committed to socialist policies throughout his political career.
Julius Nyerere, 1981.Hanos/Liaison Agency
Nyerere
continued as chairman of the CCM until 1990. Thereafter he assumed the
role of elder statesman and was regularly called upon to act as arbiter
in international crises such as those in Rwanda and Burundi.
Soft-spoken,
unpretentious, small of stature, and quick to laugh, Julius Nyerere was
widely credited with impressive oratorical skills and unusual powers of
political perception. His thoughts, essays, and speeches are collected
in his books, Uhuru na Umoja (1967; Freedom and Unity), Uhuru na Ujamaa (1968; Freedom and Socialism), and Uhuru na Maendeleo (1973; Freedom and Development). He also translated two plays by William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice and Julius Caesar, into Swahili.
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