The Arusha Declaration
The Arusha Declaration, passed on January 29, 1967, asserted Tanzania’s commitment to socialism and the significant role that it was to play in the country’s development.
The document was originally written by Julius K. Nyerere, who served as the first president of Tanzania between 1964 and 1985.
Nyerere
Encyclopedia Britannica
"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. We now intend to bring about a revolution which will ensure that we are never again victims of these things."
The Arusha Declaration, 1967
Main Tenets of the Declaration
These changes, motivated by the declaration, were aimed at creating a more self-reliant society.
Ujamaa
and Villagization
Self-Reliance, Frugality, and Self-Denial
Educational Reform
THE IMPACTS & SUCCESSES
In the immediate years after the declaration, banks were nationalized, followed by large industrial and insurance companies, as well as larger trading firms. Nyerere was deeply committed to the concept of ujamaa, which saw all land and natural resources as belonging to the people within their village communities, and following the declaration there emerged many farm collectives. According to Nyerere, from September 1975 to June 1975 over seven million people were moved, and from June 1975 to the end of 1976 a further four million people were moved to new settlements. Approximately eleven million people moved to village settlements from January 1974 to December 1975. This was approximately seventy percent of the then total population of about sixteen million.
However, the policies implemented by the declaration began to have consequences. Despite its intentions, the Declaration did not generate the expected development and in fact increased bribery and collection as state monopolies, created by the nationalization of the economy, grew more powerful. By the early 1970s, many Tanzanian farmers resisted the seizure of their lands by government cooperatives. Tanzania slowly shifted away from the policies presented in the Arusha Declaration and socialism--but Julius Nyerere is still highly revered in the country today.
