CHAMA CHA MAPINDUZI

THE ARUSHA DECLARATION

Isssue by:
The Department of Information,
TANU
DAR ES SALAAM
1967
Also available in:
Nyerere, Julius K. (1967); UJAMAA-Essays In
Socialism; Oxford University Press;
Dar es Salaam.
0

CONTENTS

PAGES
PART ONE
The TANU Creed

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2- 3

PART TWO
The Policy of Socialism ..

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4-5

PART THREE
The Policy of Self-Reliance

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6 - 18

PART FOUR
TANU Membership

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PART FIVE
The Arusha Resolution ..

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THE ARUSHA DECLARATION

And
TANUs 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 re-sources 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.
Tanzania is a nation of peasants and workers, but it is not yet a socialist
society. It still contains elements of feudalism and capitalism with their
temptations. These feudalistic and capitalistic features of our society could
spread and entrench themselves.
(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 nationare 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-tools, arms, motor-cars, cement, fertilizers, 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 peoples 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.
For a country to be socialist, it is essential that its government is chosen and
led by the peasants and workers themselves. 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 socialiststhat is, his fellow believers in
this political and economic systemare 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
upon 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 to an end 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 of the economically
strongweapons 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 peoples
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 short-age 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 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 farmers
problems WITH MONEY. In short, for every problem facing our nation, the
solution that is in everybodys 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 and his Ministry are being obstructive. And regularly
each year the Minister for Finance has to tell his fellow Ministers that there is
no money. And each year the Ministries 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 that 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 milkthat 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 her 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
individual 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 gift 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 announcementeven 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 affect our independence and our very survival as a nation.
Gifts which increase, or act as a catalyst, to our own efforts are valuable. But
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 efforts more 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, Tanzanians 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

10

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 choosingmoney something we do not
haveto 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 are
the basis of developed, 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 developed
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

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to say we are developed. Development would have enabled 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 PAY 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 effect 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 used 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 of 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

12

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 have built them with loans from outside Tanzania, it is
the overseas sale of the peasants produce which provides the foreign
exchange for repayment. Those who do not get the benefit of the hospitals
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 people* and its area is more than 362,000 square
miles.

*1967 census showed 12.3 million people.

13

AGRICULTURE IS THE BASIS OF DEVELOPMENT

A great part of Tanzanians 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 chicken,
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
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 village 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.
For 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.
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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 life. 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 plough pulled by oxen instead of any
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 on 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 peoples 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 centres, and roads; they have dug wells,
water channels, animal dips, small dams, and completed various other

15

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 village 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 used 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)
(b)
(c)
(d)

The Land and Agriculture

The People
The Policy of Socialism and Self-Reliance, and
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

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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 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 selfsufficient 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
defence 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 on
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
fairly, 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 cooperating with his fellows in building the country for the benefit of all the people
of Tanzania. In order to maintain our independence and our peoples 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 the ten-house cell
will be self-reliant; if all the cells are self-reliant the whole ward will be selfreliant; and if the wards are self-reliant the District will be self-reliant. If the
Districts are self-reliant, then the Region is self-reliant, and if the Regions are
self-reliant, then the whole nation is self-reliant and this is our aim.

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(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 levelso 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.

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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.

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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:

The Leadership

(a)
1.

Every TANU and Government leader must be either a peasant or a

worker, and should in no way be associated with the practice of
capitalism or feudalism.

2.

No TANU or Government leader should hold shares in any company.

3.

No TANU or Government leader should hold directorships in any

privately owned enterprises.

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
officials of para-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 Presidential Commission on Socialism.

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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.

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