The Critical Phase in Tanzania: Nyerere and the Emergence of a Socialist Strategy

'How can a country which is poor, with few socialists and without either a strong proletariat or a radicalised peasantry be led to a socialist transformation of its values and institutions?' In January 1967 Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania, made this the central preoccupation of his government and of his party, the Tanganyika African National Union. The emergence of that socialist commitment provides the central focus for this study of political leadership in Tanzania. Many independent countries are in the 'critical phase' in which the aspirations of their peoples race ahead of their productive capabilities. This study of the forces and considerations that led to the emergence of a democratic and socialist strategy of development in Tanzania is therefore of wide relevance elsewhere in Africa and the developing world.