The Arusha Declaration and TANU’s Policy on Socialism and
Self-Reliance
PART ONE
The TANU Creed
The policy of TANU is to build a socialist
state. The principles of socialism are laid down in the TANU Constitution and
they are as follows:
WHEREAS TANU believes:
(a) That all human beings are equal;
(b) That every individual has a right to
dignity and respect;
(c) That every citizen is an integral part
of the nation and has the right to take an equal part in Government at local,
regional and national level;
(d) That every citizen has the right to
freedom of expression, of movement, of religious belief and of association
within the context of the law;
(e) That every individual has the right to
receive from society protection of his life and of property held according to
law;
(f) That every individual has the right to
receive a just return for his labour;
(g) That all citizens together possess all
the natural resources of the country in trust for their descendants;
(h) That in order to ensure economic
justice the state must have effective control over the principal means of
production; and
(i) That it is the responsibility of the
state to intervene actively in the economic life of the nation so as to ensure
the well-being of all citizens, and so as to prevent the exploitation of one
person by another or one group by another, and so as to prevent the
accumulation of wealth to an extent which is inconsistent with the existence of
a classless society.
NOW, THEREFORE, the principal aims and
objects of TANU shall be as follows:
(a) To consolidate and maintain the
independence of this country and the freedom of its people;
(b) To safeguard the inherent dignity of
the individual in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
(c) To ensure that this country shall be
governed by a democratic socialist government of the people;
(d) To co-operate with all political
parties in Africa engaged in the liberation of all Africa ;
(e) To see that the Government mobilizes
all the resources of this country towards the elimination of poverty, ignorance
and disease;
(f) To see that the Government actively
assists in the formation and maintenance of co-operative organizations;
(g) to see that wherever possible the
Government itself directly participates in the economic development of this
country;
(h) To see that the Government gives equal
opportunity to all men and women irrespective of race, religion or status;
(i) To see that the Government eradicates
all types of exploitation, intimidation, discrimination, bribery and
corruption;
(j) To see that the Government exercises
effective control over the principal means of production and pursues policies
which facilitate the way to collective ownership of the resources of this
country;
(k) To see that the Government co-operates
with other states in Africa in bringing about
African unity;
(l) To see that Government works
tirelessly towards world peace and security through the United Nations
Organization.
PART TWO
The Policy of Socialism
(a) Absence of Exploitation
A truly. socialist state is one in which
all people are workers and in which neither capitalism nor feudalism exists. It
does not have two classes of people, a lower class composed of people who work
for their living, and an upper class of people who live on the work of others.
In a really socialist country no person exploits another; everyone who is
physically able to work does so; every worker obtains a just return for the labour
he performs; and the incomes derived from different types of work are not
grossly divergent. In a socialist country, the only people who live on the work
of others, and who have the right to be dependent upon their fellows, are small
children, people who are too old to support themselves, the crippled, and those
whom the state at any one time cannot provide with an opportunity to work for
their living.
(b) The Major Means of Production and
Exchange are under the Control of the Peasants and Workers.
To Build and maintain socialism it is
essential that all the major means of production and exchange in the nation are
controlled and owned by the peasants through the machinery of their Government
and their co-operatives. Further, it is essential that the ruling Party should
be a Party of peasants and workers.
The major means of production and exchange
are such things as: land; forests; minerals;water; oil and electricity; news
media; communications; banks, insurance, import ;and export trade, wholesale
trade ; iron and steel, machine tool, arms, motor-car, cement, fertilizer, and
textile industries; and any big factory on which a large section of the people
depend for their living, or which provides essential components of other
industries; large plantations, and especially those which provide raw materials
essential to important industries.
Some of the instruments of production and
exchange which have been listed here are already owned or controlled by the
people’s Government of Tanzania.
(c) The Existence of Democracy
A state is not socialist simply because
its means of production and exchange are controlled or owned by the government,
either wholly or in large part. If a country to be socialist, it is essential
that its government is chosen and led by the peasants and workers themsclvcs.
If the minority governments of Rhodesia
or South Africa
controlled or owned the entire economies of these respective countries, the
result would be a strengthening of oppression, not the building of socialism.
True socialism cannot exist without democracy also existing in the society.
(d) Socialism is a Belief
Socialism is a way of life, and a
socialist society cannot simply come into existence. A socialist society can
only be built by those who believe in, and who themselves practice, the
principles of socialism. A committed member of TANU will be a socialist, and
his fellow socialist – that is, his fellow believers in this political and
economic system – are all those in Africa or
elsewhere in the world who fight for the rights of peasants and workers. The
first duty of a TANU member, and especially of a TANU leader, is to accept
these socialist principles, and to live his own life in accordance with them.
In particular, a genuine TANU leader will not live off the sweat of another
man, nor commit any feudalistic or capitalistic actions.
The successful implementation of
.socialist objectives depends very much up the leaders, because socialism is a
belief in a particular system of living, and it is difficult for leaders to
promote its growth if they do not themselves accept it.
PART THREE
The Policy of Self-Reliance
We are at War
TANU is involved in a war against poverty
and oppression in our country; the struggle is aimed at moving the people of Tanzania (and the people of Africa
as a whole) from a state of poverty to a State of prosperity.
We have been oppressed a great deal, we
have been exploited a great deal and we have been disregarded a great deal. It
is our weakness that has led to our being oppressed, exploited and disregarded.
Now we want a revolution – a revolution which brings an end to our weakness, so
that we are never again exploited, oppressed, or humiliated.
A Poor Man does not use Money as a Weapon
But it is obvious that in the past we have
chosen the wrong weapon for our struggle, because we chose money as our weapon.
We are trying to overcome our economic weakness by using the weapons or the
economically strong – weapons which in fact we do not possess. By our thoughts,
words and actions it appears as if we have come to the conclusion that without
money we cannot bring about the revolution we are aiming at. It is as if we
have said, ‘Money is the basis of development. Without money there can be no
development.’
That is what we believe at present. TANU
leaders, and Government leaders and officials, all put great emphasis and
dependence on money. The people’s leaders, and the people themselves, in TANU,
NUTA, Parliament, UWT, the co-operatives, TAPA, and in other national
institutions think, hope and pray for MONEY. It is as if we had all agreed to
speak with one voice, saying, ‘If we get money we shall develop, without money
we cannot develop.
In brief, our Five-Year Development Plan
aims at more food, more education, and better health; but the weapon we have
put emphasis upon is money. It is as if we said, ‘In the next five years we
want to have more food, more education, and better health, and in order to
achieve these things we shall spend £250,000,000’. We think and speak as if the
most important thing to depend upon is MONEY and anything else we intend to use
in our struggle is of minor importance.
When a member of Parliament says that
there is a shortage of water in his constituency ; and he asks the Government
how it intends to deal with the problem, he expects the Government to reply
that it is planning to remove the shortage of water in his constituency – with
MONEY.
When another Member of Parliament asks
what the Government is doing about the shortage of roads, schools or hospitals
in his constituency, he also expects the Government to tell him that it has
specific plans to build roads, schools and hospitals in his constituency – with
MONEY.
When a NUTA official asks the Government
about its plans to deal with the low wages and poor housing of the workers, he
expects the Government to inform him that the minimum wage will be increased
and that better houses will be provided for the workers – WITH MONEY.
When a TAPA official asks the Government
what plans it has to give assistance to the many TAPA schools which do not get
Government aid, he expects the Government to state that it is ready the
following morning to give the required assistance – WITH MONEY.
When an official of the co-operative
movement mentions any problem facing the farmer, he expects to hear that the
Government will solve the farmer’s problems – WITH MONEY in short, for every
problem facing our nation, the solution that is in everybody’s mind is MONEY.
Each year, each Ministry of Government
makes its estimates of expenditure, i.e. the amount of money it will require in
the coming year to meet recurrent and development expenses. Only one Minister
and his Ministry make estimates of revenue. This is the Minister for Finance.
Every Ministry puts forward very good
development plans. When the Ministry presents its estimates, it believes that
the money is there for the asking but that the Minister for Finance are being
obstructive. And regularly each year the Minister of Finance has to tell his
fellow Ministers that there is no money. And each year the Ministers complain
about the Ministry of Finance when it trims down their estimates.
Similarly, when Members of Parliament and
other leaders demand that the Government should carry out a certain
development, they believe that there is a lot of money to spend on such projects,
but that the Government is the stumbling block. Yet such belief on the part of
Ministries, Members of Parliament and other leaders does not alter the stark
truth, which is that Government has no money.
When it is said that Government has no
money, what does this mean? It means that the people of Tanzania have insufficient money
The people pay taxes out of the very little wealth they have; it is from these
taxes that the Government meets its recurrent and development expenditure. When
we call on the Government to spend more money on development projects, we are
asking the Government to use more money. and if the Government does not have
any more, the only way it can do this is to increase its revenue through extra
taxation.
If one calls on the Government to spend
more, one is in effect calling on the Government to increase taxes. Calling on
the Government to spend more without raising taxes is like demanding that the
Government should perform miracles; it is equivalent to asking for more milk
from a cow while insisting that the cow should not be milked again. But our
refusal to admit the calling on the Government to spend more is the same as
calling on the Government to raise taxes shows that we fully realize the
difficulties of increasing taxes. We realize that the cow has no more milk –
that is, that the people find it difficult to pay more taxes. We know that the
cow would like to have more milk herself, so that her calves could drink it, or
that she would like more milk which could be sold to provide more comfort for
herself or her calves. But knowing all the things which could be done with more
milk does not alter the fact that the cow has no more milk!
WHAT OF EXTERNAL AID?
One method we use to try and avoid a
recognition of the need to increase taxes if we want to have more money for
development, is to think in terms of getting the extra money from outside Tanzania .
Such external finance falls into three main categories.
(a) Gifts: This means that another
government gives our Government a sum of money as a free gift for a particular
development scheme. Sometimes it may be that an institution in another country
gives our Government, or an institution in our country, financial help for
development programmes.
(b) Loans: The greater portion of
financial help we expect to get from outside is not in the form of gifts or
charity, but in the form of loans. A foreign government or a foreign
institution, such as a bank, lends our Government money for the purposes of
development. Such a loan has repayment conditions attached to it, covering such
factors as the time period for which it is available and the rate of interest.
(c) Private Investment: The third category
of financial help is also greater than the first. This takes the form of
investment in our country by individuals or companies from outside. The
important condition which such private investors have in mind is that the
enterprise into which they put their money should bring them profit and that
our Government should permit them to repatriate these profits. They also prefer
to invest in a country whose policies they agree with and which will safeguard
their economic interests.
These three are the main categories of
external finance. And there is in Tanzania a fantastic amount of talk
about getting money from outside. Our Government, and different groups of our
leaders, never stop thinking about methods of getting finance from abroad. And
if we get some money or even if we just get a promise of it, our newspapers,
our radio, and our leaders, all advertise the fact in order that every person
shall know that salvation is coming, or is on the way. If we receive a girt we
announce it, if we receive a loan we announce it, if we get a new factory we
announce it – and always loudly. In the same way, when we get a promise of a
gift, a loan, or a new industry, we make an announcement of the promise. Even
when we have merely started discussions with a foreign government or
institution for a gift, a loan, or a new industry, we make an announcement –
even though we do not know the outcome of the discussions. Why do we do all
this? Because we want people to know that we have started discussions which
will bring prosperity.
DO NOT LET US DEPEND
UPON MONEY FOR DEVELOPMENT
It is stupid to rely on money as the major
instrument of development when we know only too well that our country is poor.
It is equally stupid, indeed it is even more stupid, for us to imagine that we
shall rid ourselves of our poverty through foreign financial assistance rather
than our own financial resources. It is stupid for two reasons.
Firstly, we shall not get the money. It is
true that there are countries which can, and which would like to, help us. But
there is no country in the world which is prepared to give us gifts or loans,
or establish industries, to the extent that we would be able to achieve all our
development targets. There are many needy countries in the world. And even if
all the prosperous nations were willing to help the needy countries, the
assistance would still not suffice. But in any case the prosperous nations have
not accepted a responsibility to fight world poverty. Even within their own
borders poverty still exists, and the rich individuals do not willingly give
money to the government to help their poor fellow citizens.
It is only through taxation, which people
have to pay whether they want to or not, that money can be extracted from the
rich in order to help the masses. Even then there would not be enough money.
However heavily we taxed the citizens of Tanzania and the aliens living
here, the resulting revenue would not be enough to meet the costs of the
development we want. And there is no World Government which can tax the
prosperous nations in order to help the poor nations; nor if one did exist
could it raise enough revenue to do all that is needed in the world. But in
fact, such a World Government does not exist. Such money as the rich nations
offer to the poor nations is given voluntarily, either through their own
goodness, or for their own benefit. All this means that it is impossible for Tanzania to
obtain from overseas enough money to develop our economy.
GIFTS AND LOANS WILL
ENDANGER OUR INDEPENDENCE
Secondly, even if it were possible for us
to get enough money for our needs from external sources, is this what we really
want? Independence
means self-reliance. Independence
cannot be real if a nation depends upon gifts and loans from another for Its
development. Even if there was a nation, or nations, prepared to give us all
the money we need for our development, it would be improper for us to accept
such assistance without asking ourselves how this would effect our independence
and our very survival as a nation. Gifts which increase, or act as a catalyst,
to our own efforts are valuable. Gifts which could have the effect of weakening
or distorting our own efforts should not be accepted until we have asked
ourselves a number of questions.
The same applies to loans. It is true that
loans are better than ‘free’ gifts. A loan is intended to increase our efforts
or make those fruitful. One condition of a loan is that you show how you are
going to repay it. This means you have to show that you intend to use the loan
profitably and will therefore be able to repay it.
But even loans have their limitations. You
have to give consideration to the ability to repay. When we borrow money from
other countries it is the Tanzanian who pays it back. And as we have already
stated, Tanzania ’s
are poor people. To burden the people with big loans, the repayment of which
will be beyond their means, is not to help them but to make them suffer. It is
even worse when the loans they are asked to repay have not benefited the
majority of the people but have only benefited a small minority.
How about the enterprises of foreign
investors ? It is true we need these enterprises. We have even passed an Act of
Parliament protecting foreign investments in this country. Our aim is to make
foreign investors feel that Tanzania
is a good place in which to invest because investments would be safe and
profitable, and the profits can be taken out of the country without difficulty.
We expect to get money through this method. But we cannot get enough. And even
if we were able to convince foreign investors and foreign firms to undertake
all the projects and programmes of economic development that we need, is that
what we actually want to happen ?
Had we been able to attract investors from
America and Europe to come and start all the industries and all the
projects of economic development that we need in this country, could we do so
without questioning ourselves?
Could we agree to leave the economy of our
country in the hands of foreigners who would take the profits back to their
countries? Or supposing they did not insist upon taking their profits away, but
decided to reinvest them in Tanzania ;
could we really accept this situation without asking ourselves what
disadvantages our nation would suffer? Would this allow the socialism we have
said it is our objective to build ?
How can we depend upon gifts, loans, and
investments from foreign countries and foreign companies without endangering
our independence? The English people have a proverb which says, ‘He who pays
the piper calls the tune’. How can we depend upon foreign governments and
companies for the major part of our development without giving to those
governments and countries a great part of our freedom to act as we please ? The
truth is that we cannot.
Let us repeat. We made a mistake in
choosing money – something we do not have – to be the big instrument of our
development. We are making a mistake to think that we shall get the money from
other countries; first, because in fact we shall not be able to get sufficient
money for our economic development; and secondly, because even if we could get
all that we need, such dependence upon others would endanger our independence
and our ability to choose our own political policies.
WE HAVE PUT TOO MUCH
EMPHASIS ON INDUSTRIES
Because of our emphasis on money, we have
made another big mistake. We have put too much emphasis on industries. Just as
we have said , ‘Without money there can be no development’, we also seem to
say, ‘Industries arc the basis of development, without industries there is no
development’. This is true The day when we have lots of money we shall be able
to say we are a developed country. We shall be able to say, When we began our
development plans we did not have enough money and this situation made it
difficult for us to develop as fast as we wanted. Today we are developed and we
have enough money. That is to say, our money has been brought by development.
Similarly, the day we become industrialized we shall be able to say we are
developed. Development would have us to have industries. The mistake we are
making is to think that development begins with industries. It is a mistake
because we do not have the means to establish many modern industries in our
country. We do not have either the necessary finances or the technical
know-how. It is not enough to say that we shall borrow the finances and the
technicians from other countries to come and start the industries. The answer
to this is the same one we gave earlier, that we cannot get enough money and
borrow enough technicians to start all the industries we need. And even if we
could get the necessary assistance, dependence on it could interfere with our
policy on socialism. The policy of inviting a chain of capitalists to come and
establish industries in our country might succeed in giving us all the
industries we need but it would also succeed in preventing the establishment of
socialism unless we believe that without first building capitalism, we cannot
build socialism.
LET US PRAY AND HEED
TO THE PEASANT
Our emphasis on money and industries has
made us concentrate on urban development. We recognize that we do not have enough
money to bring the kind of development to each village which would benefit
everybody. We also know that we cannot establish an industry in each village
and through this means erect a rise in the real incomes of the people. For
these reasons we spend most of our money in the urban areas and our industries
are established in the towns.
Yet the greater part of this money that we
spend in the towns comes from loans. Whether it is use it to build schools,
hospitals, houses or factories, etc., it still has to be repaid. But it is
obvious that it cannot be repaid just out of money obtained from urban and
industrial development. To repay the loans we have to use foreign currency
which is obtained from the sale of our exports. But we do not now sell our
industrial products in foreign markets, and indeed it is likely to be a long
time before our industries produce for export. The main aim of our new
industries is ‘import substitution’ – that is, to produce things which up to
now we have had to import from foreign countries.
It is therefore obvious that the foreign
currency we shall use to pay back the loans used in the development Or the
urban areas will not come from the towns or the industries. Where, then, shall
we get it from? We shall get it from the villages and from agriculture. What
does this mean? It means that the people who benefit directly from development
which is brought about by borrowed money are not the ones who will repay the
loans. The largest proportion of the loans will be spent in, or for, the urban
areas, but the largest proportion of the repayment will be made through the
efforts of the farmers.
This fact should always be borne in mind,
for there are various forms of exploitation. We must not forget that people who
live in towns can possibly become the exploiters of those who live in the rural
areas. All our big hospitals are in towns and they benefit only a small section
of the people of Tanzania .
Yet if we had built them with loans from outside Tanzania , it is the overseas sale
of the peasants’ produce which provides the foreign exchanges for repayment.
Those who do not get the benefit of the hospital thus carry the major
responsibility for paying for them. Tarmac roads, too, are mostly found in
towns and are of especial value to the motor-car owners. Yet if we have built
those roads with loans, it is again the farmer who produces the goods which
will pay for them. What is more, the foreign exchange with which the car was
bought also came from the sale of the farmers’ produce. Again, electric lights,
water pipes, hotels and other aspects of modern development are mostly found in
towns. Most of them have been built with loans, and most of them do not benefit
the farmer directly, although they will be paid for by the foreign exchange
earned by the sale of his produce. We should always bear this in mind.
Although when we talk of exploitation we
usually think of capitalists, we should not forget that there are many fish in
the sea. They eat each other. The large ones eat the small ones, and small ones
eat those who are even smaller. There are two possible ways of dividing the
people in our country. We can put the capitalists and feudalists on one side,
and the farmers and workers on the other. But we can also divide the people
into urban dwellers on one side and those who live in the rural areas on the
other. If we are not careful we might get to the position where the real
exploitation in Tanzania
is that of the town dwellers exploiting the peasants.
THE PEOPLE AND
AGRICULTURE
The development of a country is brought
about by people, not by money. Money, and the wealth it represents, is the
result and not the basis of development. The four prerequisites of development
are different; they are (i) People; (ii) Land; (iii) Good Policies; (iv) Good
Leadership. Our country has more than ten million people1 and is are; is more
than 362,000 square miles.
AGRICULTURE IS THE
BASIS OF DEVELOPMENT
A great part of Tanzania ’s land is fertile and gets
sufficient rain. Our country can produce various crops for home consumption and
for export.
We can produce food crops (which can be
exported if we produce in large quantities) such as maize, rice, wheat, beans,
groundnuts, etc. And we can produce such cash crops as sisal, cotton, coffee,
tobacco, pyrethrum, tea, etc. Our land is also good for grazing cattle, goats,
sheep, and for raising chickens, etc.; we can get plenty of fish from our
rivers, lakes, and from the sea. All of our farmers are in areas which can
produce two or three or even more of the food and cash crops enumerated above,
and each farmer could increase his production so as to get more food or more
money. And because the main aim of development is to get more food, and more
money for our other needs our purpose must be to increase production of these
agricultural crops. This is in fact the only road through which we can develop
our country – in other words, only by increasing our production of these things
can we get more food and more money for every Tanzanian.
THE CONDITIONS OF
DEVELOPMENT
(a) Hard Work
Everybody wants development; but not
everybody understands and accepts the basic requirements for development. The
biggest requirement is hard work. Let us go to the villages and talk to our
people and see whether or not it is possible for them to work harder.
In towns, for example, wage-earners
normally work for seven and a half or eight hours a day, and for six or six and
a half days a week. This is about 45 hours a week for the whole year, except
for two or three weeks leave. In other words, a wage-earner works for 45 hours
a week for 48 or 50 weeks of the year.
In or a country like ours these are really
quite short working hours. In other countries, even those which are more
developed than we are, people work for more than 45 hours a week. It is not
normal for a young country to start with such a short working week. The normal
thing is to begin with long working hours and decrease them as the country
becomes more and more prosperous. By starting with such short working hours and
asking for even shorter hours, we are in fact imitating the more developed
countries. And we shall regret this imitation. Nevertheless, wage earners do
work for 45 hours per week and their annual vacation does not exceed four
weeks.
It would be appropriate to ask our
farmers, especially the men, how many hours a week and how many weeks a year
they work. Many do not even work for half as many hours as the wage-earner
does. The truth is that in the villages the women work very hard. At times they
work for 12 or 14 hours a day. They even work on Sundays and public holidays.
Women who live in the villages work harder than anybody else in Tanzania . But
the men who live in villages (and some of the women in towns) are on leave for
half of their lire. The energies of the millions of men in the villages and
thousands of women in the towns which are at present wasted in gossip, dancing
and drinking, are a great treasure which could contribute more towards the
development of our country than anything we could get from rich nations.
We would be doing something very
beneficial to our country if we went to the villages and told our people that
they hold this treasure and that it is up to them to use it for their own
benefit and the benefit of our whole nation .
(b) Intelligence
The second condition of development is the
use of intelligence. Unintelligent hard work would not bring the same good
results as the two combined. Using a big hoe instead of a small one; using a
plow pulled by oxen instead of an ordinary hoe; the use of fertilizers; the use
of insecticides; knowing the right crop for a particular season or soil;
choosing good seeds for planting; knowing the right time for planting, weeding,
etc.; all these things show the use of knowledge and intelligence. And all of
them combine with hard work to produce more and better results.
The money and time we spend on passing
this knowledge to the peasants are better spent and bring more benefits to our
country than the money and great amount of time we spend on other things which
we call development.
These facts are well known to all of us.
The parts of our Five-Year Development Plan which are on target, or where the
target has been exceeded, are those parts which depend solely upon the people’s
own hard work. The production of cotton, coffee, cashew nuts, tobacco and
pyrethrum has increased enormously for the past three years. But these are
things which are produced by hard work and the good leadership of the people,
not by the use of great amounts of money.
Furthermore the people, through their own
hard work and with a little help and leadership, have finished many development
projects in the villages. They have built schools, dispensaries, community
centers, and roads; they have dug wells, water channels, animal dips, small
dams, and completed various other development projects. Had they waited for
money, they would not now have the use of these things.
HARD WORK IS THE ROOT
OF DEVELOPMENT
Some Plan projects which depend on money
are going on well, but there are many which have stopped and others which might
never be fulfilled because of lack of money. Yet still we talk about money and
our search for money increases and takes nearly all our energies. We should not
lessen our efforts to get the money we really need, but it would be more
appropriate for us to spend time in the villages showing the people how to
bring about development through their own efforts rather than going on so many
long and expensive journeys abroad in search of development money. This is the
real way to bring development to everybody in the country.
None of this means that from now on we
will not need money or that we will not start industries or embark upon
development projects which require money. Furthermore, we are not saying that
we will not accept, or even that we shall not look for, money from other
countries for our development. This is not what we are saying. We will continue
to use money; and each year we will use more money for the various development
projects than we uscd the previous year because this will be one of the signs
of our development.
What we are saying, however, is that from
now on we shall know what is the foundation and what is the fruit of
development. Between money and people it is obvious that the people and their
hard work are the foundation of development, and money is one of the fruits of
that hard work.
From now on we shall stand upright and
walk forward on our feet rather than look at this problem upside down.
industries will come and money will come but their foundation is the people and
their hard work, especially in AGRICULTURE. This is the meaning of
self-reliance.
Our emphasis should therefore be on:
(a) The Land and Agriculture
(b) The People
(c) The Policy of Socialism and
Self-Reliance, and
(d) Good Leadership.
(a) The Land
Because the economy of Tanzania
depends and will continue to depend on agriculture and animal husbandry,
Tanzanians can live well without depending on help from outside if they use
their land properly. Land is the basis of human life and all Tanzanians should
use it as a valuable investment for future development. Because the land
belongs to the nation, the Government has to see to it that it is being used
for the benefit of the whole nation and not for the benefit of one individual
or just a few people.
It is the responsibility of TANU to see
that the country produces enough food and enough cash crops for export. It is
the responsibility of the Government and the co-operative societies to see to
it that our people get the necessary tools, training and leadership in modern
methods of agriculture.
(b) The People
In order properly to implement the policy
of self-reliance, the people have to be taught the meaning of self-reliance and
its practice. They must become self-sufficient in food, serviceable clothes and
good housing.
In our country work should be something to
be proud of, and laziness, drunkenness and idleness should be things to be
ashamed of. And for the defense of our nation, it is necessary for us to be on
guard against internal stooges who could be used by external enemies who aim to
destroy us. The people should always be ready to defend their nation when they
are called upon to do so.
(c) Good Policies
The principles of our policy of
self-reliance go hand in hand with our policy of socialism. In order to prevent
exploitation it is necessary for everybody to work and to live on his own
labour. And in order to distribute the national wealth rairly, it is necessary
for everybody to work to the maximum of his ability. Nobody should go and stay
for a long time with his relative, doing no work, because in doing so he will
be exploiting his relative. Likewise, nobody should be allowed to loiter in
towns or villages without doing work which would enable him to be self-reliant
without exploiting his relatives.
TANU believes that everybody who loves his
nation has a duty to serve it by co-operating with his fellows in building the
country for the benefit of all the people of Tanzania . In order to maintain our
independence and our pcople’s freedom we ought to be self-reliant in every possible
way and avoid depending upon other countries for assistance. If every
individual is self-reliant ten-house cell will be self-reliant; if all the
cells are self-reliant the whole ward will be self-reliant; and if the wards
are self-reliant the District will be self-reliant. If the Districts arc
self-reliant, then the Region is self-reliant, and if the Regions are
self-reliant, then the whole nation is self-reliant and this our aim.
(d) Good Leadership
TANU recognizes the urgency and importance
of good leadership. But we have not yet produced systematic training for our
leaders; it is necessary that TANU Headquarters should now prepare a programme
of training for all leaders – from the national level to the ten-house cell
level – so that every one of them understands our political and economic
policies. Leaders must set a good example to the rest of the people in their
lives and in all their activities.
PART FOUR
TANU Membership
Since the Party was founded we have put
great emphasis on getting as many members as possible. This was the right
policy during the independence struggle. But now the National Executive feels
that the time has come when we should put more emphasis on the beliefs of our
Party and its policies of socialism.
That part of the TANU Constitution which
relates to the admission of a member should be adhered to, and if it is
discovered that a man does not appear to accept the faith, the objects, and the
rules and regulations of the Party, then he should not be accepted as a member.
In particular, it should not be forgotten that TANU is a party of peasants and
workers.
PART FIVE
The Arusha Resolution
Therefore, the National Executive
Committee, meeting in the Community Centre at Arusha from 26.1.67 to 29.1.67
resolves:
(a) The Leadership
1. Every TANU and Government leader must
be either a peasant or a worker, and should in no way be associated with the
practices or capitalism or feudalism.
2. No TANU or Government leader should
hold shares in any company.
3. No TAN U or Government leader should
hold directorships in any privately owned enterprise.
4. No TANU or Government leader should
receive two or more salaries.
5. No TANU or Government leader should own
houses which he rents to others.
6. For the purposes of this Resolution the
term ‘leader’ should comprise the following:
Members of the TANU National Executive
Committee; Ministers; Members of Parliament; senior officials of organizations
affiliated to TANU; senior officers of par-statal organizations; all those
appointed or elected under any clause of the TANU Constitution; councilors; and
civil servants in the high and middle cadres. (In this context ‘leader’ means a
man, or a man and his wife; a woman, or a woman and her husband.)
(b) The Government and other Institutions
1. Congratulates the Government for the
steps it has taken so far in the implementation of the policy of socialism
2. Calls upon the Government to take
further steps in the implementation of our policy of socialism as described in
Part Two of this document without waiting for a Commission on Socialism.
3. Calls upon the Government to put
emphasis, when preparing its development plans, on the ability of this country
to implement the plans rather than depending on foreign loans and grants as has
been done in the current Five-Year Development Plan. The National Executive
Committee also resolves that the Plan should be amended so as to make it fit in
with the policy of self-reliance.
4. Calls upon the Government to take
action designed to ensure that the incomes of workers in the private sector are
not very different from the incomes of workers in the public sector.
5. Calls upon the Government to put great
emphasis on actions which will raise the standard of living of the peasants,
and the rural community.
6. Calls upon NUTA, the co-operatives,
TAPA, UWT, TYL, and other Government institutions to take steps to implement
the policy of socialism and self-reliance.
(c) Membership
Members should get thorough teaching on
Party ideology so that they may understand it, and they should always be
reminded of the importance of living up to its principles.
No comments:
Post a Comment