MI5 monitored nationalist movements, and trembled whenever it believed these movements might be penetrated by Soviet agents. BELIEF IN SOCIALISM By 1969 President Julius Nyerere, a self-declared African socialist, had accepted equipment worth over US$640,000 from the US for his police force, all of whom were members of the ruling Tanganyika African National Union Party. The invasion of Port Said, and the operation to capture the Suez Canal, was launched. Radu, Michael, and Arthur Jay Klinghoffer. . From the late 1950s, Africans seeking higher education went to a rapidly increasing number of destinations, both within Africa and overseas. The Zairean leader PresidentJoseph The favorite technique therefore was to identify the Soviet Union with the rising tide of nationalism to demonstrate that they in Moscow were engaged in a common struggle against Western imperialism. The chapters in this book offer analyses of the socialist strategies of African liberation movements that assumed control of independent governments and common problems they have faced in the process of transitioning from colonial domination. In Somalia, Mohammed Siad Barre had seized power in a coup in 1969 and had declared Somalia a socialist republic. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The Cold War was solidified by 194748, when U.S. aid had brought certain Western countries under American influence and the Soviets had established openly communist regimes. As the Second World War's uneasy alliances unravelled, a new world emerged: of east vs west and of global conflicts as the superpowers vied for influence. In 1989, the Soviet Union cannot face numerous revolts, the Berlin wall is destroyed and Germany is reunited. The one-party states that replaced colonial administrations were handed the apparatus of domestic coercion. * Somalia * For example, after the Algerian revolution began in November 1954, the Soviets hesitated for more than two years before sending weapons to the rebels for fear of antagonizing the French government. Afterwards, US secretary of state John Foster Dulles concluded that it was now imperative for America to fill the vacuum of power which the British filled for a century. Japan. Afterwards he made oblique approaches towards the US. Since most nations in Europe, Latin America, and Asia had already chosen sides, Kennedy and Krushchev both looked to Africa as the next Cold War battleground. [20], The relationship went sour within years after the death of Nasser, when the new president Anwar Sadat started re-orienting the country toward the West. By 1965, Cuba became a fully communist country and developed close ties to the Soviet Union. It was evident from the very beginning of African independence that individual leaders accepted a form of socialism based on the humanistic aspects of that ideology. ", Harry Brind, "Soviet policy in the Horn of Africa. [11], By the 1960s both the Soviets and the Chinese were angling for Algerian attention. [5] In the early 1960s the KGB and the GRU began focusing more intelligence operations on Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Munslow, Barry, ed. The link was not copied. GOVERNMENTS WHICH RECEIVED DIPLOMATIC OR MILITARY SUPPORT FROM THE SOVIET Thus, the superpowers were very much responsible for the emergence of communist orientations in some African nationalist movements. The point was not lost on Soviet propagandists. From the 1960s, cinema was one of the most important aspects of the alliances between Cuba, the USSR and African liberation movements. His corruption, like that of so many others of his kind, weakened economies and stifled growth. Britain and France, in particular, had taken pride in the belief that their rule was benevolent and progressive, and that at some unspecified date in the future their colonies would achieve independence. Britain was anxious that power in Africa was handed to dependable politicians. This edited volume seeks to evaluate what is termed the second wave of socialist experiments in Africa. Communist ideas have been prevalent in Africa since at least the early 20th century. However President John F. Kennedy and his Peace Corps director Sargent Shriver tried even harder than Khrushchev. Explore technological innovations of the Cold War, How the Cold War helped foster antibiotic resistance. [16], Facing enormous turmoil in the newly independent Republic of the Congo (Lopoldville), Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, the charismatic leader of the Mouvement National Congolais, reacted by calling for assistance from the Soviet Union. Nelson Mandela: a symbol of the struggle against racism. If African movements and parties after independence allied themselves with the United States, China, or the Soviet Union, they were labeled as either capitalist or communist (Young 1982, Idahosa 2004, Rosberg and Callaghy 1979, Friedland and Rosberg 1964). in Africa. Crisis is an early test of IMF's crisis management role and leads to first large burst of lending by IMF to the four countries involved. The Kremlin developed four major long-term policy goals: At no time was Moscow willing to engage in combat in Africa, although its ally Cuba did so. Both powers tended to suborn corruptible local strongmen with military backgrounds and authoritarian instincts. Its activists joined the militant National Liberation Front (FLN). [3], After 1953, the continent underwent a rapid process of decolonization, whereby nearly all the colonies became independent nations. Some were destined for Rhodesia, where the white minority were defending themselves against nationalist partisans, some of whom enjoyed Soviet patronage. Throughout the ferocious Algerian War of Independence in the 1950s, Moscow provided military, technical and material assistance to the FLN, and trained hundreds of its military leaders in the USSR. After 1945, the pace of change quickened. (The analysis of the first wave had taken place fifteen years prior to the publication of this book in the early post-independence period.) For its part the Soviet Union was happy to give military support to the governments of Angola and Mozambique and to the ANC. for the very few. What were practiced were hybrid forms of socialism, including some that eclectically borrowed from Marxist-Leninist and Maoist theory. Suddenly there were new . Orwell understood it as a nuclear stalemate between super-states: each possessed weapons of mass destruction and was capable of annihilating the other. The Cold War was heavily felt was in South Africa. A unified military organization among the Soviet-bloc countries, the Warsaw Pact, was formed in 1955; and West Germany was admitted into NATO that same year. Between the two world wars, some Africans lived and work in Europe, and this experience produced many of the leaders and intelligentsia who would return to Africa with ideas about how to change their own societies and end colonial rule. French Indochina. French director Jean Luc Godard went to Maputo at the request of FRELIMO during this time as well. First it wanted a lasting presence on the continent, including port facilities in the Indian Ocean. Communist societies believed in redistributing wealth (taking from the rich and giving to the poor) and promoted workers and state-run economies. Communist nations, dominated by the Soviet Union and China, withdraw from the global economic system. The Kremlin promptly sent military advisors and munitions. Moscows propagandists portrayed Nasser as a champion of oppressed peoples in their worldwide struggle against imperialism and capitalism. On the other hand, both ideology and realpolitik led the Soviet Union to support those who fought for independence. The big players never fought each other head-on, but instead sponsored wars between their clients in Africa (and, indeed, in Asia) so that large swathes of the continent became war zones in which predominately locally recruited soldiers did the fighting. * Benin * * After Mathieu Kerekou who was a military Commander overthrew the government, Benin became a communist state. Africa: Problems in the Transition to Socialism. He moved in Americas direction, used its cash to pay his soldiers, deployed them to expel the Soviets and detained Lumumba, who was murdered soon afterwards. The Soviet Union began to establish left-wing governments in the countries of eastern Europe, determined to safeguard against a possible renewed threat from Germany. Coming as it did on the heels of the end of the First Indochinese War, the Algerian conflict further emboldened national liberation forces throughout the colonial and semi-colonial world, a region of increasing importance to policymakers in Washington and . this page. At the same time, the United States imposed a ban on all trade with Cuba. Indeed the Kremlin at first assumed that the Russian model of socialized development would prove attractive to Africans eager to modernize. Maxim Matusevich, "Revisiting the Soviet Moment in Sub-Saharan Africa" History Compass. Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces soldiers, however did not engage in combat, and after the overthrow of Castro's friend Ben Bella, Cuba cut back its involvement. Meanwhile, Japan and certain Western countries were becoming more economically independent. Some students were shocked by conditions in Moscow, which was summed up by one African visitor as having no cars, no cafes, no good clothes or good food. The Americans and the British feared the permanent Soviet domination of eastern Europe and the threat of Soviet-influenced communist parties coming to power in the democracies of western Europe. Malcolm Rifkind writes the Eastern superpower lacks the ideological grounding to cause international tensions akin to the Soviet Union. In Angola a war of succession followed, with three rival nationalist parties fighting for power. In 1961, the ANC and the SACP created a joint military wing, known as the "Spear of the Nation." Young, Crawford. The recently initiated rapprochement of the US and Cuba could change that but on this, historian Edward George suggests a Russian expression. Stevens, Christopher. For full treatment, see international relations. In the mid-1950s, two developments signaled the arrival of the Cold War in North Africa: the Algerian War of independence against France began in November 1954; and Egypt adopted an independent foreign policy, challenging British influence in the Middle East, helping the Algerian rebels, and buying weapons from the Soviet bloc. However, these alliances were made primarily because they offered material support to the movement or dominant party in a regime, rather than being based on a clear and consistent acceptance of the guiding ideology of either the Western or Communist partner. James Mulira, "The role of the Soviet Union in the decolonization process of Africa: from Lenin to Brezhnev. I was aware of participating in a historic moment for the country. Saivetz, Carol R., and Sylvia Woodby, eds. Cold War conflicts played havoc with African politics. For its part, the United States helped overthrow a left-wing government in Guatemala (1954), supported an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba (1961), invaded the Dominican Republic (1965) and Grenada (1983), and undertook a long (196475) and unsuccessful effort to prevent communist North Vietnam from bringing South Vietnam under its rule (see Vietnam War). AFRICAN The Congo, Decolonization, and the Cold War, 1960-1965. African form of socialism, drawing on African traditions than following In 1979 my family lived very close to a camp for Cubans who were constructing some buildings in Luanda, recalls Angolan writer, Adriano Mixinge. However, most of its attempts to spread Communism were initially focused on Europe and this did not prevent Lenin and Stalin from trying to force all the former territories of the Russian Empire into the Soviet Union. Allied in 1969, but soon In the 1980s the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia plunged into greater turmoil and the Soviet system itself was collapsing by 1990. Drew provides an excellent account of the development of both the Algerian and South African Communist parties over time. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. Empires had always proclaimed intended reciprocity. The action by Britain and France, following Nassers nationalisation of the Suez Canal in July, was ostensibly launched to halt fighting between Egypt and Israel, which had invaded the Sinai Peninsula a week earlier. Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba threatened the nationalisation of foreign businesses, and looked to the Soviet Union for assistance. When it was published, this book was considered perhaps the most authoritative analysis on African socialism. It became an integral part of the Soviet cultural offensive in nonaligned countries. Gorbachevs reforms meanwhile weakened his own communist party and allowed power to shift to the constituent governments of the Soviet bloc. The Cold War had two sides, the United States, and the Soviet Union, both of these countries took measures, including giving money, fighting proxy wars, building a wall, or building missiles to fight for their ideals. Two small countries deserve pride of place: Cuba, which sent tens of thousands of soldiers to southern Africa, and Sweden, which gave vital economic assistance to African liberation movements. $39.00 + $28.00 shipping. Communism is a particular form of socialism. Joseph Stalin had a fleeting interest in claiming the former Italian colony of Tripolitania in modern-day Libya, but the NATO containment policy blocked those efforts. The confrontation that followed, known as the Cuban missile crisis, brought the two superpowers to the brink of war before an agreement was reached to withdraw the missiles. Furthermore, the British and French publics were increasingly grumbling that maintaining their African colonies was too costly: repression was expensive. Ottaway, Marina, and David Ottaway. Britain, France, Belgium and Portugal were valuable Nato allies but, if they persisted in resisting African nationalist movements or delaying independence, they were offering the Soviet Union a propaganda bonus. Drew, Allison. Among them was the future president, Hosni Mubarak, who went for training in a military pilot school in Kant Air Base, Kyrgyzstan. Nato also armed two colonial powers, France and Portugal, in their struggles against nationalist insurgents in Algeria, Angola and Mozambique. Nationalist movements more closely aligned with the major Communist regimes, the USSR and China, did not begin to surface until the 1970s, particularly in Lusophone Africa (Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea Bissau) and Ethiopia, where liberation revolutionary movements developed. Lawrence James explores the efforts of the United States and Soviet Union to secure influence across the post-colonial continent. The Soviets exploited such reactions, offering sympathy and friendship, and accusing the imperialists of slyly seeking to retain their power to exploit their subjects. ", Craig A. Daigle, "The Russians are going: Sadat, Nixon and the Soviet presence in Egypt. A rival government, the "Free Republic of the Congo", was founded in the eastern city of Stanleyville by Lumumba supporters, led by Antoine Gizenga. It is argued that these states can be divided into orthodox and heterodox categories depending on how closely their governments aligned with the thinking of the Russian Communist Party. CIA covert operations are by their very nature hard to prove definitively. In February 1989, Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Shevardnadze visited Egypt. 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